A-Z GUIDE TO MOVIES AND TV SHOWS PARODIED BY MAD, CRACKED, CRAZY, ETC. UP TO 1996. THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. SPOILERS AND OTHER NON-SEQUITURS, TOO. SOMETIMES THESE THINGS HAVE WORDS OR SITUATIONS WE DON'T USE ANYMORE. YOU KNOW, 'CAUSE THEY'RE OLD.
Updated daily. There's posts besides this one archived in the sidebar on the right, you clods!
if you're at a laptop or desktop, right-click and open link on pages and they'll be clearer and legible in a new window.
The show was about a guy named Jack Tripper (John Ritter) who moved in with three women, Janet (Joyce DeWitt) and Chrissy (Suzanne Sommers) to split the rent, but in order for their landlord to believe nothing was going on between them, Jack had to pretend he was gay.
Suzanne Somers was fired from the show for demanding equal pay and replaced by Cindy (Jenilee Harrison), who was Chrissy's cousin, which only lasted a couple seasons before being replaced by Terri (Priscilla Barnes). The Ropers were the original landlords who left to do a spinoff and were replaced by Mr. Furley (Don Knotts). Jack's friend Larry (Richard Kline) was also added.
THREE'SA COMPANY
Cracked #186, May 1982
a: Samuel B. Whitehead
Eventually, they got rid of the conceit of Jack pretending to be gay. There was a character named Lana that got top billing for a few episodes, a cougar that chased after Jack, but they dropped her since they almost never used her.
TREE'S COMPANY
Cracked #201, January 1984
a: John Severin
3'S COMFY
Bananas #70, circa 1983
w: Jovial Bob Stine
a: Sam Viviano
And this was the porno movie parodying the series.
The earlier incarnation of the show was posted yesterday. Click "older post".
HE'S COMPANY
MAD #196, January 1978
w: Arnie Kogen
a: Angelo Torres
The plot (and shows) were fairly simple. Jack Tripper (John Ritter) lived in an apartment complex in Santa Monica with Janet (Joyce DeWitt) and Chrissy (Suzanne Somers), and so the landlord would know it was purely platonic and there was no hanky-panky going on, they convinced him Jack was gay. The humor was mostly innuendos based on misunderstandings, pretty innocuous by todays standards. What offended prudes was not the humor but that it was part of what was considered “jiggle TV” with Suzanne Somers usually walking around without a bra.
They had to keep up the charade whenever the landlord, Stanley Roper (Norman Fell) and his wife Helen (Audra Lindley) came by. Helen didn't care and made cracks and Stanley never putting out.
Yet another joke about 70s homophobe Anita Bryant.
THREE'S CRUMMIER
Cracked #156, December 1978
a: John Severin
Mr. Roper would always overhear something that sounded dirty but just when he thought he caught them in the act it was always something innocent. The detective here is James Garner, Jim Rockford of The Rockford Files.
I can't confirm it, but I think the Jerry Beck mentioned here is an inside joke, and maybe the same one I know.
A reference to Hugh Hefner, Duh.
In case this article wasn't seventies enough, Lee Majors and Farrah Fawcett had to make an appearance.
THREE'S COMEDY
Crazy #40, July 1978
w: Rico Tallar (Paul Laikin)
a: Kent Gamble
The speech balloons have been messed up in the second panel due to sloppy editing. Renee Richards was one of the first trans people when it was still called a “sex change”.
THREE'S CRUMMY
Sick #120, February 1978
a: Jack Sparling
From a much larger article introduced by Archie Bunker.
THREE'S A CROWD
Bananas #41, circa 1981
w: Megan & H. William Stine
a: Samuel B. Whitehead
There actually was a series called that, a sort of sequel to Three's Company where Jack moved out and was married with a job. But it was only on for a few episodes before they realized such a thing wouldn't work without the women and innuendos.
The Ropers left to do their own show and were replaced by Mr. Furley (Don Knotts).
Suzanne Somers was fired from the show after demanding equal pay and replaced by a different blonde. Larry, another character, was added and even more parodies will be posted tomorrow.
THREE MASCOTEERS
Cracked #121, November 1974
a: John Severin
David Carradine, Tom Laughlin, and Lee Majors' characters are not in the movie.
D'Artagnan (Michael York) inadvertantly ends up insulting Athos (Oliver Reed), Porthos (Frank Finlay), and Aramis (Richard Chamberlain), The Three Musketeers, at different times when he first arrives in town, and must duel with them. They are attacked by the Cardinal's guards and he teams up with them temporarily. They are impressed with his swordsmanship and split the money they have taken with him. D'Artagnan finds lodging which he almost turms down until seeing that the elderly lady's wife Constance (Raquel Welch) is there.
It is Ron Ziegler, John Ehrlichman, and John Mitchell of the Nixon staff in the second panel
Though D'Artagnan has proven himself a worthy fighter, there's no room for him as a musketeer.
Meanwhile, the queen (Geraldine Chaplin) has confided her troubles in Constance, who asks d'Artagnan to go to England and retrieve the diamonds. D'Artagnan and the three musketeers set out. Planchet is played by Roy Kinnear.
On the way, the cardinal's men attack them. Only d'Artagnan and his servant make it through to Buckingham, where they discover the loss of two of the diamond settings. The duke (Simon Ward) replaces the two settings, and d'Artagnan races back to Paris. Porthos, Athos, and Aramis, wounded but not dead as d'Artagnan had feared, aid the delivery of the complete necklace to the queen, saving the royal couple from the embarrassment which the cardinal and Milady de Winter (Faye Dunaway) had plotted.
THE THREE DUNCE-KETEERS
Sick #101, December 1974
w: Fred Wolfe (Paul Laikin)
a: Jerry Grandenetti
Constance's husband is played by Spike Milligan.
The movie was remade in 1993 directed by Stephen Herek.
THE THREE MUSKE-TWITS (1993)
Cracked #289, May 1994
w: Andy Simmons
a: Walter Brogan
In this retelling, Aramis is Charlie Sheen, Keifer Sutherland is Athos, Oliver Platt is Porthos, and Chris O'Donnell is D'Artagnan.
Tim Curry is the Cardinal (hence the Rocky Horror joke), and Rebecca DeMornay is Milady DeWinter.
Julie Delpy was Constance, Gabrielle Anwar was Queen Anne.
Jack Kervorkian was a doctor in the 90s that invented a machine to make suicide easier. I've mentioned Lorena Bobbitt a million times, but if you didn't catch it before, she was the one who cut off her husband's penis,
This is the earliest parody posted so far, pre-dating any of these magazines or comics. The Three Must-Get-Theres was released in 1922.
