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'Three's Company,' adapted from the British sitcom Man About the House, starred John Ritter in his iconic role as Jack Tripper, a bumbling culinary student who unexpectedly wakes up in the bathtub of his new roommates, Janet Wood (Joyce DeWitt) and Chrissy Snow (Suzanne Somers). The trio forms a unique living arrangement, with Jack pretending to be gay to maintain the co-ed setup. Here are some fun facts about this classic ABC sitcom that'll impress your friends at the Regal Beagle.
1. THREE DIFFERENT PILOTS WERE MADE BEFORE THEY FOUND THE RIGHT FIT.
Initially, writer/producer Larry Gelbart penned a pilot script for Three's Company that was closely based on Man About the House, where John Ritter's character was named David Bell and aspired to be a filmmaker. His two female roommates, Jenny (played by Valerie Curtin) and Samantha (Susanne Zenor), were also part of the original concept. A second pilot, requested by ABC programming head Fred Silverman, was written by Don Nicholl, Michael Ross, and Bernard West of All in the Family and The Jeffersons fame, and featured Joyce DeWitt and Suze Lanier-Bramlett as Chrissy. The third pilot was the one that hit the mark, leading to the show's March 15, 1977 debut.
2. BILLY CRYSTAL TRIED OUT FOR THE ROLE OF JACK TRIPPER.
Barry Van Dyke (son of Dick Van Dyke) and Michael Lembeck (who would later direct sitcoms like Friends) also auditioned for the part. However, Crystal soon found success in another ABC comedy, Soap (1977-1981), where he portrayed Jodie Dallas.
3. LONI ANDERSON TRIED OUT FOR CHRISSY.
Anderson, who later starred as Jennifer Marlowe on WKRP in Cincinnati, didn't land the role. John Ritter, who praised her audition, speculated that Anderson wasn't cast because viewers would find it hard to believe she couldn't afford her own apartment.
4. SUZANNE SOMERS WAS FOUND BY CHANCE.
In a last-minute search for the perfect Chrissy, just a day before filming was set to begin, Fred Silverman reviewed the audition tapes they had received, fast-forwarding through most of them. When he saw Suzanne Somers, he immediately stopped and was impressed. Despite no clear explanation for why she had initially been overlooked, Somers was called in and made an immediate impact. 'We got her in that day, and by the next day she was on set, and she was fantastic for the role,' Silverman recalled. 'It was an accident because she never should have gotten the part.'
5. THE SHOW'S THEME SONG WAS WRITTEN BY THE SAME COMPOSER BEHIND THE THEMES FOR SESAME STREET AND THE ELECTRIC COMPANY.
Joe Raposo, the genius behind the catchy tunes of Sesame Street and The Electric Company, composed the theme song for Three's Company. Initially, the producers considered having the show's stars sing the theme, but despite their reluctance, Ritter, DeWitt, and Somers gave it a try. 'They didn’t even come close,' said associate producer Mimi Seawell. Instead, the vocals were performed by Ray Charles (not the famous one) and Julia Rinker.
6. THE BRUNETTE JACK SEES BEFORE FALLING IN THE OPENING CREDITS IS ACTUALLY SUZANNE SOMERS WEARING A WIG.
'That brunette is Suzanne in a wig. You can tell by her little Suzanne buns,' Ritter shared. The bike Jack rides in the credits belonged to production assistant Carol Summers.
7. NORMAN FELL DREW INSPIRATION FOR STANLEY ROPER FROM A REAL PERSON.
Norman Fell, known for his role as a landlord in The Graduate, modeled the character of Stanley Roper after a man he knew in his hometown of Philadelphia. 'I was thinking of a guy I really knew in Philadelphia,' Fell explained. 'The clothes were all wrong... He was innocent, a guy who just couldn’t do things right—whether it was with women or fixing something. But he thought he was the cat’s meow. He thought he was attractive, liked his clothes, and imagined people were admiring him for how well-preserved he looked. He thought he was everything he wasn't.'
8. FELL WAS PROMISED A RETURN TO THREE'S COMPANY IF THE ROPERS FAILED AFTER ONE SEASON.
Fell wasn’t keen on leaving the hit show Three's Company, but Audra Lindley (Mrs. Roper) was open to the idea of a spin-off towards the end of the third season. To keep Fell satisfied, ABC promised him that if The Ropers was cancelled after its first year, he and Lindley could return to Three's Company. Despite The Ropers debuting with the second-highest ratings for a series premiere in TV history in March 1979, its move to Saturdays in season two saw viewership plummet, leading to its cancellation. Fell wanted to come back to Three's Company, but producers pointed out that The Ropers technically lasted a year and a half. Plus, Don Knotts had already taken over the Ropers' role as Ralph Furley.
9. JEFFREY TAMBOR PLAYED THREE DIFFERENT CHARACTERS ON THE SHOW.
After playing the snobby neighbor Jeffrey P. Brookes III in The Ropers, Tambor returned to Three’s Company for multiple late-season guest spots. He portrayed several different characters, including Winston Cromwell III, a wealthy man vying for Chrissy's attention in 'Father of the Bride'; Dr. Tom Miller, a psychiatrist mistaken for a patient in 'Two Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest'; and Dr. Phillip Greene, a quirky dentist recently dumped by Terri.
10. WHEN JOHN LARROQUETTE GUEST-STARRED AS A COP, HE ALTERED THE SCRIPT TO MAKE SURE THE AUDIENCE COULD SEE HIS FACE.
In the third season episode 'Jack Moves Out' (spoiler: it doesn't last), Larroquette realized that the script required him to wear a cop cap, which would obscure his face. In a self-interested move, he explained to The A.V. Club, 'I had to figure out a way to get my hat off. So I wrote the Miranda rights inside my hat. I took it off and told the character, 'You have the right to remain silent.' This let me show my face for the rest of the scene, which showed my character's confidence. Without that idea, my character would have just been a faceless cop for 30 seconds.' The producers didn’t mind the change and left the scene as it was.
11. SOMERS LEFT THE SHOW OVER PAY DISPUTES WITH RITTER.
Somers requested a salary hike from $30,000 to $150,000 per episode, matching Ritter's pay, plus 10% of the show's profits. ABC offered her just a $5000 raise. By the fourth season, after Ritter and DeWitt stopped speaking to Somers due to a faked rib injury and the ongoing contract negotiations became a distraction, Somers was effectively written out of the show. Chrissy was said to be in Fresno, caring for her sick mother, while the character made brief phone call appearances. Jenilee Harrison took over the role as Chrissy’s cousin, Cindy. After her contract expired at the end of the season, Somers was not asked to return.
12. HEATHER LOCKLEAR WAS MOCKED DURING HER AUDITION TO REPLACE SOMERS.
On her way to her audition, Locklear was sweating in her peach silk blouse and resorted to placing Kleenex under her arms. Despite delivering a funny scene, no one laughed. But as soon as she closed the door, Locklear realized the Kleenex had fallen out of her blouse. 'So I guess they thought I stuffed my bra,' she recalled.
13. PRISCILLA BARNES WAS SOMETIMES CALLED 'TOO BLOND.'
Barnes took on the role of nurse Terri Alden, replacing Cindy (who had replaced Chrissy) for the final three seasons. 'Our bosses were very, very controlling,' Barnes revealed to CNN in 2002. 'If my hair was too blond, I'd get called into the office.'
14. RITTER'S ONE-YEAR-OLD SON, JASON, WAS THE CHILD WHO RAN UP TO JANET AT THE ZOO.
The younger Ritter (who later voiced Dipper Pines in Gravity Falls and played Mark Cyr on Parenthood) doesn’t remember the moment immortalized in the opening credits for seasons six through eight. 'But the story goes that they were filming various shots at the zoo, and I wandered off from my mom,' Jason shared with The Huffington Post. 'I just walked into the scene and made Joyce DeWitt laugh, so they decided to keep it in the opening credits.'
15. SOMEONE SAW MORE OF JACK TRIPPER THAN SHE EXPECTED.
In March 2001, a viewer claimed that a certain part of John Ritter’s anatomy briefly appeared in the episode titled 'The Charming Stranger.' The complaint was taken seriously enough for Nickelodeon to edit the scene out shortly afterward. In response, Ritter famously remarked, 'I’ve asked [Nickelodeon] to air both versions, edited and unedited, because sometimes you feel like a nut, and sometimes you don’t.'
16. THERE WAS ANOTHER SPIN-OFF, TITLED THREE'S A CROWD.
Following the 1984 series finale of Three's Company, Jack moved in with his new girlfriend, Vicky (played by Mary Cadorette). The character who made Jack’s new living situation a "crowd" was Vicky's father, who also became Jack's new landlord (Robert Mandan). The show lasted for just one season.
