Lost ‘Three’s Company’ Intro Uncovered for 48th Anniversary of the Iconic Sitcom

Three’s Company almost looked very different than the sitcom viewers grew to love.

Entertainment publicist Danny Deraney commemorated 48 years since Three’s Company‘s premiere on March 15, 1977, by sharing the sitcom’s initial intro scene, filmed before changes were made to the cast and the scope of the show.

Noticeably, the intro does not yet have lyrics (it would later be Joe Raposo’s catchy “Come and Knock on Our Door”). And it introduces John Ritter as David, rather than fan-favorite Jack Tripper.

Suzanne Somers and Joyce DeWitt had yet to be cast as Chrissy Snow and Janet Wood, respectively. Instead, Valerie Curtin (little sister to Saturday Night Live alumna Jane Curtin) was cast as Jenny and Susanne Zenor (and later, Susan Lanier) as Samantha.

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“48 years ago today, Three’s Company made its debut on ABC. But how many of you knew that before we all got to know Jack, Janet and Chrissy, there was David, Jenny and Samantha?” Deraney began in his caption to the video.

“Larry Gelbart who was riding high with M*A*S*H at the time was asked to help write a script at the request of Fred Silverman at ABC. At first he balked at the idea thinking the synopsis was not of the same quality as M*A*S*H, but in the end changed his mind,” he continued.

The first go at what would become a hit series came in 1976. But ABC ultimately moved forward with other series that “had more promise,” Deraney explained.

“The show had to be remolded and ABC decided to base the series off the British show, Man About The House. They kept the Ropers and Jack, but recast Valerie Curtain and Susan Lanier. This is from a few pilots they made that never made the air,” he wrote of the clip he shared. Some of those pilots are floating around YouTube to watch.

Ritter, Somers and DeWitt eventually costarred on the popular show together from the 1977 premiere until 1980. After four seasons of the series, Somers was fired from the show after demanding equal pay to her male costar. ABC rejected her request for a pay raise from $30,000 to $150,000 per episode, according to Somers.

Other actresses were brought in to replicate the archetype of Somers’ ditzy character Chrissy Snow, but the show never fully recovered.

Of Three’s Company, in which he played a beleaguered roommate to Wood and Snow, Ritter said on an episode of Late Night with Conan O’Brien in 1997, “It’s like Chinese food, you watch it and a half an hour later you’re ready for more comedy. People still seem to like it.”

He remembered how every so often, “people would put the show down and say it’s not as good as Taxi,” another hit series of the time. But once Lucille Ball defended the show in a retrospective she hosted, he said, it helped the series’ reputation and bonded the two stars.