I Love Lucy and Three’s Company have very different reputations when it comes to quality and class. But both are sitcoms filled with misunderstandings and dumb, action-packed comedy, which explains why Lucille Ball was such a big fan of Three’s Company. “That’s my kind of show,” she said, according to Come and Knock on Our Door: A Hers and Hers and Hist Guide to Three’s Company.
Ball offered to host an hour-long special called The Best of Three’s Company based on her love of the show and its star, John Ritter.
It was a mutual admiration group, as seen in this over-the-top showcase of the best clips. “Lucille Ball! You’re here! I’m standing in the same room as you. … I mean, you’re in the same room as me. … I mean, it’s an honor! The great Lucille Ball!” Ritter exclaimed.
It was an uncomfortable scene. What the hell was Lucille Ball doing in Jack Tripper’s apartment? “I was talking about Three’s Company and seeing some of the really funny things people did,” she said, before moving on to clips of Ritter getting hit in the face with whipped cream pie.
For a show that’s been derided as being more about the jokes than the jokes, Ball’s public admiration was a gift. “I don’t think any show will ever reach the stature of I Love Lucy,” Ritter said. “But the fact that Lucy personally and directly endorsed the show in reruns was kind of a validation of the show.”
Of course, some viewers and critics saw it the other way around—rather than Ball elevating Three’s Company, some criticized the comedian, asking, “How dare she stoop so low?”
Joyce DeWitt, who played Janet, said Ball’s involvement was “a great compliment to everyone involved in the show.” Suzanne Somers, however, had mixed feelings. By this point, she had left the show, replaced by several other blondes.
The producers had to convince Somers and her team to let them use clips of Chrissy in the retrospective. Somers was a Lucy fan, but she was unhappy with the special. “I was just introduced as one of the girls who walked through the door,” she complained. “I was nothing. I watched for a while and then turned it off.”
Ritter, on the other hand, loved the show. His high praise for Ball in the special wasn’t an act—she was one of his comedy heroes. He had the opportunity to return the favor a few years later by starring in Ball’s final sitcom, Life With Lucy. “One of the greatest joys of my life,” Ritter said, “was working with her.”
Again, the feeling is mutual. “You know what I love about this show?” Ball asks the studio audience as she enters the Three’s Company apartment. “It’s not trying to change the world or solve any big problems. All it does is make us laugh and forget about our own worries. That’s my kind of comedy.”
