HE'S COMPANY

THREE'S COMPANY
ABC 1977-1984

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.

THAT'S LIFE!

THAT'S LIFE
BBC1 1973-1994

MAD UK #192, c. 1978
w: Les Lilley
a: Clive Collins

That's Life was a magazine program which mixed serious and light-hearted items in a studio-based format with film inserts, devised by Peter Chafer, John Lloyd and Esther Rantzen, it was presented and produced by Esther Rantzen with various teams of reporters and contributors. Special spinoff programs concentrated on serious topics which were first aired on That's Life, such as childbirth, mental health and child abuse. Its journalism relied on the skills of researchers many of who went on to hold senior jobs both inside and outside the media industry.

The first presenter is Cyril Fletcher.

Bernard Braden was host of a competing show called On the Braden Beat.

The show was spoofed on the BBC comedy show Not the Nine O'Clock News. Non-anglophiles may still rcognize Rowan Atkinson.

ZOAP

SOAP
1977-1981 ABC

ZOAP
Sick #120, April 1978
a: Jack Sparling

Prime-time sitcom that was itself a parody of daytime soaps. It's another show that was considered really dirty at the time but now you have no idea what the fuss is about.

As the intro always said, it was the story of two sisters, Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond) and Mary Campbell (Cathryn Damon). The show concentrated on the antics of their families. Danny (Ted Wass) was a gangster that was trying to be a hitman but could never bring it on himself to kill his stepfather Burt (Richard Mulligan). Their other son Jodie was openly gay (Billy Crystal) but secretly dating a football player.

In the Tate family, we had promiscuous daughter Corinne (Diana Canova), daughter of the equally horny Jessica.

Chet (Robert Mandan), patriarch of the Tates was a wealthy businessman with his own pieces on the side.

Benson (Robert Guillaume) eventually spun off into his own show but was the Tates' butler before that and the racial differences were the object of humor.

And then the article just ends abruptly like that. It's part of an issue-length article about the Bunkers taking a look at TV.

Now here's another of Jack Davis' TV Guide covers. Also featured are Arthur Peterson Jr., Jennifer Salt, Jimmy Baio, and Robert Urich.

THE SIX BILLION DOLLAR MAN

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN
ABC 1973-1978

For those who didn't tune in yesterday and/or are too lazy to click on “previous post”. In a nutshell, The Six Million Dollar Manis about how Col. Steve Austin (Lee Majors) got in a bad accident astronauting and was rebuilt by the government as a cyborg, costing six million dollars to make him robotic. His origin is explained in the opening credits.

Now as promised, here are more takes from Cracked, and it's still not all.

THE SPECIALIZED BIONIC MAN
Cracked #129, November 1975
a: John Severin

Telly Savalas and Raquel Welch are caricatured on this page.

And Paul Newman with Elvis.

A CRACKED HISTORY OF THE BIONIC MAN
Cracked #136, October 1976
a: Nireves (John Severin)

The Six Million Dollar Man often did crossover episodes with The Bionic Woman, Steve Austin's female counterpart, which was also parodied here.

They also did If The Fonz Became Bionic.

From How TV Shows Could Be Killed Without Cancelling Them in #138, December 1976, drawn by John Severin.

From If King Kong Made Guest Appearances in #140, March 1977, art by Howard Nostrand

From If Frankenstein's Monster Did Guest Appearances on TV, in #151, July 1978, art by Howard Nostrand

And continuing with their cross-pollination, they had Steve Austin fight Darth Vader.

THE SIX BILLION DOLLAR MAN VS. DARK BADAR
Cracked #149, March 1978
a: O.O. Severin (John Severin)

THE REAL ORIGIN OF THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN Bananas #?, c. 1980
w: Jovial Bob Stine
a: Bob Taylor