The first of two pilot episodes, taped in March 1976 but never aired on television. Written by Larry Gelbart (M*A*S*H) and starring John Ritter, the pilot co-stars Suzanne Zenor and Valerie Curtin, who were eventually replaced by Suzanne Somers and Joyce DeWitt for the series.
Made before Suzanne Somers was cast.
Janet Wood and Chrissy Snow, two attractive women, have a going away party for their roommate, Eleanor. While trying to find someone to share the rent with, they find party crasher Jack Tripper in their bathtub. They have their doubts at first but when they find out that Jack is a great cook, they want him to stay. The hardest part of this is trying to convince the landlords, Stanley and Helen Roper, that Jack is indeed good company.
Jack is all set to move into Eleanor's room, until Chrissy's mother unexpectedly shows up. Chrissy's mom does not know that she and Janet live with a man, so she tries to keep them out of sight. Janet and Jack go to the Regal Beagle to hide out, and Mrs. Roper finds out that Jack is not really gay. She manages to keep it secret from Mr. Roper.
Mr. Roper sets Jack up with his niece, who turns out to be very promiscuous in her way. Jack finds out that Mr. Roper set him up in order to turn him straight, and if he is, out he goes.
Larry Dallas, a slick car salesman, unloads a puppy on the trio. Knowing that Stanley doesn't allow pets, they try to hide it. The puppy is necesary for Chrissy's sleepwalking problem.
Jack's masculinity is put to the test when a big bully tries to have his way with the girls.
Oh my! The trio's rent money is missing and they scramble to get more money so Stanley will not kick them out. Unbeknownst to them, Stanley picked up the money earlier that day.
The trio agree to arrange reservation times for the apartment.
To earn tuition money, Jack takes a variety of odd jobs, including as an encyclopedia salesman and as a nude model.
Janet's new coworker Chloe gets a surprise promotion because of her chest size rather than her abilities.
With Chrissy and Janet away on a trip, Jack throws a party. Mr. Roper tries to break up the festivities but instead wakes up in Jack's bed the next morning.
Chrissy's new man is married, but she thinks he's available, so her friends must show her the truth.
When Jack doesn't come on to Chrissy when they spend a night alone in the apartment, Chrissy thinks she has lost her sex appeal.
Mr. Roper sells his car to Jack and the girls but has second thoughts when someone else offers more.
Jack agrees to cook dinner for Chrissy and her date, who happens a very fussy gourmet.
Chrissy's friendly nature causes her to be mistaken for a hooker by an undercover cop.
Jack convinces a lady friend to make Stanley think he is attractive to younger women and make Helen jealous.
Janet's high-school crush turns out to be a lecher when she invites him to the apartment.
Jack's uncle writes Mr. Roper a bad check and the trio try to get it back.
Against Stanley's wishes, Helen takes a job at a cafeteria and must pretend she likes it.
The kids and the Ropers spend Christmas together, but they would rather be at another party.
After Jack helps Stanley get a good deal on a fur coat for Helen, Chrissy finds the gift box and thinks the coat is for her.
Chrissy steals Janet's date by accident, and they refuse to speak to each other. It's up to Jack to get the two girls together again.
Janet convinces Jack and Chrissy to take her place as babysitters for a young boy whose pregnant mother goes into labor while out, leaving the two alone with the boy for the entire night.
Chrissy uses her new camera to take home movies, while Larry and Jack scheme to use her projector to watch a "blue" movie.
Janet offers Jack a job in her flower shop, but Jack would rather goof off than work.
Jack's blind nemesis from his Navy days visits and goads Jack into hitting him.
When a girl comes looking for Jack because he may have gotten her pregnant, Jack thinks it was his girlfriend Linda, but it turns out that Larry was using Jack's name.
Jack, Janet and Chrissy tend to the Ropers' unruly backyard brush and find a plant that they think is marijuana.
Reverend Snow does not approve of Chrissy's lifestyle and decides to take her home.
Janet has two Frank Sinatra tickets she doesn't want, so Chrissy and Jack compete for her affections.
Jack's stewardess love interest (Loni Anderson) plays him for a fool.
Jack feigns illness after realizing he has two dates at the same time.
Janet and Mrs. Roper participate in a nude beach protest that is broken up by the police.
After reading a manuscript that Chrissy is typing, Mr. Roper thinks that she is in love with him.
Jack and Chrissy make a bet to test their willpower.
When Helen arranges to meet with Stanley's friend, the trio think she is having an illicit fling.
Janet is overprotective of her visiting younger sister.
Chrissy joins a cult run by a swindling fraud.
Larry's new finacée has her eyes on Jack.
Jack and Janet think Chrissy's new boss is a sex maniac looking to take advantage of her.
A persistent young girl has a crush on jack.
Jack mistakenly believes that Chrissy has become a kleptomaniac.
Helen leaves Stanley after he thwarts the trio's attempt to throw a party.
When former roommate Eleanor visits, Jack thinks he is being pushed out.
When Janet and Chrissy think Jack is dating an old woman, they send Larry to try to seduce her.
Stanley overhears Chrissy talking through the pipes and mistakenly thinks she is pregnant.
While Jack is catering a party for Chrissy's business, she tries to dodge her lecherous boss.
Jack tries to use a mouse sighting as an excuse to move in on Chrissy.
Jack and Chrissy think a plant-loving man is messing around with Janet.
When Chrissy eats the pie that Jack is entering in a baking competition, she and Janet try to replace it.
Helen thinks that Stanley is leaving her for another woman, but he has actually sold the building.
Jack moves in with a couple as their chef, but the woman of the house can't keep her hands to herself.
Jack's new girlfriend tries to hide that she lives with two men.
Helen complains about never getting to take a vacation. To keep her quiet, Stanley prepares a secret disco birthday party with the aid of his former tenants Jack Tripper, Janet Wood, and Chrissy Snow.
When the FBI looks for Jack, he dresses as a woman to avoid them.
Jack becomes an escort and meets Lana, an older woman who lusts after him.
New building manager Ralph Furley arrives to find that the roommates have sold all of his possessions.
Janet and Jack try to spoil Chrissy' part-time sales gig so that she will not quit her job.
Jack and Mr. Furley each visit a psychologist who specializes in assertiveness training.
After Jack saves a man's life, the man offers a dream apartment to score a free dinner.
A gruff old man stays at the apartment.
Everyone heads to a cabin in the woods but Jack is only interested in sleeping.
A bump on the head lands Chrissy in the hospital, but Jack and Janet mistakenly believe that she is dying.
Jack dodges a saucy Italian woman who is married to a loan shark who lent Chrissy $300.
Jack takes s job on a cruise ship and can bring only one guest, causing Janet and Chrissy to spat.
Mr. Furley's attempts to impress a lifetime rival include the lie that he is married to Chrissy.
An advice column causes Janet and Chrissy to accuse each other of having an affair with Jack.
Rev. Snow asks Chrissy to move out of the apartment so that he can land a job with a local church.
When Larry mistakes Janet's kindness for romance, she plays strumpet to turn him off.
A muscular gym owner wants to flatten Jack for dating his sister.
Mr. Furley teaches Jack how to score with women, but it could mean that Jack must move out.
Jack is forced to drag Chrissy along on a date when they become accidentally handcuffed together.
When Janet tries to hire an interior decorator, Jack and Chrissy think that she is auditioning men to father her child.
Janet and Chrissy dote on a runaway boy who gets under Jack's skin.
Jack's jealousy spikes when his seemingly perfect brother visits.
The roommates squabble over a cash windfall and seek professional help to settle the dispute.
Chrissy's secret admirer turns out to be a shy wallflower.
The roommates mistakenly believe that Furley wants to commit suicide.
Jack is shocked when he fails his final exam and deduces that a fellow student had switched dishes with him.
Jack wears himself out trying to serve dinner in three places at once.
Jack's female boss makes a pass at him and he sues her for sexual harassment.
Chrissy doesn't realize that her childhood friend is a high-priced call girl.
Jack pretends to be an expert skier to impress his ski-crazy girlfriend.
Jack and Larry unknowingly date the same woman.
Jack gets a job as a busboy and at the same time is misrepresenting himself to his new date as the chef.
Chrissy's clumsy cousin Cindy moves into the apartment.
When Cindy loses her job, Jack gets it back by finding her boss in an uncompromising position.
To get a new job, Jack assumes the identity of a deadbeat chef who is targeted by several people done wrong.
An old lady takes a motherly interest in Jack but interferes with his love life.
Jack encourages his girlfriend's widowed father to get back into the dating game, but the man tries his new skills out on Janet.
When Janet's parents pay a visit, she has to pretend that she is married to Jack.
A wealthy but persistent suitor won't leave Cindy alone until she accepts his marriage proposal, so Jack poses as her brother to throw him off the trail.
The roommates help Mr. Furley stand up to his belligerent brother Bart, who owns the apartment building.
When Jack and Larry switch apartments, Jack feels unwanted and misses life with the girls.
After Jack teaches a cooking class, Dean Travers' niece offers herself to Jack in exchange for a good grade.
Jack and Janet think that Cindy is pregnant, but it's Cindy's friend who is expecting.
Hilarity ensues when Helen Roper pays a visit and Stanley catches her unknowingly in bed with Mr. Furley.
To date Furley's niece, Jack concocts the identity of a cowboy brother named Austin.
Jack fakes his own death to avoid a barroom tough who is bent on killing him.
Jack and Janet let their imaginations run wild, believing that Cindy has been kidnapped.
Jack learns that honesty is not always the best policy when he commits to always telling the absolute truth.
Jack clashes with a sassy nurse named Terri Alden, whom Janet invites to take Cindy's place as the third roommate.
At Cindy's going-away party, Larry and Jack conspire to embarrass Terri, but Jack relents and welcomes Terri as the new roommate.
To boost Jack's confidence, Terri turns on the charm, causing Janet to suspect that her new roommate's interest in Jack is more than platonic.
When Jack gives cooking lessons to raise extra money, Terri thinks he is giving love lessons.
Janet's seamy dance instructor urges her to quit her job to become a professional dancer, but he has more than dancing on his mind.
Jack plays Cyrano for a tongue-tied Larry, who has talked Terri into a date.
Jack and Janet think a doctor that Terri brought home is really a mental patient.
Under police protection after witnessing a robbery, Jack mistakes the cop for the robber and knocks him cold.
To deflect Angelino's love-crazed daughter, Jack tells her he is married and uses a CPR dummy to stand in as his wife.
Janet and Terri clash over an eligible bartender from the Regal Beagle.
Jack mistakes an undercover cop for a criminal and gets arrested when he assaults the policeman.
Jack's dinner invitation delivered via serenade reaches the wrong girl.
When Mr. Furley falls for a woman with suspicious motives, it's up to the trio -- plus Larry in drag -- to break the couple apart.
Jack thinks Terri's friend, a nun working on a master's thesis, is in love with him.
To trio hires Cindy to clean the apartment but she causes more problems than she solves.
Jack falls for Janet's new taskmaster, an efficiency expert sent to get the flower shop into shape.
The cast visits Cindy's aunt's farm, where Jack plays chicken while hiding out from a maniacal thug.
Jack subs for Felipe at Angelino's but unwittingly becomes the favorite cook of a mobster with a spicy appetite.
Jack's snobby new girlfriend wants to keep him on a tight leash and force him into a career in cardboard.
Jack pretends he is a doctor to impress his grandfather.
Jack tries impress a food critic who seems much more interested in the girls than in Jack's cooking.
When Terri scores a fancy new house rental, Larry and Mr. Furley scheme to keep the trio from moving.
Jack's chance to cook on a live TV show turns into a disaster but makes him a celebrity chef at Angelino's.
Janet's blond wig has changed not only her looks but her personality as well.
High on tranquilizers and alcohol, Jack humiliates Janet at a swank island party and threatens her chances of landing the wealthy bachelor host.
Jack and Janet sign up for a computer dating service and are paired with each other.
Jack and Janet end up in the same bed, and Jack doesn't even remember how he got there.
When Jack's dentist is dumped by Terri, Jack may have to pay the price.
Jack's hot date at the roller rink slips him a surprise: a passel of diamonds that lands him in hot water with jewel thieves and police alike.
The trio's living arrangements are mischaracterized in a newspaper article, causing the girls shame but making Jack a hero with his friends.
Mr. Angelino offers Jack the opportunity to fulfill his dream of owing his own restaurant.
With no customers on his restaurant's opening night, Jack's fledgling enterprise is saved by Larry's big fat Greek family.
Felipe's Mexican niece stays at the apartment, but the language barrier causes her to think Jack has proposed marriage.
Jack makes time with Janet's old friend, an advertising executive who fails to mention that she is married.
A Sunday brunch is held at Jack's Bistro to prove to a pastor that the restaurant is not a den of iniquity.
Jack affords Larry the chance to fulfill a dream as a singer, but at the expense of offending his customers.
Terri unknowingly dates a convicted murderer.
An overprotective Larry accuses Jack of taking advantage of his younger sister.
Gossip twists the story of a boating mishap into a tale of adultery, nearly causing the marriage of the trio's friends Bob and Carol to hit the rocks.
Jack tries to help the police nab a corrupt health inspector, but the cops think they're busting Mr. Furley as a drug dealer.
Terri falls for a soap star who is only dating her to maintain a positive public image.
Jack bumbles his way into a boxing match with a barroom brute.
Janet and Terri bet Jack that he can't go without women for a week, but the temptation of a new flame gives him little chance to collect.
When Janet helps Mr. Furley's shy nephew gather the courage to meet women, Jack and Terri think Janet has begun an affair with the teenager.
Jack accidentally stumbles upon Mr. Angelino's love hideaway above the bistro.
Jack tries a fake moustache, but the new look makes Terri fall in love with him.
Jack's scheming Navy buddy worms his way into Mr. Angelino's confidence and nearly becomes Jack's business partner.
When the girls and Larry stage a fake radio contest to give Jack money they mistakenly think he needs, Jack uses the sudden windfall to buy a new leather coat.
Jack's girlfriend wants him to father her child.
Mistakenly believing that one of the girls is in love with him, Jack brings Janet and Terri to a cabin to determine the identity of his mystery lover.
Recipient of an errant ATM's cash regurgitation, Jack hides the loot in the couch, but Mr. Furley unknowingly sells the couch with the money inside.
Jack tries to intercept a scathing letter he had written to a food critic.
Larry assumes Jack's identity to go out with Janet's visiting friend.
Janet mistakes Jack's girlfriend, a sex therapist, for a prostitute.
To win a baking competition, Jack tries to pass as an old grandmother.
Jack's meddling father pays a visit.
To fend off a doctor's advances and get her closer to a promotion, Terri has Jack pretend to be her husband.
Trying to fit in with his wealthy girlfriend's crowd, Jack loses, and then wins, what he thinks is a fortune at a charity casino event.
The trio comes to believe that their mysterious British neighbor is a wanted thief and murderer.
While Janet explores a new career as an aerobics instructor, Jack makes time with her female boss.
Jack tries to help two former high-school sweethearts stay together but soon finds himself in a sticky situation.
Jack and Mr. Furley become locked in Mr. Angelino's meat freezer and prepare for the end.
The trio leaves a stray kitten at Mr. Furley's doorstep, but the gift threatens Furley's ability to pass an inspection ordered by his brother Bart.
Jack needs surgery to remove a tattoo that his navy buddies made him get while drunk.
Jack helps the object of his affection, an art teacher, by posing nude for her class.
After wrecking Janet's new car, Jack fakes amnesia.
Janet inherits a vase from a deceased former customer and meets the man of her dreams.
Jack meets stewardess Vicki Bradford and quickly falls for her, while Janet accepts a marriage proposal from new beau Phillip Dawson.
Janet weds Phillip in the apartment, but Vicki refuses Jack's marriage proposal, instead proposing to live together. Terri leaves for a new job in Hawaii and the trio says their final goodbyes.
When Jack proposes to Vicky, she turns him down cold. The reason is that she's afraid of marriage because it might fail like her father's did. They decide to live together. The trio finally moves out of their apartment and into their new lives: Terri is going to Hawaii to work with poor children, Janet and Philip move into their new place, and Jack moves into the apartment above the restaurant with Vicky. As they begin their new life together, Mr. Bradford comes in and tells him that he is the new landlord! With that, the spin-off series Three's a Crowd begins.
Helen bugs Stanley into looking for a new house, though Stanley wants a mobile home. They end up purchasing a condo in Cheviot Hills, where the Brookeses are introduced.
A tribute to John Ritter showcasing his funniest Three's Company moments.
Legendary sitcom actress Lucille Ball hosts a one-hour retrospective looking back at the previous six seasons of the series. Part one includes Jack's arrival in the apartment and how the roommates have adapted to one another. This episode was presented in primetime as a one-hour special, but shown in two parts in syndication.
Legendary sitcom actress Lucille Ball hosts a one-hour retrospective looking back at the previous six seasons of the series. Part two highlights John Ritter's physical comedy and how the show's comedy relies on the classic sitcom misunderstanding. Ritter also makes a brief appearance with Ball. This episode was presented in primetime as a one-hour special, but shown in two parts in syndication.
A tribute to Don Knotts.
Legendary sitcom actress Lucille Ball hosts a one-hour retrospective looking back at the previous six seasons of the series. Part one includes Jack's arrival in the apartment and how the roommates have adapted to one another. Part two highlights John Ritter's physical comedy and how the show's comedy relies on the classic sitcom misunderstanding. Ritter also makes a brief appearance with Ball. This episode was presented in primetime as a one-hour special, but shown in two parts in syndication.
