A Very Touching and Accurate TV Movie


From a TV Historian's point of view, this is a very well told tale that I think explains what happened to the "T". Granted it is exactly what E! did a few years ago, except NBC put actors behind it.

I gave this an 8 out of 10 because it really did do a good job to tell the tale of what was going on behind the laughter.

Chris

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Yes... it was a very touching story. I never knew what it as like until after a saw this presentation last night.

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Me too. I couldn't take my eyes off. I kept telling my sis to get off the puter and watch it with me so I wouldn't have to tell her everything, cause I hate watching something I know we'd both like ,and only I see it. I rush her.
but anyways, I loved this .It told a very good storyline and it sounded so true. At one point of the movie I hated Christy for doing them that way. I always thought that she was the same goofy person off camera as she was on. But it was only her agent that made her look that way and controlling her career. I'd look straight past any agent that wanted to tell me how to run my career. But I guess that's what they are their for.

Monica

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You do realize that it was a biased documentary.

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How? Because Joyce Dewitt narrated and co produced it?
Just asking. Sorry I 'm trying argue here. I 'm just courious. How is biased?

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and its pritty accurate, i wont reveal my job there, but it sure brought a lot of memories back and it sure makes me feel old. Luckaly i moved on to better things Movies and other sitcoms (Golden Girls)

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Yes, it is biased because of Joyce.

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[deleted]

The movie presents multiple inaccuracies:

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 Knotts 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 Harrison 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 finale, 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.

Somers is depicted as being ready to promote the exercise device the Thighmaster in the early 1980s, when in fact she did not promote the product until the mid 1990s.

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