John Ritter’s best performance on Three’s Company

Never found this show funny. It was total slap-stick, low-brow humor.

I watched by chance an episode that aired in very early 1982. The roommates spent the night inside a barn that belonged to Cindy’s aunt. It was the most stupid shit I ever saw.

John Ritter Comedy Special! Not bad, has it’s moments. I love him in They All Laughed.

When he wore nothing but a box

Who was the bartender? Super cute.

R1 - agreed. I never understood the applause Ritter got - hundreds of other male actors could have done just as well in that role.

Goofy faces, falling down - oh GENIUS! The Ropers were a lot funnier and more talented. Actually, Don Knotts was also far superior.

He was OK - a moderately attractive man from a famous lineage.

It's interesting that John Ritter's breakout role would be in a sitcom given that pre-TC so much of his work was in drama, guest starring in shows from "Hawaii 5-O" to "Barnaby Jones."

He was such a cutie. He seemed like a decent guy on top of everything else. Maybe one of the most naturally likable people I've ever seen on stage or screen. He could be playing a murderous rapist and you'd still like him a little bit.

I'd say it was in that one episode where there was a misunderstanding.

R7, he was also very impressive in The Waltons.

I hate to say it, but Problem Child holds up pretty well.

Wonderful physical comedian. I think he's underappreciated because people only know him for Three's Company. He didn't get to do many other high profile roles.

Wonder which episode John Ritter won the Emmy for Three's Company

It sure as hell was stupid

Three's Company may be a cheesy sitcom, but that dance sequence got a genuine laugh out of me.

But then I'm easily amused, so there's that.

I actually caught a few episodes of this on LOGO. I forgot how dumb it was. Ritter was a cutie but looking at it now I don't know how Suzanne was considered such a fox back then. That stupid haircut with bangs and two side ponytails (sometimes), floppy tits that she she constantly jiggled and dumb, mugging expressions. She really wasn't that pretty really. I think Janet was prettier though her hair was problematic sometimes too.

What the hell happened to LOGO anyway? Used to be a gay channel with some bitchy talk shows and even a comedy skit type show but how it's just reruns though I do enjoy The Nanny.

Three's Company was a little before my time, but he made me laugh in Bad Santa.

I never found him funny.

I remember him going onstage and doing improv at the end of a Robin Williams special a LONG time ago (probably early 80's), and I thought it was super lame. The audience seemed to enjoy it, though, from what I recall.

Also remember him doing a disco dance number on Dinah!, I think it was supposed to be some sort of parody of Saturday Night Fever, and it was truly awful. Just him doing some bad, awkward dance moves and making faces. I think at one point he was sticking his tongue in and out like a lizard, then puffing his cheeks out. Truly awful stuff, and not even the audience thought it was funny.

Three's Company was a shit show. I could never understand why it was so popular. That and Happy Days and all that Fonzie shit. Just crap TV.

Three's Company was a shit show. I could never understand why it was so popular. That and Happy Days and all that Fonzie shit. Just crap TV.

Happy Days was decent until it became The Fonzie Show. In the beginning he was just a background character who barely spoke. Just the "cool" but kind of scary guy they all admired from afar. He didn't even have a leather jacket.

The critics LOVED the fact that Seinfeld was a show about NOTHING.

Three's Company really was a show about NOTHING.

The silliest about the the show was the fact that a guy and two girls living together raised eyebrows unless he was gay or that a landlord wouldn't rent to them because of some outdated morality. Even back then, coed living wasn't uncommon.

He was quite good in Sling Blade. Roger Ebert:

"One of the movie's many pleasures is Ritter's performance as Vaughan; the character has a complexity and sensitivity that seem to have come right out of his small-town time and place."

I will never understand the love for this fifth-rate sitcom. I can't believe how many were naming it in the greatest sitcoms thread. It was insipid 30 years ago and it hasn't aged well at all.

As a child, I used to watch reruns of this show when it was in syndication. Many of the sexual jokes went over my head, but I thought the slap stick stuff was hilarious. I couldn’t have been older than six or seven. As an adult I find it cringey.

(R16) I agree completely with your comments concerning Suzanne. I couldn't watch most episodes because of her.. Apparently her husband or agent thought she was the star of the show and her demands only led to a replacement. The Ropers were the main reason I watched and their own series didn't last very long.

Don't forget to mention that OTHER hit show of the late 1970's- LAVERNE and SHIRLEY.

John Ritter had a STRONG gay accent on the show.

It's HARD to believe that he was not a CONNOISSEUR of COCK.

I hated Three's Company. It was stupid and degrading to gay people. When he had to play gay, it was stomach-turning. Other than that!

There’s a 24/7 Three’s Company channel on Pluto TV. I’m confused about the roommates. When Chrissy left Cindy moved in and later on Teri was living there when Cindy was still on the show. Were all four of them living in that apartment or did Cindy move out?

Also, what was the deal with Ann Wedgeworth? She was credited but wasn’t on for long.

I’ve noticed in the Ropers episodes that Audra Lindley is always reading the cue cards.

...and, we're not going to discuss the gorgeous Rick Edwards who gave Ritter the drink in the clip?

R24 he also was very good in Unnatural Causes, a TV movie where he played a Vietnam Vet with Agent Orange. And was great as a guest on Buffy - he could be very darkly funny.

He did happen to be a very talented and quite versatile actor but he didn’t really get the opportunities to truly show it - yes he worked constantly, but I mean quality scripts and productions. There’s no reason to think that if he hasn’t gotten the same level of projects as, say Robin Williams, that he wouldn’t have been as acclaimed,

R30- What do you expect from 1977?

Does anyone know where he learned physical comedy? His Wki page doesn't give any clues.

Lucy loved Three's Company. Tacky, tasteless ho.

R31 Cindy moved out. I think she was going to college. There are different versions of what happened to Ann Wedgeworth's Lana. First was that the character made no sense. She was an hot older woman who wanted to have sex with horndog Jack yet for some reason he didn't want to. The producers realized this and wrote out the character. Then there is the report that Ann wanted off because her role was getting smaller. The theory is that the other actresses felt threatened by the screen time she was getting.

R36- And Lucille Ball HATED All In The Family when it went on the air and wanted it taken off the air.

Yup, R38. Her bizarre standards when it came to comedy were ridiculous.

I didn’t want to start another TC thread, but many are closed for some reason. Anyway, I just saw the finale episode again and can’t believe how bad it was. I know it was silly and always had dumb storylines, but it was iconic and the send off was really the worst. I understand there was a back door pilot, big mistake. Janet’s wedding was thrown together with like 6 people attending, no family on either side. The ceremony is interrupted by Jack’s chemistry-less love interest. No mention of the Ropers or Chrissy. Even Jack and Janet’s goodbyes left me cold. Surprised it doesn’t get criticized more,

Considering the “adult” theme of the show, l’m surprised Lucille Ball liked it. It was rather racy in its time. Yet, it was a simplistic, farcical sit com. That appealed to her.

She was getting paid considerably less than John Ritter, R27. She had a right to be pissed.

[quote]I will never understand the love for this fifth-rate sitcom. I can't believe how many were naming it in the greatest sitcoms thread. It was insipid 30 years ago and it hasn't aged well at all.

And yet, because of the pay dispute, its leading lady left after five seasons.

I always found John Ritter as Jack Tripper to be very cute, sexy, humorous, silly, goofy, charming, somewhat juvenile and immature, but in a good way. He had a nice sexy hairy body in the box, early episodes had a nice bulge, and always a really nice approachable face and personality. I was about 12 when that show first came on, and I remember wanting to put my hands in his pants, he's so cute. That was the fantasy in my 12 year old gay mindset at the time. Shocked when he died so suddenly years later...

At least the actors had chemistry and the writers tried. John Ritter had a lot of energy and was charming. I'd take Three's Company over the many low-effort, low-energy sitcoms from Chuck Lorre. Of course this show went downhill after The Ropers and Suzanne left but Don Knots was funny and carried the load. I think it says something that it was still syndicated into the 2010s and John Ritter remained a household name until his untimely death.

I never understood John Ritter’s appeal. He wasn’t particularly handsome, and was very average as actor.

[quote]Also remember him doing a disco dance number on Dinah!, I think it was supposed to be some sort of parody of Saturday Night Fever, and it was truly awful. Just him doing some bad, awkward dance moves and making faces. I think at one point he was sticking his tongue in and out like a lizard, then puffing his cheeks out. Truly awful stuff, and not even the audience thought it was funny.

Was that the same episode where Joyce DeWitt and Richard Kline performed that Kenny Loggins/Stevie Nicks song? I remember VH1 showing a clip of that in one of their 70's Tv retrospectives.

John Ritter grew up in California but he had some of his father's Texas twang.

Ritter did an episode of SVU. He played creepy murderous guy pretty well.

The show was a huge hit for a decade.

It was mindless entertainment, a show about nothing, and jiggle TV. Yet, Ritter was a great physical comedian and the leads all had chemistry.

The first season was raunchy, they should’ve kept it that way instead of dumbing it down. I also hated what they did to Chrissy. You could tell they hated SS by making her character so incredible dumb and annoying. Not to mention making her look like a clown the last few seasons.