Three's a Crowd

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.

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 their George and Mildred Roper characters. 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 along 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 in the face of 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 upon 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, as 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.

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 were aired on TV Land in September 2006, and four episodes were aired on WGN America in October 2008. The series began airing on digital broadcast network Antenna TV in June 2011 (as Three's a Crowd with its "Side by Side" theme song).[2] The series is offered streaming in the U.S. as of July 2021 on Pluto TV and as of June 2022 on Tubi.

• Three's a Crowd at IMDb
• Three's a Crowd at epguides.com
• O'Connor, John J. (September 17, 1984). "Ritter and a New Cast On 'Three's a Crowd'". The New York Times. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
• Sitcoms Online: Three's a Crowd