Suzanne Somers, star of Three's Company and Step By Step - and fitness guru - has died at 76 after a battle with cancer.

Piper Laurie - star of Carrie, Children of a Lesser God, The Hustler, and The Thorn Birds (among others) - died Oct 14. She was 91. She had been unwell for some time.

ShellyMcG said:

I only know Piper Laurie from Twin Peaks but she was really good in that.

She was Carrie's overly religious mother in Carrie. She really added the creep-factor to it.

SoulAlive said:

Three’s Company is one of my top 5 favorite TV shows it’s very sad to hear about Suzanne.May she rest in eternal peace.

Yeah, it's definitely in my top 5 all time favorite sitcoms.

I'm watching it right now. There's a Three's Company channel on PlutoTV I put on sometimes for background noise.

TrivialPursuit said:

SoulAlive said:

Three’s Company is one of my top 5 favorite TV shows it’s very sad to hear about Suzanne.May she rest in eternal peace.

Yeah, it's definitely in my top 5 all time favorite sitcoms.

I'm watching it right now. There's a Three's Company channel on PlutoTV I put on sometimes for background noise.

It's hilarious,isn't it? I have always loved that show.John Ritter was a comic genuis.

SoulAlive said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Yeah, it's definitely in my top 5 all time favorite sitcoms.

I'm watching it right now. There's a Three's Company channel on PlutoTV I put on sometimes for background noise.

It's hilarious,isn't it? I have always loved that show.John Ritter was a comic genuis.

Yeah, it's all farse. But it was fun.

John Ritter was my first boy crush. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with him, but he was loveable, goofy, furry, and handsome.

My favorite episode, which is criminally and heavily edited in syndication, is "Up In The Air," where Jack has taken two tranquilzers and had a drink called "The Rocket" at a party on an island. He goes nuts and does this huge dance number. They edit the dance by 2/3 and I hate it. The Brady Bunch's Barry Williams guest stars as Janet's date.

SoulAlive said:

My only gripe with this show: I hate when they removed the Ropers and gave them their own show (which only lasted one season). I was never that crazy about the Mr. Furley character. I wish they had kept the Ropers on the main show.

The Ropers lasted a season and a half, basically.

Norman didn't want to leave the show, but Audra Lindley did. Fell had a deal with producers that promised him they would give The Ropers a year to prove itself in the ratings. If their show was canceled before that year's point, then both Fell and Lindley could return to Three's Company. Fell didn't totally love that but accepted it.

So The Ropers debuted to really high ratings. That season was only six episodes. When the next season came on in September of that year, it was eventually moved to Saturdays and fell to almost the bottom of the ratings. They canceled it despite coming back to almost the top 20 by the end of that second season.

Fell kinda believed that they waited to announce the cancelation so it was past the one-year mark and not have to pay two more people on the show should Stanley and Helen show up again.

I loved Don Knotts, and a lot of times it was great with him on the show. But it wasn't the same as the marriage dynamic of the Ropers marriage, etc. They tried to compensate with Lana (who asked to be let go because her character was going nowhere; and they agreed), Cindy, etc. Cindy annoyed me a lot, but Teri brought a nice grown up feel to the show. She was a nurse, not hocking makeup at a strip poker party (which was fun when they were all younger). Jack and Janet both were growing up as 30 somethings, so Teri's energy seemed to fit.

It would've been interesting to see the Ropers in the midst of all that.

I've always wanted to write a fictional novel - like fan fiction - and flesh out where everyone ended up. I kind of have an idea about everyone's future.

TrivialPursuit said:

Teri brought a nice grown up feel to the show. She was a nurse, not hocking makeup at a strip poker party (which was fun when they were all younger). Jack and Janet both were growing up as 30 somethings, so Teri's energy seemed to fit.

I agree,Teri was great.

Carrie a masterwork.

The Regal Beagle. I loved that show. Loved the Ropers and Mr. Furley. Chrissy and Teri. Larry and of course Jack Tripper.