Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Three's Company
Encyclopedia
Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Three's Company is a 2003 American made-for-television movie
, made by NBC
, documenting the success of the sitcom Three's Company
, as well as the interpersonal conflicts that occurred among its staff and cast. It starred Jud Tylor
as Suzanne Somers
(Chrissy Snow), Bret Anthony
as John Ritter
(Jack Tripper), Melanie Deanne Moore
as Joyce DeWitt
(Janet Wood), Brian Dennehy
as Fred Silverman
, Gregg Binkley
as Don Knotts
(Mr. Furley), and Christopher Shyer as Alan Hamel
. Former Three's Company cast member Joyce DeWitt served as co-producer and host.
The research of the movie was mostly done by Chris Mann from his book Come and Knock on Our Door. Mann claims that he was deceived by producer Greg Gugliotta, who never paid or credited him for the book content on which the film relied.
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
, made by NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, documenting the success of the sitcom Three's Company
Three's Company
Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....
, as well as the interpersonal conflicts that occurred among its staff and cast. It starred Jud Tylor
Judy Tylor
Judy "Jud" Tylor is a Canadian television and film actress. She has had recurring roles in a number of television programs including That '70s Show and Edgemont.-Television:...
as Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers is an American actress, author, singer and businesswoman, known for her television roles as Chrissy Snow on Three's Company and as Carol Lambert on Step by Step....
(Chrissy Snow), Bret Anthony
Bret Anthony
Bret Anthony is an American television actor, and comic, best known for physical comedy and emotional range in his role of the late actor John Ritter in the Joyce DeWitt produced NBC-TV docudrama-comedy film Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Three's Company .-Early life and...
as John Ritter
John Ritter
Jonathan Southworth "John" Ritter was an American actor, voice over artist and comedian perhaps best known for having played Jack Tripper and Paul Hennessy in the ABC sitcoms Three's Company and 8 Simple Rules, respectively...
(Jack Tripper), Melanie Deanne Moore
Melanie Paxson
Melanie Paxson is an American actress. She is probably best known for her work in commercials.-Biography:Paxson is the middle child of three to parents Gay and Randy Moore...
as Joyce DeWitt
Joyce DeWitt
Joyce Anne DeWitt is an American actress most famous for playing Janet Wood on the ABC sitcom Three's Company.-Early life:...
(Janet Wood), Brian Dennehy
Brian Dennehy
Brian Mannion Dennehy is an American actor of film, stage and screen.-Early years:Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Hannah and Edward Dennehy, who was a wire service editor for the Associated Press; he has two brothers, Michael and Edward. Dennehy is of Irish ancestry and was...
as Fred Silverman
Fred Silverman
Fred Silverman is an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at the CBS, ABC and NBC networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as the series Scooby-Doo , All in the Family , The Waltons , and Charlie's Angels , as well as the...
, Gregg Binkley
Gregg Binkley
Gregg Binkley is an American television actor. Binkley grew up in Topeka, Kansas, and graduated from Washburn Rural High School. He is best known for his roles as Kenny James on the NBC sitcom My Name Is Earl and as Dan, the Del Taco spokesperson...
as Don Knotts
Don Knotts
Jesse Donald "Don" Knotts was an American comedic actor best known for his portrayal of Barney Fife on the 1960s television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, a role which earned him five Emmy Awards...
(Mr. Furley), and Christopher Shyer as Alan Hamel
Alan Hamel
Alan Hamel was the co-host of a Canadian children's television show called Razzle Dazzle from 1961 to 1964. The show featured a talking turtle named Howard.Hamel was born in Toronto, Ontario...
. Former Three's Company cast member Joyce DeWitt served as co-producer and host.
Plot
The movie jumps from the second season to the fifth, covering the time when conflict arose between the producers and cast versus Suzanne Somers and her management, which sought greater visibility and more money for Somers. It then jumps to season eight to cover the end of the series. The original script focused more heavily on the negative side of the production of the show before Joyce DeWitt's involvement added focus on the good times. DeWitt was helped by John Ritter, who saw the final cut of the movie before he died. Suzanne Somers was also contacted and gave some input; Somers and DeWitt have not spoken since their time on the show.The research of the movie was mostly done by Chris Mann from his book Come and Knock on Our Door. Mann claims that he was deceived by producer Greg Gugliotta, who never paid or credited him for the book content on which the film relied.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| November 1975 | American producer Donald L. Taffner and partner Ted Bergmann try to sell the idea to make an American version of the Thames Television show in the UK Man About The House Man About the House Man About the House is a British sitcom starring Richard O'Sullivan, Paula Wilcox and Sally Thomsett that was broadcast for six seasons on ITV from 1973 to 1976. It was created and written by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke. The series was considered daring at the time due to its subject matter of... to various TV stations. |
| January 1976 | New ABC American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948... programming chief Fred Silverman Fred Silverman Fred Silverman is an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at the CBS, ABC and NBC networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as the series Scooby-Doo , All in the Family , The Waltons , and Charlie's Angels , as well as the... looks for a risque television show and finds Three's Company. |
| January 28, 1977 | Taping of the first show. |
| March 15, 1977 | First broadcast. |
| May 1977 | First season wrap party. |
| November 1977 | Somers asks Jay Bernstein Jay Bernstein Jay Bernstein was an American producer and manager to actresses like Farrah Fawcett and Suzanne Somers.-Career:Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Bernstein moved to California after graduating from Pomona College... to manage her career and try to make her the next Farrah Fawcett Farrah Fawcett Farrah Fawcett was an American actress and artist. A multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she first appeared as private investigator Jill Munroe in the first season of the television series Charlie's Angels, in 1976... . |
| February 1979 | Somers tries to get a new deal with CBS CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of... for her own show. |
| July 1979 | While filming Nothing Personal, Somers calls Bernstein to fire him. |
| October 1980 | Alan Hamel, now managing Somers' career, attempts deal with ABC to boost Somers' salary by 500%. |
| October 21, 1980 | Somers fakes a cracked rib and misses the taping. |
| November 2, 1980 | Somers misses her second taping. |
| November 9, 1980 | Somers misses her third taping. |
| November 20, 1980 | Producers make Somers tape separately from the rest of the cast for the first time. Her character Chrissy is then usually seen talking on the phone to Jack or Janet from another location. |
| January 18, 1981 | Somers appears on The Phil Donahue Show The Phil Donahue Show The Phil Donahue Show, also known as Donahue, is an American television talk show that ran for 26 years on national television. Its run was preceded by three years of local broadcast in Dayton, Ohio, and it was broadcast nationwide between 1967 and 1996.In 2002, Donahue was ranked #29 on TV Guide's... . |
| March 1981 | Somers gets a threat of possible legal action against her from ABC about using the Chrissy character in a Las Vegas act. |
| April 2, 1981 | Somers is fired from ABC. |
| May 1982 | Because of the ABC legal threat, Somers learns that her CBS deal is canceled because the use of the Chrissy character may bring legal action against CBS. |
| November 1983 | Hamel fails to convince the producers that Suzanne would be perfect to play Jack Tripper's wife in the Three's a Crowd Three's a Crowd Three's a Crowd is an American television sitcom spinoff of Three's Company... spin-off. |
| February 17, 1984 | Final taping of the show. |
Events discrepancies
The movie is known to be inaccurate in many places:- The show's title Three's Company was coined by Gary Markowitz, one of the first two writers who wrote the pilot. However, the producers use this name while pitching the show to the networks, long before the pilot was made.
- After Suzanne Somers was cast, it seems as if the three actors are meeting for the first time on the night of the taping when they should have spent a week of rehearsals together.
- Suzanne mentions to John and Joyce during a rehearsal that she had her 11-year-old son when she was 17. Her son Bruce Jr. was born on November 8, 1965 and that actually means she had him when she was 19 since she was born on October 16, 1946. Also, if what she first said was true, it would have meant that the current year would have been 1974 or 1975, and Three's Company did not start until 1977.
- At the same time Suzanne misses the first day of taping, Ted Bergmann tells Don Taffner that Fred Silverman has "jumped ship to NBC". Actually, Silverman left for NBC in January 1978, long before the Suzanne contract renegotiation problems began in October 1980.
- During the first season wrap party, everyone seems to know the show is a big hit. However, all six episodes of the first season were taped before the show premiered. Nobody could have known how well the show would be received.
- The episode Suzanne first missed the taping of was "A Crowded Romance", an episode that Don KnottsDon KnottsJesse Donald "Don" Knotts was an American comedic actor best known for his portrayal of Barney Fife on the 1960s television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, a role which earned him five Emmy Awards...
did not appear on. However, Bergmann briefly talks to Knotts, fully costumed backstage, just a few minutes before filming was supposed to start. - After the missed tapings, we see the actors receiving a blue and a pink copy of the scripts; one if Suzanne shows up and one if she does not. When Suzanne comes in the room, she receives both copies as well. She should have only been given the copy with her in it, not both of them.
- After the producers proposed the spinoff to Audra Lindley and Norman Fell, it actually took Norman Fell at least six months to sign on. In the movie, he agrees in less than two minutes.
- As a narrator of the movie, Joyce DeWitt says that Three's Company was filmed on Fridays, something Jenilee HarrisonJenilee HarrisonJenilee Harrison is an American actress possibly best known for her role as replacement blonde roommate Cindy Snow on the hit sitcom Three's Company from 1980–1982 and Jamie Ewing in Dallas from 1984–1986.- Early years :...
confirmed. However, Taffner and Ritter are said to hold the audition for Jack's fiancée on a Friday when Joyce suddenly comes in. Taffner asks her "What are you doing here?" to which she replies "I like to come in the day before and set up my dressing room", which would mean the show would tape on Saturdays, which is inaccurate. - The shows were taped on Fridays and the dates that are said to be when Somers missed the tapings of the show are Tuesday (October 21, 1980) and Sundays (November 2 and 9, 1980).
- The Three's A Crowd spinoff was not developed until after season eight began and the ratings started to fall. In the film, John Ritter was proposed the idea right after season seven ended.
- Vicky is stated to be Jack's fiancée, yet she turned down Jack's proposal in the Three's Company series finaleSeries finaleA series finale refers to the last installment of a series with a narrative presented through mediums such as television, film and literature. In many Commonwealth countries, the term final episode is commonly used in regards to a television series...
, and became his girlfriend/live-in roommate. - In the movie, Jack turns off the light and closes the door to apartment 291. In the actual series finale, Terri is the one who turns off the light, and the door has the number 201. Additionally, in the movie, Terri is shown dressed in a white nurse's uniform. In the final episode, however, Terri wore a pink dress.