Three's A Crowd - Production History

Production History

Three's Company had been based on the British sitcom Man About the House which aired in the United Kingdom from 1973 to 1976. When the series concluded in 1976, series producers Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer devised two spin-offs of the series. The first spin-off was fashioned for actors Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce who played the popular George and Mildred Roper on the series. The series, called George and Mildred, ran from 1977 to 1980, and followed the Ropers selling their apartment building and moving into a high class neighborhood, the comedy arising from the seemingly lower-class Ropers and their relationship with their higher-class neighbors. The second spin-off was written for Richard O'Sullivan who played Robin Tripp (which would serve as the basis for Jack Tripper on Three's Company) and was named Robin's Nest, also the name of his restaurant on the series. Running from 1977 to 1981, the series followed Robin moving into an apartment above the restaurant he ran with his girlfriend, a situation which was frowned upon by her father.

Three's Company producers were anxious to capitalize on these spin-offs. In 1979, they had spun off Norman Fell and Audra Lindley to their own series, The Ropers, based on George and Mildred, but it lasted only until 1980 after one and a half seasons. Three's Company's ratings remained high though. Producers Ted Bergmann and Don Taffner devised adapting the Robin's Nest series without John Ritter. A pilot for a series called Byrd's Nest was written, involving a young man living with his older girlfriend much to the chagrin of the her father who owned the building they lived in. The series was planned to be a spin-off from Three's Company and possibly a vehicle for Richard Kline, who played Larry Dallas on Three's Company, but ABC passed on the idea. However, as Three's Company entered its eighth season in 1983, ratings took a dive due to stiff competition from the new NBC series The A-Team. Realizing they had an aging show ABC okayed the development of a new series which was to be called Three's A Crowd.

Development and casting of the new series occurred in secret as Three's Company's eighth season progressed. Fellow cast members Joyce DeWitt, Priscilla Barnes, Don Knotts, and Richard Kline 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 upon Broadway actress Mary Cadorette. An embarrassing situation arose when Joyce DeWitt accidentally walked in on the auditions after coming to the studio to set up her dressing room as the holiday hiatus was coming to a close. DeWitt was then informed by the producers that the series, ending at the close of the season with Ritter, would spin off to Threes a Crowd without her. Dewitt, who had been with the show from the beginning, weathering the highly publicized contractual dispute former cast member Suzanne Somers had with ABC and series producers, was hurt by the secrecy involved with the series ending and the spin-off. She and fellow cast member Priscilla Barnes would find it very hard to tape the rest of the season. Both Dewitt and Barnes learned that their characters would conclude with the series finale, however, both Richard Kline and Don Knotts were offered an opportunity to have recurring roles on the spin-off. Both actors declined the offer (Kline would make a guest appearance on the show in early 1985). Former cast mate Suzanne Somers tried to be cast as Jack's love interest in the spin-off, unsuccessfully.