Ritter's Romp on 'Three's Company' Changed TV

Sept. 16 -- John Ritter tripped and stumbled his way into TV history, and comics and colleagues remember him as a master of slapstick who won the hearts of millions on Three's Company.

"It was not the most sophisticated, the brightest material you're ever going to find. Which only goes to show you how good he was," says Jason Alexander, who played George on Seinfeld.

"If you're taking material that's a little thin and elevating it, you're walking with the gods at that point. And John would do that and it looked effortless."

Ritter died Thursday of a heart problem, as friends recalled his self-effacing style that turned Three's Company into one of the biggest hit shows in an 8-year run, beginning in 1977, when the risqué comedy pushed TV to its limit.

Another Week, Another Silly Misunderstanding

It's hard to appreciate, but the very thought of members of the opposite sex living together was actually quite scandalous, at least on TV when Three's Company hit primetime.

Two years earlier, ABC, CBS, and NBC — better known in those days as "all three networks" — balked at the very notion of a risqué sitcom based on two single women living with a man, even though that premise worked on the British sitcom Man About the House.

When ABC finally took the plunge, shocked conservatives railed against the network, and still, Three's Company prevailed, and at the height of its fame, kept 38 million people laughing every week. There were board games, bubblegum cards, constant media attention, and for John Ritter, a Golden Globe and an Emmy.

The tales of Jack, Janet and Chrissy now live on in syndication, even though the show never took itself all that seriously.

Ritter became world famous as Jack Tripper, a bumbling would-be playboy who talks two beautiful women (Joyce DeWitt and Suzanne Somers) into letting him rent the extra room in their apartment.

Jack's a cooking student, and when the girls taste his food, they're eager to have him in their home, provided there's no hanky-panky.