Sketch o’the Week: Three’s Company!

The caricatures are hers and hers and his this week as we return to having a BRAND NEW “Sketch o’the Week” every Wednesday! We are also continuing our classic sitcom cast series which, if you recall, was on to the 1970’s.

With the passing of Suzanne Somers last week I had to draw the original cast of “Three’s Company”, a sitcom which started in the late 70’s and went into the early 80s. Pictured are Somers, John Ritter, Norman Fell, Audra Lindley and Joyce DeWitt. Ms. Somers ended up getting written off the show in the 5th season because she demanded equal pay with male star Ritter, but thanks to starring in “Step by Step” a decade later, being the spokesperson for the “Thighmaster”, and the author of several health and wellness books, she did just fine, thanks (although she promoted some questionably home treatments for things like cancer). In fact the show was never the same without her ditzy but warm-hearted and sincere character Christmas “Chrissy” Snow. “Three’s Company” made it three more seasons after her departure.

I have to admit I never really liked this show much. The original cast was really good, their characters were funny and engaging, and their use of slapstick physical comedy, usually by Ritter, was great. Many of the plots were incredibly lame and repetitive, however. Most involved some kind of misunderstanding, where one character would overhear some comment or see some action that they take completely out of context. Then the entire episode would revolve around the continued misunderstanding of whatever until the realization of said misunderstanding at the end. That could be the basis of a few episodes but it seemed like it was every one. The actors had such great chemistry and comedic timing that they rose above the repetitiveness of the plots, and the show was hugely popular. 

I especially took this perceived lack of quality plots to heart since I was apparently the production supervisor on the show:

Okay so I was only eleven when this premiered so this was obviously a different Tom Richmond, but still… my name was on this thing!