Although it’s been 40 years since the final episode of ‘Three’s Company’ aired on ABC, the show remains relevant in pop culture, with the antics of three roommates living under one roof still resonating for its fun, humor and innovation.
Although many of the show’s stars have passed away, one of its main cast members is speaking out about why she thinks the series has been such a success.
“The most loving, precious, tender — and completely unexpected — experiences that came from working on ‘Three’s Company’ were so many, so many adults who told me that ‘Three’s Company’ was a safe haven they could count on during their teenage years — for some, the only safe haven,” Joyce DeWitt, who played Janet Wood, told US Weekly.
Although the show aired its final episode in September 1984, DeWitt said that over the past four decades, she has received “countless letters” and had “impromptu conversations” with fans, all of whom she believes found “comfort” in the sitcom.
“It was a ‘time out’ from the oppressive, challenging, difficult circumstances they were going through in their young lives,” DeWitt said, explaining why fans loved the show. “And, by the way, they said the characters did silly, crazy things that made them laugh. But it was the love, trust, and support that the characters had for each other that made them lifelong fans.”
DeWitt gave an example of a specific interaction that reinforced this: a fan told her that the show “was a family.”
“As an actor, to be able to be a part of that kind of impact or presence in a young person’s life when all you do is try to make people laugh, that response is an unimaginable blessing!” she declared. The antics, portrayed by DeWitt and co-stars John Ritter and Suzanne Somers (for four seasons) and later Priscilla Barnes, ran on television from 1977-1984.
DeWitt spoke fondly of her deceased co-stars. Somers, who died in 2023 of breast cancer, was “absolutely amazing,” DeWitt said, and Ritter, who died in 2003 during heart surgery, was “a real gift.” “I don’t think I’d be faulted by my friends and my other co-stars for saying on behalf of all of us that working with John was a gift,” she shared. “An adventure and a gift, a real gift.”
