Three's Company: Season 03  (1978)

Theatrical Release Information:
Three's Company: Season 03

As the third most popular program on network television, Three's Company entered its third season on ABC with the greatest of ease in the fall of 1978. No major changes had been made in the format or premise: Jack (John Ritter) still shared a Santa Monica apartment with Janet (Joyce DeWitt) and Chrissy (Suzanne Somers), the relationship was still strictly platonic, and the trio's landlord, Mr. Roper (Norman Fell), remained convinced that Jack was gay (this was the story given him by the girls, who didn't want to be kicked out), though both Jack and the audience knew that this was far from the truth. As the season progressed, Jack graduated from cooking school and began work as a caterer, Chrissy landed a new secretarial job in the firm run by female executive J.C. Braddock (Emmaline Henry), and Janet, the "calm, reliable" roommate, occasionally kicked over the traces and acted silly just for the heck of it. Towards the end of the season, Mr. Roper and his wife, Helen (Audra Lindley), sold their apartment building and moved into a ritzy Cheviot Hills townhouse, thereby seguing into their own spin-off series, The Ropers, which premiered on March 13, 1979. (A precedent for this move had been established on Man About the House, the British sitcom upon which Three's Company was based, which had likewise spawned a spin-off called George and Mildred.) At the same time, recurring actor Richard Kline was elevated to regular status in the role of glib car salesman Larry Dallas. Not only did Three's Company retain its popularity, but it actually increased its viewership, moving from the number three to the number two ratings slot by the end of its third season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide