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Three's Company Reunion Special


LittleRickyII
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I like John Ritter but the appeal of "3's Company" escapes me.  Lucy loved Ritter of course but it doesn't seem like a show she would like, one un-subtle smarmy sexual innuendo after another. Maybe she watched it with the sound down.   I haven't seen many episodes so it's possible the tone of the show as a whole was different than I describe  

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Great find, LR; thanks for sharing this tidbit; great stuff for the chronology.  Anyone know the date of Lucille appearance on the show?  Thanks for saving me a little time if you know when she appeared as in this tidbit from the Reunion.   JK :fabrary:

 

I remember watching the night that episode was originally broadcast.  According to IMDB it was May 18, 1982.  It was an hour-long special to celebrate the first five years of Three's Company, which had first gone on the air on March 15, 1977 (interestingly, four days before the original broadcast of the famous series finale of The Mary Tyler Moore Show).  Lucille Ball hosted the show, which presented clips of highlights from the first five years, like what Henry Fonda did several years earlier for All in the Family.  This special is included in the regular rerun package of Three's Company, but airs as a two-parter (two one-half hour episodes).  AntennaTV carries Three's Company, so it pops up frequently there.  They air the show twice a day, so it cycles through every few months.  This special was part of season 6.  AntennaTV is currently airing S5 episodes, so this should be on in a few weeks.

 

 

I like John Ritter but the appeal of "3's Company" escapes me.  Lucy loved Ritter of course but it doesn't seem like a show she would like, one un-subtle smarmy sexual innuendo after another. Maybe she watched it with the sound down.   I haven't seen many episodes so it's possible the tone of the show as a whole was different than I describe  

 

She liked the show because of the physical comedy, particular from John Ritter.  But I agree her love for this show is odd given how offended she was at the language on shows like All in the Family.  Lucy liked this show, the public liked it, but the critics hated it.  At the time, I watched it pretty regularly.  And it often did crack me up.  I still watch reruns on occasion.  Although it doesn't amuse me as much as it did 30-40 years ago, it still makes me laugh at times.  But it's a show I can only watch in small doses.  Pretty much every episode, it seems, involves someone overhearing a conversation and misinterpreting it as something sexual.  It was a funny gimmick but it was way overdone and very predictable.

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Other than All in the Family*, I just couldn't (and still can't) get over my bias against sitcoms shot on videotape.  By Golden Girls, they had the technique down better (although I think even GG would have been even better on film), but in the 70s everything had to be lit so brightly for the cameras they used then. I was always aware that this was a TV SHOW done on a SET with an AUDIENCE in bleachers.  I don't know why but the audience response on videotape always sounded different than on film.  (Compare 3sC to MTM)   John Ritter with all his talent deserved better than this as his signature show.  Lucy made her physical comedy execution look so easy, she spoiled me for others.  I always felt the physical comedy on 3sC was telegraphed.  "Watch, I'm going to do something funny."  Done for the laugh, not accidental or organic.  Again, I haven't seen many but if the "best of" clip show that Lucy hosted in any indication, what I've seen is about average.

Other than Ritter, much of the acting was along the lines of Paula Stewart in "Harry's Tonsils", played way too broadly, especially Suzanne Sommers and one of her successors.  The characters were all so one-note.  I saw an unrecognizable Audrey Lindly in a movie playing Burt Reynolds mother (co-starred Goldie Hawn) and realized that she really is an actress with range.  And Norman Fell had an impressive body of supporting work.  Haven't seen many episodes with Don Knotts.  His Barney Fife was one of the most brilliant characters ever on TV.  It's hard to make that type of character into anything but a joke, but Knotts gave a layered performance (stellar writing helped).  I wasn't wowed by his 3sC work.   But 3sC must have had something:  Top 10 for 6 of its 7 seasons.  I wonder what happened that last season 83-84: didn't even make the top 30.  Usually established shows had a much more gradual ratings drop ("here's Lucy" for example).  Looking at the 83-84 comedies, they're a sorry lot indeed except for the second season of "Cheers", the best comedy Emmy winner with very little competition. That year a very surprised John Ritter won as Best Comedy Actor.  The last time he was even nominated was 80-81. 

 

*the only problem I had with All in Family was Rob Reiner's YELLING when he argued...as always JUST MY OPINION. 

I remember watching the night that episode was originally broadcast.  According to IMDB it was May 18, 1982.  It was an hour-long special to celebrate the first five years of Three's Company, which had first gone on the air on March 15, 1977 (interestingly, four days before the original broadcast of the famous series finale of The Mary Tyler Moore Show).  Lucille Ball hosted the show, which presented clips of highlights from the first five years, like what Henry Fonda did several years earlier for All in the Family.  This special is included in the regular rerun package of Three's Company, but airs as a two-parter (two one-half hour episodes).  AntennaTV carries Three's Company, so it pops up frequently there.  They air the show twice a day, so it cycles through every few months.  This special was part of season 6.  AntennaTV is currently airing S5 episodes, so this should be on in a few weeks.

 

 

 

She liked the show because of the physical comedy, particular from John Ritter.  But I agree her love for this show is odd given how offended she was at the language on shows like All in the Family.  Lucy liked this show, the public liked it, but the critics hated it.  At the time, I watched it pretty regularly.  And it often did crack me up.  I still watch reruns on occasion.  Although it doesn't amuse me as much as it did 30-40 years ago, it still makes me laugh at times.  But it's a show I can only watch in small doses.  Pretty much every episode, it seems, involves someone overhearing a conversation and misinterpreting it as something sexual.  It was a funny gimmick but it was way overdone and very predictable.

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