Three’s Company Opening Credits At The Zoo PART II

John always pinged my gaydar.

[quote] [R570] wow, that is cringeworthy and very uncomfortable to watch. Why would that host create such drama for everyon?.

Are you new?

R1 well if he was gay he sure had a funny way of showing it.

I wonder if SS the Trumper and Kathy Griffin are still friends. I enjoyed the interview tho.

I always thought John Ritter was gay as well

R2 nope, an old timer. I’m not sure what being new has to do with my comment about a YouTube video? Quite confusing.

Let’s hope that this new thread lasts longer than “Three’s A Crowd”.

We haven’t discussed Joyce’s mugshot in depth. She looks like a lunatic.

When I was in sixth grade, I had a Dawn Weiner-ish friend who had a crush on John Ritter. I remember feeling sorry for her because she was jealous of Vickie on “Three’s A Crowd”. I thought John was gay, too.

She used to try to make me make fun of the actress who played his wife, but she was so bland there wasn’t anything to work with. My friend was also like a bloodhound for factoids annd trivia about her favorite actors and there was no internet then, so she combed through TV Guide and teen idol magazines for ANY information about the cast members of “Three’s A Crowd”.

Her mother watched soaps during the day, and she bought all the soap opera digest magazines they had at the supermarket.

They must be in overdrive now that we have the internet.

Okay, I finally got back on and I'm the one whose friend worked on TC. A lot of stuff here, mostly fun I know but sometimes the reality is better. First, Don Knotts was just a great guy and a brilliant comedic actor. Very professional and approachable. But a ladies man? Ha! He would bring different blonde "girlfriends" to the set at every taping and they never said one word to each other. There were rumors he was the one who funded Angelyne's billboard campaign. I think that's just a rumor but you get where that came from.

I never heard anything about John having sex with the numerous beautiful and sexy co-stars or extras but since everyone loved John, maybe they were protecting him. I also think he was too much of a pro to do that on a set he cared so much about. He was also totally in love with Nancy so that's another reason I doubt it. Marie very strongly resembled Nancy so that why I assumed John wanted her so much for the role, even though she was a terrible actress and had zero chemistry with him. However, the way he dumped Nancy for Amy does suggest the cad in him.

Now The Ropers is interesting. The British offshoot ran longer than their original Man About the House. And the premier episode which ran after TC was a huge, huge rating hit. Maybe it even passed TC. But it was a terrible concept because Mr. Roper became pretty unbearable, almost Archie Bunker like and how many times could Mrs. Roper say she was horny in one episode. But the worst casting was Jeffrey Tambor as the snooty next door neighbor. He was perhaps the worst supporting actor in a comedy series I can recall. You couldn't wait to get him off the screen and it was impossible to believe he was married to bombshell Bad Seed Patty McCormick. Even the theme music was appalling. However, the show had so many of the same creative people as TC and naturally they were hoping for another hit. Producer George Zunga is one of the nicest guys in show business and a lot of us were hoping he'd have another hit with The Ropers but it was not to be. But what I found interesting is that the producers had a clause in the contract saying if The Ropers lasted over one season, Norman and Audra would be unable to return. That's brilliant because they started the show in the middle of the season and it was likely to get picked up because of the TC lead in. But even if it only ran a few episodes in the following season (which it did), they could get rid of two salaries and keep Don, which I have to believe was their intent all along.Norman was right. A sitcom about young kids is funny but two old cranky adults isn't. Earlier on, they tried to cut Joyce's salary so that it was on the same level with Norman and Audra but her agent put a stop to that.

So now, Joyce. No way she had an affair with John although she, like everyone else, was in love with him. She was in love with Ray and he steered her in the right direction. I think they met at UCLA Drama School and he was doing Rhoda or House Calls at the time. I think it was the third season but he convinced her to sharpen up her image so she got the Liza cut and also started working out. By the time the opening episode came around, she had a very different look. Her body got sleek and athletic and was the reverse of Suzanne's giggle. The show started putting her in tight jeans and short shorts and the audiences began noticing. I think there were even letters from fans who thought they got another actress because her look changed so much.

Ray was also the one who told her those producers are not your friends, this is a business. If you have problems, have your agents talk to the producers, not you. This was during the Suzanne fiasco. I also personally heard him say to her that whatever you do, don't go on TV or newspapers and start airing your opinions on this. Let it play out amongst the principals.You'll only end up looking bad. And speaking of looking bad, it was after their breakup that she got that really bad nose job.

By staying on til the end, Joyce got a fair amount of money, but it was invested really, really well by Bushkin among others. By being in that Johnny Carson orbit, she had a lot of very good advisers and she did well by them. She's not rich by any means but she's very comfortable. I always thought she'd have been good as the wife on Home Improvement, the female who gave the crazy surroundings some grounding. But as I understand it, she's happy being retired. I have no idea what she's doing currently.

Everyone forgets Richard Kline and that's okay by me. Like Audra, he thought he was too good for the show. The way his career has gone after TC should tell you something.

Good info, r9/r10!

And I remember hating hating HATING Jeffrey Tambor on The Ropers! It wasn’t until Arrested Development when I finally warmed up to them. Too bad he’s such an asshole.

R9/r10 great stuff! Yes from all the THS etc stuff I watched that Zunga seemed like a super sweet guy.

Doesn’t surprise me at all about Richard Kline - he always seemed very “I went to Northwestern and I’m from the the-a-tre” and would remind you any chance he got. That said, I LOVED him as Larry and wish he had worked more. I always enjoy his interviews.

[quote]I remember feeling sorry for her because she was jealous of Vickie on “Three’s A Crowd”.

Did she realize that Mary Cadorette was an actress (although a bad one) playing a role and wasn't actually involved with John Ritter?

I thought John Ritter was gay when I first encountered him as the young preacher on "The Waltons."

John Ritter had gayvoice but relentlessly cheated with women. It happens.

[quote] "We haven’t discussed Joyce’s mugshot in depth. She looks like a lunatic."

She was SIXTY in 2009? I know she's getting up there, but...I didn't realize she's that far along, is all. Ah well. Still a fan.

Eh, I feel bad for her in her mug shot. She drank too much and got busted driving home. Prior to that, never got in trouble. No, of course, she shouldn't be driving while intoxicated. I hope she now drinks at home or has someone else drive if she goes out to drink.

R9/R10, great info! Thank you!

By the way, do you remember anything about the period during which John Ritter was making movies? (Someone in the previous thread talked about it briefly.) The only thing I recall is an article at the time that said the TC producers, because they really thought Ritter was on his way to a film career, were actually considering moving Jack out of the apartment and into his own place upstairs as a way of giving him more time off from the show. (I believe this was prior to Suzanne leaving the show.) Ultimately, though, they decided against it because they figured the audience wouldn't go for it (plus Ritter's film at the time, "Hero at Large," didn't do so well at the box office). Do you know if any of that was true?

R17 your post made me look for that hilarious Larry Sanders Show episode with Ritter and Gene Siskel (about Skin Deep), but I guess YouTube took it down.

R17, I really don't remember much except everyone expected John back and I didn't think twice about it. I felt confident if John said he'd be back, he'd be back, especially since it was a good gig and the kind he was working towards for so many years.

I forgot to mention Priscilla Barnes. I loved Priscilla. She was so beautiful and the screen didn't capture it. I didn't know she was unhappy because she was always so vivacious and really funny. She and Joyce bonded right away and even I saw the difference between her and Suzanne with Joyce. I heard they remained good friends after the show which didn't surprise me. I also thinks was in a bad position because the show didn't know what to do with her character but as you can see, she can be really funny, even in a slapstick way. I didn't know Jenilee very well but she was very, very serious. I knew the pressure was on and it was showing because she would be replacing Suzanne. You can see how awkward she is in her brief time and the producers tried to make that her character but it only underscored how amateurish she was against the brilliant physical comedy of John. I remembered going to the first taping and everyone was scared when it was over.

I loved Ann Wedgeworth. My friend introduced me to her and whenever she saw me in the audience, she would wave at me and come talk to me after the taping. She was so good. I mean so good. The audiences were howling at her line readings. In the camping episode, the second she enters when Jack is naked covered in leaves, the reaction was riotous. The entire character was already so well defined that she didn't have to say a word. Although the producers said her character wasn't working, there were rumors that Suzanne wanted her fired because she was giving her a run in the sex symbol department. Although John said later he didn't like the character, I know he really enjoyed working with her.

And I wanted to add an anecdote I remembered about Joyce. In the episode where Jack has to pick a partner to go on a cruise with, there is a scene where he tells the girls that whoever Furley talks to first would be the one he takes. At the last dress rehearsal, Joyce made a really funny face, blowing up her cheeks and crossing her eyes. The audience screamed. Then Suzanne did her dumb blonde bug eyed and the audience laughed. When the final taping came, Joyce was suddenly doing a not funny squinted up face but Suzanne did the same rehearsal face and got a big laugh. I found out that the producers felt the face Joyce made was not consistent with Janet but my friend said they felt Joyce's laugh muted Suzanne's so they asked her to tone it down. But that was Joyce to me. The team player.

Thanks, R19! Please feel free to continue posting with all the juicy TC gossip you can remember. You're a great writer and it's wonderful to read.

R9 & R10 great information. Love it. Anything else?

FYI -

About Richard Kline-I tell this story every time a thread about Three's Company comes up. A friend and I had tickets to see "The Producers" on Broadway and we had gone out drinking first. By the time we finished and made it to the theater we were hammered. I sat in my seat and immediately ran to the lobby where I threw up in the trash can. Obviously, I was gonna sit it out and so I started asking the ushers who ere kind enough to sit with the drunk about all the stars they 've met. The one that really stood out they said was Richard Kline because he had the most entitled "dontyouknowwhoiam" attitude they ever ran across. They also said SJP was a doll. At intermission I found my friend passed out in his seat and we left.

I remember some California-centric Magazine at the time had Priscilla Barnes on the cover and labelled her "The Lucille Ball of the 80's" That didn't actually work out.

R23, getting too drunk to enjoy the show sounds like something I would have done.

Anyone ever take his acting class?

I can even tell you the night I was there, R25. August 12th 2004. I remember that, because when we finally got back to the hotel it was wall-to-wall coverage of Jim Mcgreevey announcing the fact that he's a gay homosexual on television.

R27, during a rough patch in my life, I went to the Shakespeare festival in Oregon with a small group of friends. The first night, I drank alcohol and passed out during the play. My friends laughed about it when I "came to." The next night, I resolved to stay awake for the play. I drank espresso ... and passed out sleeping, yet again.

When I met Ann, I told her how brilliant her Tony Awards speech was for Chapter 2 and she said the speech, not the play got her the TC gig. She was overjoyed to be joining a hit sitcom and said she loved the money she was being paid. She also liked taping in front of the audience because like so many theater folk, it reminded her of home. But what made her really like me was when I complimented her performance in Handle with Care. I told her that Pauline Kael raved about her and she said she'd never seen her review. I went home and copied the review (and yes, Mary, I did have all of Pauline's books and reviews) and gave it to her. Kael said something to the effect that Ann gave the kind of comedic performance you'd expect from a Lily Tomlin.

In the camping episode, the line she had when she saw Jack with just leaves covering him was "Hey Tarzan, can I swing on your vine?". After the scene was completed, they redid it with the much weaker line "Hey Tarzan, can I swing on your tree? Standards and Practices approved on the line beforehand but apparently felt it was too much after hearing it and demanded the switch. I really loved the episode because it was all about sex and everyone got a nice piece to do.

The behind the scenes maneuverings for Threes a Crowd were quite shady. If John had wanted Joyce or Priscilla to be his wife on the show, it would have happened, but he felt the concept was tired and wanted something new, which was a big mistake on his part because the loyal TC fans were waiting for Jack to get together with Janet. One of the most popular TC episodes is where Janet is taken advantage of by a dance instructor and Jack is the one who knows exactly how to comfort her. A very sweet episode. But they started having auditions for the wife when they were on hiatus so Joyce and Priscilla wouldn't find out about it. Of course, they did but only Joyce was hurt. Priscilla couldn't wait to get out so she was thrilled. I don't quite know this entire story but that did indeed create a lot of tension during the final few episodes because Good Old Reliable Janet was really hurt.

Everyone, and I mean everyone hated Alan Hamel. I still have no idea what he did for a living except he was on Alpha Beta commercials. The crew made up some nickname for him and I wish I could remember it because it was pretty insulting and it had to do with Alpha Beta. He was always sticking his nose into everything and was front and center when it came to the negotiations. Jay Bernstein was Suzanne's manager and was also Farrah's manager and he was aware of Suzanne's limitations. He would have done anything to keep her on the show but Suzanne listened to her husband and not her manager.

Ray was the greatest. We wondered if they could have written a role for him. At the time, he was hoping he and Joyce could do "They're Playing Our Song" (I could be wrong about the timeline). He would eventually do it in Canada with Anita Gilette to great acclaim. He and Anita were going to make the move to Broadway but Diana Canova and Ted Wass decided they wanted to try it and got the nod. I think the TV movies might have gotten it right. Ray had problems with Joyce's lack of confidence and lack of understanding about fame and success. They broke up and he took up with Public Access Princess Karen who was the basis of the Tina character on Rhoda. No idea what he's doing today but he was a very big part of the first years of TC. Whenever I see the pilot, I can hear his laugh when Joyce answers the phone.

[Quote] At the last dress rehearsal, Joyce made a really funny face, blowing up her cheeks and crossing her eyes. The audience screamed. Then Suzanne did her dumb blonde bug eyed and the audience laughed. When the final taping came, Joyce was suddenly doing a not funny squinted up face but Suzanne did the same rehearsal face and got a big laugh. I found out that the producers felt the face Joyce made was not consistent with Janet but my friend said they felt Joyce's laugh muted Suzanne's so they asked her to tone it down.

It's this kind of stuff that is probably the real reason that Joyce hates Suzanne.

[Quote] Although John said later he didn't like the character, I know he really enjoyed working with her.

I wonder if that's really true. Susan Lanier, who was the second Pilot Chrissy, said that Ritter was very competitive and implies that he was the reason she got the axe.

And I wanted to reiterate how good Suzanne was. I always liked her and really respected her as a professional. As I said, she always knew her lines and blocking first, no matter how many changes there were. And she was totally committed to making the show a hit and keeping it a hit. Doing interview after interview, photo shoot after photo shoot, It was publicity for both the show and her and that's definitely what rankled both John and Joyce because they saw it as a publicity grab for her without understanding the two way street for the show.

I think this may be the only time I’ve read DL stories that you can tell are 100% true. This is so entertaining; please keep them coming and I’m sure I speak for many here!

You disbelieved the Herbert Ross Troll?

R32, I listened to a bit of the interview but when she said she got to Hollywood in 1974 and she had more TV experience than John when they did the pilot, you know she's misrepresenting things.

Lots of girls auditioned for TC including Teresa Ganzel and, gulp, Ann Reinking.

Did she have more sitcom credits, though?

Bergmann claims that he was told the original women were too old, which doesn't make sense. The original Chrissy (or Samantha as she was known) was the prettiest and youngest looking. Valerie Curtin didn't look right for a sex farce, even as the "sensible" one. Bergmann also repeatedly claims that he refused to do more than one pilot but the interviewer notes that there were indeed two...

R35 I don’t know so much that I didn’t believe him (although certain things I was on the fence about) but that so many of the stories were colored by his own ego that they were far from accurate. Like Teri Garr didn’t drop everything and kiss his ass, thus she was a “bitch.” Things like that. It just became tiresome quickly.

Bump for more stories from our resident TC insider!

I think the Lana character could have worked. I would have given her a husband, some big guy who’s away on business a lot. Lana is lonely and sex-starved, so she seeks the attention of Jack. Not wanting to mess with another man’s wife and fearful of getting beaten up by Lana’s gorilla of a husband, Jack consistently rebuffs her advances.

That wouldn't give Ann much to do.

R42, why not? She would be pursuing Jack, which is the same thing she did on the show. The difference is that now Jack has a legitimate reason for rebuffing her advances in a way that the audience can understand.

I like R41’s suggestion and agree it would have made a lot more sense.

Suzanne did a pilot for "Goodbye Charlie" based on the play and it had a movie starring Debbie Reynolds. She actually asked for Ray to be her co-star, maybe as a slap to Joyce. He would eventually play the secondary male lead. It had some very talented people behind the scenes, including Charlotte Brown and Pat Nardo who were from MTM. At one point, John Davidson who was the co-star got sick and Suzanne read it with Ray in the lead. She loved Ray so much that she tried to get him to replace John. As you can see, John and Suzanne had no chemistry but it's actually not bad and Suzanne is quite good and shows more range and charm than she ever did on TC or her other TV comedies. It's believed that her TC experience soured execs and they didn't pick it up.

I always felt bad for Norman Fell. He knew from the beginning that he was going to get screwed by doing the spin-off, and he was right. I’m sure at his age he was absolutely thrilled to be on the number one hit show on TV, and he didn’t want to do anything to mess it up.

My friend also worked on Goodbye Charlie. He was nervous about working with Suzanne because of the awkwardness of her leaving. When she saw him, she threw her arms around him and kissed him saying it was so good to see a familiar face. He was going to say something but Suzanne put her hand up and said something like don't worry. I heard she had to audition very hard for the role and it was down to her and Priscilla Barnes and that had to give Suzanne satisfaction. They were between John and I think Gary Sandy for the male lead. Ray had a relationship with Charlotte Brown from Rhoda so she wrote the part for him. Pat Nardo (not a nice woman, BTW) ran the production with an iron fist. Perhaps because he knew how much was riding on this pilot, Alan Hamel completely left everything to the pros and stayed out completely. It was only one episode but I do have an anecdote. During the scene where Charlie shows George her breasts off camera, she actually did it at the taping and the reaction you see from John is his actually seeing Suzanne naked.

Did they film the opening during Covid '76? Why is there practically no one at Venice Beach?!

Was John Davidson up for the Ritter role in Three's company? Bergmann mentioned three contenders but didn't name them.

R45, Gee…with that opening theme song and graphics it’s a mystery why that show didn’t get picked up. 🙄

Joyce should have starred in a TV movie as a flight attendant who overcomes Palestinian terrorists by strangling the motherfuckers with L’eggs pantyhose. Then she has to land the plane.

[quote] She actually asked for Ray to be her co-star, maybe as a slap to Joyce. He would eventually play the secondary male lead.

Wow. They really are the D-list versions of Joan and Bette!

Hilarious Lauren Bacall as Charlie on Broadway.

Are the stories true that Audra Linley used to fart constantly and Normal Fell was grossed out by her?

Agree about the Herbert Ross Troll. That Teri Garr story rankled with me, too.

R54, don’t believe every ugly rumor you read on DL. From what I heard, Audra Lindsey was a true professional, so the idea that she was constantly passing gas on the set in front of others is hard to believe. Even if she weren’t professional, what woman constantly passes gas in public?

One who buys very good ketchup.

Can I just say again how much I hate the grotesquely unfunny Felipe?

Mr. Angelo sucked too.

Goodbye, Charlie actually had a perfectly good theme song written for the film

John Davidson talks about the show in this article. He says nice things about The Hamels.

Is it true, as portrayed in the "Behind the Camera" TC movie, that Suzanne campaigned to co-star with John in Three's A Crowd and for the show to be about Jack and Chrissy?

I don't know but it sounds like something those two would do.

Is John Davidson a gay?

No, R64.

[quote]Is John Davidson a gay?

On the late Gilbert Gottfried's podcast, he said he considered himself a bisexual who had never been with a man, which was a surprise.

A bigger surprise was that's he's an outspoken atheist and said he's turned down lucrative gigs where he would be asked/expected to sing "God Bless America."

I imagine his audience of conservative elderfraus would've dropped their dentures at that revelation.

Priscilla was the most attractive followed by Joyce.

[quote]Is John Davidson a gay?

I wish. I had a huge crush on him back in the day even though he is 35 years my senior.

As a young gayling I was so hot for John Davidson on both "That's Incredible" and his talk show.

[Quote] a bisexual who had never been with a man

He expects us to swallow this tripe?

If he doesn't have any religious objections obviously because he is an avowed atheist why wouldn't he pursue his bisexuality in full? Doesn't make sense. He certainly must have had his share of opportunities.

He only toured in musicals for 40 years. There were so few available men.

Tasteful friends, what do we think of Prissy's airbnb? Is it worthy of its own thread? Has Joyce stayed there? Is it a lovable space that needs your face?

Shit! John Ritter's been dead since 2003.

I just googled if he was still alive.

He seemed Aspie. Something about his personality.

John Davidson's relationship with his current wife seems to be in a kind of limbo, from the sound of this recent profile. And they've been together a long while. There was a separate thread about this article when it was published.

John is now past 80 and he owns, books talent, and performs at his own club. It's called Club Sandwich, in Sandwich, New Hampshire.

I bet he was good in Wicked.

Superstar?!

[quote]Superstar?!

Jesus Christ!

R73 she’s such a fucking character. She needs to restart her podcast.

Nice find, r73!

This alliterate back in the day A- list mostly television actress has been on multiple hit shows, but is losing her battle against cancer. Suzanne Somers (Suzanne Somers, 76, of Three's Company fame claims she said NO to co-hosting The View with Barbara Walters when the show launched)

“Mostly” television though?

Why was Suzanne is the credits for all of season 5 and Jenilee didn't show up in the credits until season 6?

R82, I assume it's a contractual thing. IIRC, when they killed the Nicole character off of "Fame" halfway through season 6, Nia Peeples was still featured in the opening credits for the rest of the season (though I could be mistaken -- it's been years since I saw those episodes).

r83

thanks... I was also wondering if it was just like that for syndication

Suzanne is not well

Unfortunately, I feel you’ll be hearing from me soon…

[quote]Suzanne is not well

In the Boyd Gaines sense?

R87 In the “sad last days” sense

Which is the Boyd Gaines sense.