Having quickly climbed to 11th place during its six-week tryout in the spring of 1977,
Three's Company was assured a full-season run by ABC beginning in the fall of that same year. Sensing the series' excellent potential, network boss Fred Silverman moved
Three's Company to ABC's powerhouse Tuesday-night lineup, right after the league-leading sitcoms
Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley. Since audiences had proven their devotion to the new series, there was no need to tinker with its format. The action still took place in the Santa Monica apartment building owned by Stanley and Helen Roper (
Norman Fell,
Audra Lindley). The Ropers' prize tenants were three roommates, two female, one male: florist-shop clerk Janet (Joyce DeWitt), sexy typist Chrissy (
Suzanne Somers), and chef-in-training Jack (
John Ritter). The girls were still passing Jack off as gay so that the prudish Mr. Roper would not break their lease, while the aggressively non-gay Jack continued dating hot chicks and trying to make the moves on the curvaceous Chrissy -- who, of course, was too pure-hearted to succumb to Jack's charms. Continuing to make sporadic appearances was Jack's friend, slick-talking car salesman Larry Dallas (Richard Kline), who would not be elevated to full regular status until the following season. New developments during season two included Janet's promotion to manager of the flower shop (with J.J. Barry making his first series appearances as Janet's boss, Mr. Compton), Chrissy's problems with her straight-laced clergyman father (
Peter Mark Richman), and Jack's continued education in the culinary arts under the tutelage of cooking-school headmaster Dean Travers (William Pierson).
Three's Company ended its second season as the third highest-rated program in America, beaten out only by its Tuesday-night neighbors
Happy Days (number one) and Laverne & Shirley (number two). No wonder they called Fred Silverman "The Man With the Golden Gut." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide