Three's Company

[Jock Ewing Fan]

I liked the early days of “Laverne & Shirley” because of the wonderful chemistry between the two leads, and because of Cindy Williams’ way of being able to wring laughs out of the must mundane lines.

The weakness of the show, to me, was that outside of Lenny and Squiggy, the supporting cast was blah at best. I liked the first year or two where they had a different, funnier landlady; Laverne’s dad was only seen occasionally, and the joke that he was barely comprehensible; and they had foils for the girls: Big Rosie and Lucille, Carmine’s girlfriend.

Later, they settled on a more boring landlady, the Big Ragoo, and Laverne’s dad in a bigger role. I didn’t find any of them particularly funny. I saw an interview with cocreator Mark Rothman and he basically said the same thing.

And even before the ill-fated move to California, you could see the decline setting in during season 5. This is when Bob Boyett joined the show as a consultant and you could see them moving towards the more simplistic, kid-oriented formula that he and Tom Miller perfected with their shows in the late 80s and 90s.

As for TC: they didn’t give Priscilla much to work with. I thought she was strong in her first few episodes. Terri was accomplished in her career, payed the violin, and flirted with Jack. They could have leaned into that more, the way they leaned into Chrissy’s airheadedness. Instead, they didn’t do much to distinguish her from Janet.

Mostly agree. I would give Phil Foster a bit more credit though. he played the role about as well as could be played, given the premise.
Eddie Mekka was likeable, and didn't need to be funny - sort of a balancing character
Early Priscilla Barnes was quite good. There was an opportunity to develop her further, and that opportunity was missed.
She just didn't have the same comic ability as Suzanne Somers, and it led to scripts where her and Joyce DeWitt became plot devices, with
Don Knotts handling most of the comic void left by Suzanne Somers, with Richard Kline having a larger role to complement John Ritter

 

[ClassyCo]

Don't forget the 1985 pilot she did with John Davidson called 'Goodbye, Charlie'.. where Charlie dies and comes back in the body of Suzanne Somers... she's hilarious in it. It's on Youtube

For kicks, I decided to watch the GOODBYE, CHARLIE pilot this morning. I've never seen it, nor have I ever seen the 1964 movie starring Tony Curtis, Debbie Reynolds, and Pat Boone.

As for the pilot, I thought it was good, about what I was expecting humor-wise and the types of jokes I knew they'd do. This top-tier executive named Charlie dies and he is reincarnated as a beautiful young woman (Suzanne Somers). Somers is actually pretty funny, she has a couple of decent-to-good one-liners, a good physical comedy moment or two, and I like that she's actually toned down from her Chrissy Snow days and doesn't come across here as an airhead or bimbo. John Davidson appears to have been a good choice for the male lead, with he and Somers sharing some good on-screen banter and chemistry.

Honestly, with a few tweaks, the show might've worked. It would've been a better star vehicle for Somers over SHE'S THE SHERIFF, but the GOODBYE, CHARLIE pilot didn't sell. Maybe if it had found a deal in first-run syndication, it might've ran for a few seasons and made a pleasant, chuckle-fest of a show... that's if you can get past all the obvious man-in-a-woman's-body jokes, which probably would've mellowed with time.

 

[Daniel Avery]

They could not lean into Terri as a "smarter" roommate, which would seem logical given her career as a nurse. If they had leaned into her being 'the smart one' then 99% of the material would fall apart. I mean, the shorthand formula of every episode was "Character misinterprets something they saw/heard, and things go haywire until they figure out the mistake." If you had a truly intelligent person in the mix, they would figure out the mistake within seconds and then there would be no story.

 

[Crimson]

If you had a truly intelligent person in the mix, they would figure out the mistake within seconds and then there would be no story.

The network might have liked that. 3 minutes of story, 27 minutes of commercials.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

The network might have liked that. 3 minutes of story, 27 minutes of commercials.

I think that is called a farce comedy. Not generally my preferred entertainment, but "Three's Company" was that rare show that managed to make it work

 

[Seaviewer]

For kicks, I decided to watch the GOODBYE, CHARLIE pilot this morning. I've never seen it, nor have I ever seen the 1964 movie starring Tony Curtis, Debbie Reynolds, and Pat Boone.

As for the pilot, I thought it was good, about what I was expecting humor-wise and the types of jokes I knew they'd do. This top-tier executive named Charlie dies and he is reincarnated as a beautiful young woman (Suzanne Somers). Somers is actually pretty funny, she has a couple of decent-to-good one-liners, a good physical comedy moment or two, and I like that she's actually toned down from her Chrissy Snow days and doesn't come across here as an airhead or bimbo. John Davidson appears to have been a good choice for the male lead, with he and Somers sharing some good on-screen banter and chemistry.

Honestly, with a few tweaks, the show might've worked. It would've been a better star vehicle for Somers over SHE'S THE SHERIFF, but the GOODBYE, CHARLIE pilot didn't sell. Maybe if it had found a deal in first-run syndication, it might've ran for a few seasons and made a pleasant, chuckle-fest of a show... that's if you can get past all the obvious man-in-a-woman's-body jokes, which probably would've mellowed with time.

I watched it the other night. I do think that the premise was ripe for expansion but maybe the half-hour sitcom format was not the way to do it. It all seemed too rushed and the "tish boom" joke style seemed inappropriate. Possibly, a one-hour series leaning into the mystical elements would work better.