Three's a Crowd

Three's a Crowd (also known as Three's Company, Too in the Three's Company syndication package) is an American sitcom television series produced as a spin-off and continuation of Three's Company that aired on ABC from September 25, 1984 (one week after the final episode of Three's Company was broadcast), until April 9, 1985, with reruns airing until September 10, 1985. It is loosely based on the British sitcom Robin's Nest, which was itself a spin-off of Man About the House, on which Three's Company was based.

Plot
In Three's Company 's final episodes, Vicky Bradford (Mary Cadorette) is introduced as a love interest of Jack Tripper (John Ritter), beginning with the episode titled "Cupid Works Overtime". In the following two-part episode "Friends and Lovers", Jack proposes marriage, but Vicky, afraid of marriage after witnessing her parents' tumultuous relationship and bitter divorce, declines the offer. Vicky instead convinces Jack to move in with her in the vacant apartment above his restaurant. Vicky's wealthy father James Bradford (Robert Mandan) buys the building from Jack's former boss Frank Angelino. James does not approve of Jack, and he constantly tries to disrupt his and Vicky's relationship.

Other characters include E. Z. Taylor (Alan Campbell), Jack's eccentric assistant at the bistro, and Claudia Bradford (Jessica Walter), Vicky's mother and James's ex-wife.

Main

 * John Ritter as Jack Tripper
 * Mary Cadorette as Victoria "Vicky" Bradford
 * Robert Mandan as James Bradford
 * Alan Campbell as E.Z. Taylor

Recurring

 * Jessica Walter as Claudia Bradford

Production history
Three's Company had been based on the sitcom Man About the House, which aired on ITV in the United Kingdom from 1973 to 1976. When the series concluded, producers Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer devised two spin-offs. The first was George and Mildred, which ran from 1976 to 1979 and starred Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce as the characters of George and Mildred Roper. The second spin-off was Robin's Nest, which ran from 1977 to 1981 and featured Richard O'Sullivan as Robin Tripp (the basis of the Jack Tripper character), who runs the titular restaurant with his live-in girlfriend and her antagonistic father.

Three's Company 's producers were eager to capitalize on these spin-offs. In 1979, they had spun off The Ropers, based on George and Mildred, but the show ran for only one and a half seasons. Executive producers Ted Bergmann and Don Taffner attempted to adapt the Robin's Nest series, but without John Ritter. A pilot for a series called Byrd's Nest was written with the same premise as Robin's Nest, with a young man living with his older girlfriend and her disapproving father, who owns the building in which they live. The series was planned as a spin-off from Three's Company and possibly a vehicle for Richard Kline, but ABC passed on the idea. As Three's Company entered its eighth season in September 1983, ratings took a dive due to stiff competition from the new NBC series The A-Team, and ABC approved the development of a new series to be called Three's a Crowd, starring Ritter.

Development and casting of the new series occurred in secret as Three's Company's eighth season progressed. Ritter's cast members Richard Kline, Joyce DeWitt, Priscilla Barnes and Don Knotts were kept out of the loop. During a Christmas hiatus in late 1983, producers auditioned several female leads to play Jack's new love interest Vicky Bradford, and eventually decided on Broadway actress Mary Cadorette. An embarrassing situation arose when DeWitt accidentally walked in on the auditions after visiting the studio to set up her dressing room at the end of the hiatus. Informed of the spin-off project and the looming cancellation of Three's Company, DeWitt was upset by the secrecy but soon reconciled with Ritter. She and Barnes found it difficult to tape the rest of the season, for both actresses learned that their characters would conclude with the series finale. Kline and Knotts were offered recurring roles on Three's a Crowd, but both declined the offer (Kline would make a guest appearance on the show in early 1985). Suzanne Somers reportedly lobbied to reprise her Three's Company character Chrissy Snow as Jack's love interest in the spin-off.

Transition
Moving from Three's Company to Three's a Crowd, series producers decided to follow the plot line of the British series. Season 8 of Three's Company closed with a three-episode story arc. In the first of the three episodes, Janet meets wealthy art collector Phillip Dawson. In the second episode, she falls in love with him, while Jack meets and falls in love with stewardess Vicky Bradford. Her wealthy father, played by Robert Mandan, does not approve of the relationship. When first aired, the episode ended with the words, "To be continued... next fall", but when rerun late in the summer, it was changed to, "To be continued... next week". The last episode of Three's Company aired as an hour-long special that kicked off the 1984–85 fall television season and set up the premise for Three's a Crowd. In the finale, Janet marries Phillip, Terri moves to Hawaii, while Jack and Vicky profess their love for one another; but Vicky, the child of a bitter divorce, turns down Jack's marriage proposal. They instead move in together in an apartment above Jack's bistro. In the last scene, Jack and Vicky are spending their first romantic evening in the new apartment, but Mr. Bradford accidentally barges in on them, explaining that he has bought the building and has become their new landlord. The title card for Three's Company appears with the word, "COMPANY", zooming out, and replaced with, "A CROWD".

Three's a Crowd employed most of the same writers, producers and staff from Three's Company, but the new show's style had changed. While the Jack Tripper character is the lead role in Three's Company, the show features an ensemble cast of the three roommates along with supporting characters. However, the new show is centered around Jack. Vicky, her parents and E. Z. are supporting characters. The new show also employs more slapstick for Ritter. The events and characters of the previous show are not mentioned, except in a late-season episode in which Larry Dallas appears.

Ratings and cancellation
Three's a Crowd garnered moderate ratings, having to compete with The A-Team on NBC. When the 1984–85 television season finished, the show placed 39th out of 77 shows with a 14.5/22 rating/share. This put the show on the fence with ABC, as it had enough of an audience to warrant renewal, but its ratings paled in comparison to The A-Team, which finished sixth for the season. The network would commit to only a half season of 13 episodes to see how the series would fare, and Ritter reportedly said that he would not return to the show unless a full season was ordered. Finally, ABC instead decided to pick up Diff'rent Strokes, which had just been canceled by NBC.

Home Media
On December 22, 2023, to coincide with a re-release of the complete Three's Company series for its 40th anniversary, Visual Entertainment Inc. released Three's a Crowd and The Ropers on DVD.

Reruns
Daytime reruns aired on ABC from September 23, 1985, to January 3, 1986, followed by another prime-time run on USA Network. Some syndicated versions aired under the title Three's Company, Too, using the theme song of Three's Company.

Six episodes of the series aired on TV Land in September 2006, and four episodes aired on WGN America in October 2008. The series began airing on Antenna TV in June 2011 (as Three's a Crowd, with its "Side by Side" theme song). The series is available for streaming in the U.S. as of July 2021 on Pluto TV and as of June 2022 on Tubi.