THREE'SA COMPANY

THREE'S COMPANY
1977-1984 ABC

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

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.

THE DOPERS

THE ROPERS
ABC 1979-1980

THE DOPERS
Sick #129, October 1979
a: Jack Sparling

Short-lived sitcom of the landlords from Three's Company moving out and getting their own apartment. Stanley (Norman Fell) and Helen Roper (Audra Lindley) lived next door to Jeffrey (Jeffrey Tambor) and Anne Brookes (Patricia McCormack) and their precocious son David (Evan Cohen).

A running joke throughout the show (and previously in Three's Company) was that Helen was eternally sexually frustrated.

The building's hot tub was the shows excuse for the Ropers and the Brookses to interact.

FEBRUARY UPDATES

One-time MAD artist Bruce Stark did a bunch of TV Guide covers I haven't included before and almost all were parodied by MAD as well.

Bill Daly, Suzanne Pleshette, Marcia Wallace, Peter Bonerz, Pat Finley, and Bob Newhart in the first incarnation of The Bob Newhart Show.

Gavin McLeod, Lauren Tewes, Ted Lange, Bernie Kopell, Fred Grandy, and Jill Whelock of Love Boat

Not sure where this is from. Probably a TV Guide article about reruns. It has Dan Blocker and Lorne Greene from Bonanza, Jack Webb from Dragnet, Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner from Star Trek, Alan Alda and Loretta Swit from M*A*S*H, Jackie Gleason and Art Carney of The Honeymooners and Lucille Ball as her character from I Love Lucy.

Richard Chamberlain was in Shōgun. This is more typical of what almost all TV actors make now.

Newhart cast members Bob Newhart, Julia Duffy, Peter Scolari, Mary Frann, Tom Poston, Tony Papenfuss, William Sanderson, and John Voldtstadt.

Ad in TV Guide by Sam Viviano with Henry Winkler, Rita Moreno, John Ritter, Penny Marshall, and David Lander. That's supposed to be Michael McKean though you'd only get that in the context.

I've mentioned before how Jack Davis was the official Monkees artist.

In 1984, the Motion Picture Association sent this flier by Davis to theaters announcing their new PG-13 rating and how some releases that already had a PG rating would be changed. Films included would be Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, The Woman in Red, Gremlins, and Red Dawn.

Drawing by Mort Drucker, maybe for self-promotion, since it's from 1985 and the references span several years. Roger Moore as James Bond, Bill Murray in Ghostbusters, Goldie Hawn as Private Benjamin, Tina Turner, Sylvester Stallone as Rambo, Clint Eastwood, and Jane Fonda with her aerobics videos.

Unused publicity drawing for Animal House, or maybe it was for the Delta House TV series but shelved when they realized they wouldn't have the character of Bluto.