Three's Company

What’s the Story?

For eight seasons in the late 1970s and early '80s, THREE'S COMPANY effortlessly combined slapstick, physical humor, and double entendres. The show (which was based on the British hit Man About the House) centers on aspiring chef Jack Tripper (John Ritter), who shares an apartment in Santa Monica, Calif., with two female roommates -- slightly neurotic florist Janet Wood (Joyce DeWitt) and ditzy blonde Chrissy Snow (Suzanne Somers). In later episodes, after Somers left the show amid salary disputes, Chrissy was briefly replaced by her cousin, Cindy Snow (Jennilee Harrison), and then by the much more grounded Terri Alden (Priscilla Barnes). While the trio's co-ed bunking situation works well for them, their conservative older landlord, Mr. Roper (Norman Fell), thinks otherwise. He decides to live with it only after Jack lets Mr. Roper believe that he's gay -- when, in truth, Jack is happily heterosexual and even prides himself on his attraction to the ladies (though his roomies would probably disagree).

Is It Any Good?

As you can imagine, a premise based on one major misunderstanding just begs for more to follow -- and they certainly do. The name of the game here is comedy of misheard comments, misinterpreted situations, slapstick clumsiness, and drawn-out double entendres. Over the course of the show's eight-year run, Jack & co. weathered many personnel changes (including the memorable addition of Don Knotts as new landlord Mr. Furley), but their onscreen chemistry held strong.

Although plenty of Three's Company's humor has sexual tones, the mood is so light and silly that it's really pretty harmless. Kids old enough to pick up on the flirting and longing gazes likely will understand their place in the overall comedy, and younger tweens will miss most of it amid the clumsy physical humor that's so prevalent. The only thing to really watch out for is the mild teasing that surrounds Mr. Roper's belief in Jack's homosexuality. While even that's kept very light, it's pretty frequent (he often refers to Jack as "one of the girls") and may raise questions from kids.