Having watched Three's Company almost from the start of its original run, and having also watched Three's a Crowd during it's original run and finally seeing it once more within the last few weeks, I can safely say Three's a Crowd never had whatever chemistry the original Three's Company possessed.
Three's a Crowd barely ever dealt with anything beyond Jack and Vicky having sex. It's not hard to see why this show failed. There were a few episodes that actually dealt with something other than Vicky's private parts, but mostly the show was about grownups acting like sex-starved teenagers.
Beyond that, the writing was also not very funny. I don't think it was Ritter himself that wasn't funny, the writers were just not very good. The characters didn't seem to work very well with each other either. You didn't have the type of wacky fun you had with characters like Jack and Mr. Roper.
Lastly, you have to think like a Studio Exec. Janet and the other girls from Three's company were getting too old to be cute in the mind of a Studio Exec, so they probably wanted to bring in a fresh new good-looking babe to keep the male audience interested. That's Hollywood for you, John Ritter could probably still be playing Jack Tripper at 60 or 70 if he were alive and they'd find a good-looking 20 something year-old babe to play his girlfriend.
p.s. Three's Company was at its best when the Ropers were the landlords, I love Don Knotts, but it just wasn't the same anymore without the Ropers.
p.s. #2 I actually find the Ropers much funnier than I find Three's a Crowd.
Three's a Crowd barely ever dealt with anything beyond Jack and Vicky having sex. It's not hard to see why this show failed. There were a few episodes that actually dealt with something other than Vicky's private parts, but mostly the show was about grownups acting like sex-starved teenagers.
Beyond that, the writing was also not very funny. I don't think it was Ritter himself that wasn't funny, the writers were just not very good. The characters didn't seem to work very well with each other either. You didn't have the type of wacky fun you had with characters like Jack and Mr. Roper.
Lastly, you have to think like a Studio Exec. Janet and the other girls from Three's company were getting too old to be cute in the mind of a Studio Exec, so they probably wanted to bring in a fresh new good-looking babe to keep the male audience interested. That's Hollywood for you, John Ritter could probably still be playing Jack Tripper at 60 or 70 if he were alive and they'd find a good-looking 20 something year-old babe to play his girlfriend.
p.s. Three's Company was at its best when the Ropers were the landlords, I love Don Knotts, but it just wasn't the same anymore without the Ropers.
p.s. #2 I actually find the Ropers much funnier than I find Three's a Crowd.