aesgaard41 Review of Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Three's Company'

Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Three's Company' (2003 TV Movie)

Fair But Not Good

[7/10 · 31 May 2003]

I loved Three's Company when it was on, but this movie does not give it it a very good treatment. The whole movie comes off as very rushed with the series development and the first season all revealed within the first thirty minutes and then a segue straight into the Suzanne Somers travesty when her head became bigger than her chest. In fact, the movie has an eerie quality as if it was filmed by the crew from Sixty Minutes, but then, this is a ABC series being done by NBC. The pace was way too fast like a recreation from America's Most Wanted on steroids. The set didn't look very good; it looked like it was built as a high school set. In fact, it looked a lot better when it was recreated on that episode of "Eight Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter." They should have borrowed that set. And the background Seventies motif in the "real-world" was too awful. Did it really look like that back then ? Bret Anthony pulls off a fair John Ritter impression, but he just lacks the charm and panache of the original; there will never be another Ritter. The slapstick was just bad; Ritter does it better. Judy Taylor was a passable Suzanne, but then I never saw the fuss in Somers; I thought she was way over-rated. I loved Melanie Deanna Moore ! She is just too adorable and perfect for Joyce. Nice to see her in something else besides those glad commercials. I just didn't buy the young guy playing Don Knotts and couldn't believe they omitted Richard Kline entirely. I thought Company was best when it was around Kline, Ritter and Knotts and they dropped the tired husband and wife routines. There were brief parts with Priscilla Barnes, and my favorite roommate Jenilee Harrison is just barely given a scene. Some of the behind the scenes quotes I know were lifted from real life. Brian Dennehy looks and acts like the Skipper from Gilligan's Island corrupted by Hollywood; he just has one obnoxious producer scene too many. On a whole, I'd say the movie was fair, but I'm glad I watched it, but I do believe it could have been done much better.