Development

Famed Broadway writer Peter Stone tried to Americanize the British sitcom Man About the House. He originally set the series in New York, and he envisioned the male roommate as a successful, yet underpaid, chef in a fancy French restaurant, while the two female roommates were an executive secretary and a high-fashion model. When ABC's Fred Silverman read the script, he felt that middle America would not like the concept, and he decided to pass on the script. Silverman asked Larry Gelbart, creator and producer of M*A*S*H, for help with the series. At first, Gelbart wanted nothing to do with the show, feeling that its relatively simple premise made it substandard in comparison to M*A*S*H.

Ultimately, as a favor to Silverman, Gelbart developed a pilot episode with the help of his son-in-law, who named the series Three's Company. Gelbart's adaptation closely followed the British series. Gelbart named the male roommate David Bell, an aspiring filmmaker looking for a place to live and who just happened to be a great cook. The two female roommates were portrayed by Valerie Curtin who played Jenny, an employee of the DMV, and Susanne Zenor, who played Samantha, an aspiring actress. In Gelbart's version, the series took place in an apartment building called the Hacienda Palms in North Hollywood, California. It was produced by Don Taffner and Ted Bergmann.

Silverman liked Gelbart's version, and ABC ordered a pilot, which was taped in early 1976. The format of the show just barely made it on to the fall 1976 ABC lineup, but the network later removed it for what network executives felt were more promising series. While ABC was considering how to re-shoot the pilot, CBS expressed an interest in the show. CBS made a firm commitment to producers Taffner and Bergmann to air the show with the Gelbart cast as a mid-season replacement in February 1977. At the last minute, ABC decided that it wanted the show after all, and made a firm commitment to air the show at mid-season with a new cast.

For help in remolding the show, producers hired Don Nicholl, Michael Ross, and Bernie West, the writers who adapted the British series Till Death Us Do Part into All in the Family. Their revised version of the pilot followed the British series even more closely. The male roommate changed from filmmaker David Bell to Jack Tripp, a cooking student, similar to his British counterpart chef Robin Tripp. Aspiring actress Samantha became secretary Chrissy,^{[lower-alpha 2]} portrayed by Denise Galik. Galik was dismissed a couple of days before the pilot taped, and Susan Lanier replaced her. The other female roommate, DMV employee Jenny became Janet Wood, a florist, portrayed by Joyce DeWitt. They also moved the setting of the show from North Hollywood to the beachside in Santa Monica.

Nicholl, Ross, and West went on to conceive the show as an all out farce, building the show's plot line heavily on the many misunderstandings encountered by each of the characters. This pilot was actually a remake of the second episode of the British series, titled "And Mother Makes Four". The new concept was generally well liked, with the exception of Lanier's portrayal of Chrissy.

Despite the doubts about Lanier's portrayal as Chrissy, Silverman put the show on the network lineup, scheduled to air in March 1977. Meanwhile, he ordered a search for another actress to portray Chrissy. The day before production of the series began, Silverman desperately watched the audition tapes again, fast-forwarding through them quickly. Suddenly, he noticed Suzanne Somers's audition, which he hadn't seen previously. Silverman recognized Somers from her appearance on The Tonight Show, watched her audition and decided she was ideal for the part. No one on the production staff could give Silverman a straight answer why Somers had originally been rejected. Producers contacted her immediately, and she was on the set the next day.^[3]

At the last minute before the pilot taped, the producers considered whether to recast Ritter. Although test audiences liked Ritter, the producers felt Ritter's foolish and clumsy portrayal of Jack made his character seem somewhat effeminate. Earlier in the casting process, actors such as Barry Van Dyke and future television director Michael Lembeck were considered for the role. Silverman was confident in Ritter, and he advocated that he remain on the show.

With Somers, Ritter, and DeWitt set in their roles, the third version of the pilot hastily went into production in January 1977. ABC accepted this version, and five additional episodes were filmed for the show's spring debut.

Filming

Three's Company was recorded at two locations: the first, seventh, and eighth seasons were taped at Metromedia Square and ABC Television Center, while the second through sixth seasons were taped in Studio 31 at CBS Television City. The cast would receive the script on Monday, rehearse from Tuesday to Thursday, and then shoot on Friday. Each episode was shot two consecutive times using different audiences using a three multicamera setup.

The taping was done in sequence, and there were rarely any retakes because the producers were strict. Priscilla Barnes once said, "Our bosses were very, very controlling. If my hair was too blonde, I'd get called up in the office."^[4]

The scenes in the opening credits with the trio frolicking on a boardwalk and riding bumper-cars were shot at the Santa Monica Pier, prior to the construction of the adjacent larger amusement park.^[5]

Producers shot a new opening sequence when Priscilla Barnes joined the show, featuring the new threesome and the other cast members riding a zoo tram and observing various animals around the park. These sequences were filmed at the Los Angeles Zoo in Griffith Park.^[5] During this sequence, a baby boy in overalls who approaches Janet while feeding the goats at the zoo was portrayed by Jason Ritter, John Ritter's oldest son.^[6] The exterior shots of the apartment building were filmed at 2912 4th Street in Santa Monica.^[7]

Of all the new sitcoms that premiered on ABC for the 1976–77 television season, only Three's Company and the summer premiere of What's Happening!! returned for a second season.

Cast changes

Three's Company had many cast changes over its run. The first of these changes took place in the spring of 1979 with the relocation of the Ropers to their own television series, which revolved around Helen and Stanley and their neighbors in a townhouse community after Stanley had sold the apartment building; it lasted for one and a half seasons. Man About the House had similarly spun off the Ropers for the series George and Mildred.

Two changes took place in the fall of 1979, at the beginning of the fourth season. The first was the addition of Lana, an older woman who chased Jack. She kept pursuing him but he was unappreciative of her advances. Since Ann Wedgeworth disliked her diminishing role in the series, producers dropped Lana from the show with no explanation before mid-season. The other new addition that fall was the new building manager, Ralph Furley (played by Don Knotts), whose brother Bart bought the building from the Ropers. Mr. Furley pursued Lana unsuccessfully, as she unsuccessfully pursued Jack. Unlike Lana, Mr. Furley remained until the end of the series.

Season five (1980–1981) marked the beginning of contract re-negotiations and sparked friction on the set. Somers demanded a substantial increase in salary, from $30,000 to $150,000 per episode (equivalent to $107,000–$533,000 in 2022), plus 10% of the show's profits. John Ritter, as the show's top-billed actor, was making $50,000 per episode at the time.^[8][9] When Somers's demands were not met, Somers went on a strike of sorts. Executives believed that a complete loss of Somers could damage the program's popularity, so a compromise was reached. Somers, who was still under contract, continued to appear in the series, but only in the one-minute closing tag scene of a handful of episodes. Somers's scenes were taped on separate days from the show's regular taping; she did not appear on set with any of the show's other cast members. According to Somers, an off-hiatus contract with CBS as well as tension between her and producer Michael Ross led to her being fired, and her dismissal was on the personal level as she states that Ted Harbert confirms this.^[10] According to the story within the show, her character had returned to her hometown of Fresno to care for her ailing mother, and was only seen when she telephoned her former roommates and they recounted that week's adventures to her. This arrangement continued for one season. Somers's contract was not renewed and Chrissy's place in the apartment was taken by her clumsy cousin Cindy Snow (Jenilee Harrison).

Another replacement, Terri Alden (played by Priscilla Barnes), a clever, sometimes sassy nurse, joined the cast in the sixth season (1981–82). In the script, Cindy was to move to college to fulfill her dream of becoming a veterinarian and would continue to visit throughout the sixth season.

The show ended with the departure of all cast members except Ritter. Janet gets married and starts a new life, and Terri moves to Hawaii. Ritter moved on to the spin-off Three's a Crowd (syndicated as Three's Company, Too in the Three's Company syndication package), itself based upon the Man About the House spin-off, Robin's Nest.

After three decades of not speaking to each other, Suzanne Somers and Joyce DeWitt finally reconciled and reunited for Somers's web series Breaking Through, which aired February 2, 2012.^[11][12] Previously, Somers reconciled with Ritter just days before his death from aortic dissection on September 11, 2003. They had even discussed her making a cameo appearance on Ritter's new show, 8 Simple Rules.^[13]

Music

The theme song was composed by Joe Raposo (known for composing for the children's television shows Sesame Street and The Electric Company), and sung by Ray Charles (not to be confused with the blind R&B musician of the same name) and Julia Rinker.

Home media

Anchor Bay Entertainment has released all eight seasons of Three's Company on DVD in Region 1. These are the original, unedited and uncut network television broadcast versions and not the edited versions which have been seen in syndication since the Fall of 1982. Some episodes include commentary as a bonus feature.^[14] Also, the season 2 set includes the first of the two unaired pilots as a bonus feature, while the season 3 set contains the other.^[15]

Anchor Bay released a complete series set on August 19, 2014.^[16] The set was subsequently re-released on February 13, 2018, this time by Lionsgate Home Entertainment.^[17]

On December 22, 2023, Visual Entertainment Inc. released the Official 40th Anniversary Collection of the series that also includes spinoffs The Ropers and Three's a Crowd.^[18]

Syndication

ABC aired back-to-back repeats of Three's Company during daytime from June 15 to September 11, 1981 at 11:00 a.m. EST/10:00 CST. The show has been in syndication since 1982 on local stations such as WNEW-TV (Now WNYW) in New York City and the sales on the project realized more than $150 million, of which Thames took 12.5% ($19 million).^[19] It debuted on cable in 1992 on TBS and ran through 1999. Nick at Nite bought the show in 2000 and have a seven-year term with other Viacom networks such as TV Land and TNN. In 2007, Viacom renewed its contract for reruns of the show for another six years.

In March 2001, after being notified by a viewer, Nick at Nite quickly edited an episode ("The Charming Stranger") where John Ritter's scrotum skin was briefly visible through the bottom of a pair of blue boxer shorts. The most famous quip about this issue was uttered by Ritter himself, who told the New York Observer when they asked him about the controversy: "I've requested that Nickelodeon air both versions, edited and unedited, because sometimes you feel like a nut, and sometimes you don't"^[20] (quoting an advertising jingle for Almond Joy and Mounds candy bars). The incident was also brought-up during a "Celebrity Secrets" comedy bit on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in the late 1990s, in which a nervous-acting Ritter jokingly says, "Somebody asked me if I did that on purpose..." After taking a nervous sip of water, he responds, "You bet I did!"^[21]

Since 2010, the show has aired on Antenna TV,^[22] where its spin-offs also air. Because the spin-offs cannot be stripped due to a lack of episodes, they are aired at the same time with the show. In Canada, DejaView (a Shaw Media property) re-airs the show.

In 2020, Pluto TV added the show to their channel lineup.^[23] and also made its IFC debut on November 27, 2020.^[24]