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The Three's Company Finale Still Bothers Fans To This Day

posted 3 years ago by TMC-4 (20491)
3 replies | jump to latest

https://www.looper.com/843770/the-threes-company-finale-still-bothers-fans-to-this-day/

"Three's Company" said goodbye to the world in a long form fashion. "Friends & Lovers," along with two previous episodes, "Cupid Works Overtime" and "The Heiress," serve as a four-part conclusion to the show — and an attempted launching pad for "Three's a Crowd," the show's spin-off. To do this, the happy home of the three roommates had to be deconstructed.

To wit, the show's last few episodes see Jack fall in love with stewardess Vicky Bradford (Mary Cadorette), the daughter of a protective and rich executive, as Janet finds romance with art collector Phillip Dawson (David Ruprecht). While Janet and Phillip marry in the gang's apartment in the first part of the finale, Jack fails to convince Vicky to accept his proposal — she's too emotionally scarred by her parent's terrible divorce to say yes — so they instead agree to share an apartment together. Terri, meanwhile, declares she's moving to Hawaii. The roommates move out with Mr. Furley's help, and Jack and Vicky settle into their respective new digs. Very little of the final episode focuses on either Janet or Terri, with Terri's story in this final long storytelling arc being remarkably minimal.

That final scene of the show tries very hard to make viewers care about Jack and Vicky's future, but the flat chemistry between the characters draws a negative reaction, and Vicky's dad (Robert Mandan) comes off as abrasive in an unentertaining way. Ratings for "Three's a Crowd" would later back up this notion. While the roommate's futures seem bright as they move toward the sunset, fans proved to be reluctant to follow them into it.

[–] MeanKitty2022 (145) 3 years ago

I really didn't like the ending either. I would rather have seen Jack and Janet get together. And the scene when Jack acts goofy about getting into bed with Vicky - were we supposed to believe he never slept with a woman?

[–] ImAComputer (331) 2 years ago

That type of reaction from Jack ALWAYS bothered me. He would clam up whenever a women he was courting, would actually respond positively to his advancements. I've always wanted to talk to an older person about the psychology of Three's Company's sexual endeavors, who were actual fans of the show, because they never made complete sense to me. My parents didn't like the show, so I could never refer to them. I was born in 1977 and my Dad encouraged me to bang as many girls as possible. Obviously, I was at least one to two generations younger than "the kids in apartment 201", so I never understood some of the sexual misunderstandings on this show. One big question for me was, why was "banging a date at the apartment" always a no no? Why would Jack always have to hide this fact from his roommates? Does anyone else feel like this show would not have been possible without American Christianity? Man About The House couldn't even say the word "gay"

[–] LadyBug (133) 2 years ago

I was a child (born 1968) watching the show when it first ran. They always had Jack being goofy around women. As for banging a date at the apartment, maybe the rooms were not soundproof and they didn't want to hear it? And for the girls sharing a room, that issue is obvious. Would one have to sleep on the couch if the other had an overnight guest?
All I know abut that time was it was (supposedly) more sexually free. AIDS was not known about yet, But I guess there were other diseases (Herpes, etc.) but people didn't think a lot about them.