| 1 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1337103660063740100 |
| 2 | %% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread. |
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| 4 | [[quoteright:260:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Therscompani_1053.jpg]] |
| 5 | [[caption-width-right:260:The girls just ''looove'' Jack's... er, [[EroticEating foodstuffs]].]] |
| 6 | ->''"Come and knock on our door...\ |
| 7 | We've been waiting for you...\ |
| 8 | Where the kisses are hers and hers and his,\ |
| 9 | Three's company, too."'' |
| 10 | |
| 11 | An iconic late'70s–early'80s RoommateCom/slapstick sex farce/comedy of errors series. Frequently dismissed as the archetypal JiggleShow, it's also marked by clever writing, strong performances and fantastic physical humor. A [[TransatlanticEquivalent U.S. adaptation]] of the BritCom series ''Series/ManAboutTheHouse'', it aired for eight seasons (1977–84) on Creator/{{ABC|US}}. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | In order to share an affordable Santa Monica apartment with two attractive young ladies, [[BrainyBrunette Janet Wood]] (Creator/JoyceDeWitt) and [[TheDitz Chrissy]] [[DumbBlonde Snow]] (Creator/SuzanneSomers), cooking student [[HandsomeLech Jack Tripper]] (Creator/JohnRitter) must pretend to be gay around Stanley Roper (Creator/NormanFell), the repressed, bigoted landlord. Roper, in turn, frequently finds himself fending off the advances of his good-natured but sexually frustrated wife Helen (Creator/AudraLindley), who knows Jack's secret but likes him and the girls enough to keep mum. Complications are introduced through a variety of misunderstandings and mishaps, often caused by the thinking-impaired apartment mates or their cumbersome friends. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | Everyone in this series suffers from GenreBlindness at one point or another, which is to be expected considering the show is essentially a comedy of errors. The show launched the careers of Ritter and Somers, and revived that of Creator/DonKnotts (who joined the cast as new landlord and wannabe-swinger Ralph Furley after the Ropers left for [[Series/TheRopers their own series]] following the third season). |
| 16 | |
| 17 | [[TropeCodifier Codified]], if not created, [[MistakenForIndex an entire set of plot tropes]] based on silly misunderstandings and leaping to conclusions. Creator/LucilleBall was a huge fan of the show thanks to its pitch-perfect use of sitcom tropes and physical comedy, and even appeared to host a ClipShow. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | In later years, it's almost more famous for the [[TroubledProduction behind-the-scenes issues]] with Suzanne Somers' contract dispute-- she demanded top billing for being MsFanservice despite John Ritter being the main character. After Somers' refusal to cooperate made shooting next to impossible, producers retaliated by showing her in no uncertain terms just how unwelcome she was. The series endured many cast changes, nasty backstage disputes and overall changing tastes in television to become one of the most fondly-remembered (and frequently emulated) shows of the era. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | ---- |
| 22 | !! "Come and knock on our tropes..." |
| 23 | |
| 24 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 25 | |
| 26 | [[folder: A to C]] |
| 27 | * ACupAngst: Janet-- one episode revolved around her deciding to get breast implants. |
| 28 | * AbhorrentAdmirer: |
| 29 | ** Jack mistakenly serenades an overweight woman named Bernice who falls in love with him, and attempts to get rid of her so he can continue his date with his girlfriend Arabella. But when Arabella shows her true colors and insults Bernice, Jack stands up for her and kicks Arabella out, proceeding on his date with Bernice. |
| 30 | ** Mr. Furley tends to be one of these to various girls, especially to Lana during her time on the show. |
| 31 | * AbsurdlyIneffectiveBarricade: After Mr. Furley is threatened by a mobster, he hides out in the trio's apartment and barricades the door using a single couch cushion. |
| 32 | * AccidentalBargainingSkills: When Jack falls down the stairs of the apartment and breaks his leg, Mr. Roper tries to pay him a settlement to avoid being sued. Jack tries to explain that he has no intention of suing him in the first place, but upon his objections Mr. Roper gradually raises the [[ComicallySmallBribe Comically Small Offer]] from $50 to $200. |
| 33 | * AccidentalDanceCraze: When Mr. Furley tries to teach Cindy to dance, he [[CrackOhMyBack hurts his back]] when demonstrating a move. Cindy imitates the move precisely, including his cry of agony. |
| 34 | * AcronymAndAbbreviationOverload: When Chrissy doesn't have any money to lend to Mrs. Roper to pay for a Cash On Delivery package, she suggests giving the courier an IOU. |
| 35 | -->'''Mrs. Roper''': Chrissy, you can't give the UPS an IOU for a COD. They'll call the FBI! |
| 36 | * ActionGirl: Terri, who is known to go hands on with doctors and patients who hassle her at work. |
| 37 | * AddedAlliterativeAppeal: |
| 38 | ** The Furley Fun Festival, Mr. Furley's set of ParlorGames that they play at Cindy's moving away party. |
| 39 | ** When Mr. Furley claims to have lockpicking skills, he tells Jack and Chrissy that he used to be called "Fingers Furley". |
| 40 | * AdjectiveAnimalAlehouse: The Regal Beagle, a local pub where many of the characters' shenanigans take place. |
| 41 | * AfraidOfDoctors: Mr. Furley refuses to go see a doctor about his aching back because he doesn't trust them. When he finally decides to see one, the doctor turns out to be Jack in disguise, trying to impress his grandfather who he lied to about being a doctor. |
| 42 | -->'''Mr. Furley:''' I don't trust doctors. They stick in their needles and take out your money. They're all crooks, why do you think they wear masks? |
| 43 | * AfterShow: ''Three's a Crowd'', which focuses on Jack living with his new wife Vicki and her father. |
| 44 | * AlcoholHic: Jack drinks enough beer to give himself the [[HiccupHijinks hiccups]], causing him to blow his cover while hiding from Chrissy's mother. |
| 45 | * TheAlcoholic: Mr. Furley tends to drink a lot, and in several cases his drunkenness gets the group out of trouble with him as he fails to recall what he was upset with them about. |
| 46 | * TheAllegedCar: The rust covered Ropermobile. Mr. Roper sells it to Jack and the girls at one point, but when a car collector offers top dollar for it, he tries to get the car back. We get to see it in action in the pilot episode of ''Series/TheRopers''. |
| 47 | * AllegedlyDateless: A mild example. It's strange when Janet complains about not having a date for the evening. She dates frequently but doesn't have a steady boyfriend through most of the series. |
| 48 | * AmbulanceChaser: After Jack falls down the apartment stairs and [[AmusingInjuries breaks his leg]], Mr. Roper assumes that Janet's boyfriend is a lawyer that Jack has hired to sue him for his injuries. Mr. Roper refuses to listen to them explain and instead beings to offer unspectacularly small settlement amounts. |
| 49 | * AndImTheQueenOfSheba: Roper is incredibly freaked out when he and Jack wake up in bed together after a wild night of partying, so Jack confesses to him that he's straight. |
| 50 | -->'''Roper:''' If you're straight, then I'm the King of Siam!\ |
| 51 | '''Jack:''' Mr. Roper...\ |
| 52 | '''Roper:''' And you're the Queen! |
| 53 | * AngryChef: Mr. Angelino, Jack's MeanBoss. Also, Felipe, who is jealous of Jack's position as a head chef. |
| 54 | * AngryGuardDog: When Mr. Furley replaces TheCouch which Jack hid $1000 in, Jack and Janet track the old sofa to an [[HonestJohnsDealership Honest John's]] furniture shop. But the owner's aggressive dog prevents them from accessing the couch until they pay for it, and he lets the dog pick the price to sell the couch at. |
| 55 | * AnnoyingLaugh: Chrissy's snort. When she complains about Janet slurping her coffee, Janet retaliates by making fun of her laugh. |
| 56 | -->'''Janet:''' Well, at least I know how to laugh. Ahahahahaha! What do ''you'' do? ''SNORT!'' ''SNORT!'' ''SNORT!'' ''SNORT!'' ''SNORT!'' |
| 57 | * AnswerCut: When the host of a mock casino charity fundraising event asks "Who would be stupid enough to think they were playing for real money?", the camera cuts to Jack and Larry who think they are getting rich with winnings at the craps table. |
| 58 | * ArmorPiercingQuestion: When Janet gets in a fury after catching Jack on bed with her sister Jenny (even though it was platonic and Jack was so sleepy he didn't he know his bed was occupied) and demands that Jack move out, Crissy takes Janet to the kitchen away from the drama and asks her if it were Chrissy in Jenny's place, would she believe her. This leaves Janet at a loss for words and realize she overreacted so she apologized to Jack and Jenny. |
| 59 | -->'''Chrissy''': Listen, if you had found me and Jack in the same bed and I told you that nothing had happened, would you believe me? |
| 60 | -->'''Janet''': Well, yes. |
| 61 | -->'''Chrissy''': Well, then why won't you believe your own sister? |
| 62 | * ArrestedForHeroism: Happens to Jack when he decides to show off the new self-defense skills he learned from Terri by taking down an assailant beating someone up outside the apartment. Justified when the "assailant" turns out to be a [[UndercoverCopReveal plainclothes cop]] and the "victim" was a robber he was trying to subdue. |
| 63 | * AscendedExtra: Larry started out as a guest star, but got more appearances over time and [[PromotionToOpeningTitles a promotion]]. |
| 64 | * AsskickingPose: Parodied with Mr. Furley, who holds his arms up at an odd angle with his palms facing inwards while [[IKnowKungFaux wide-eyed and trembling]]. |
| 65 | * AsTheGoodBookSays: Mr. Roper, after the situation in an episode is resolved. |
| 66 | -->'''Mr. Roper''': Like the good book says, "Theatre/AllsWellThatEndsWell".\ |
| 67 | '''Jack''': That was Shakespeare.\ |
| 68 | '''Mr. Roper''': [[ExactlyWhatIMeantToSay Well, it was still a good book]]. |
| 69 | * AstonishinglyAppropriateInterruption: When Jack attempts to explain OvenLogic to Janet during a televised talk show cooking demonstration. The cue card that he hid in the bottom of a pot was accidentally thrown out, causing him to read the stamp on the bottom of the pot instead. |
| 70 | --> '''Janet:''' Wouldn't the fish be [[OvenLogic cooked much faster]] if you cooked it at a higher heat?\ |
| 71 | '''Jack:''' Yes, Janet, it would. But by cooking at a lower temperature, your fish will be -- Made in Taiwan. |
| 72 | * AteTheSpoon: In the pilot episode, Janet talks about the awful punch that Chrissy made at the party the night before, which got her insanely drunk... and turned the ladle green. |
| 73 | * AwfulWeddedLife: Helen and Stanley Roper. |
| 74 | * AwkwardKiss: When Jack and Janet [[DatingServiceDisaster unwittingly end up]] on a blind date with each other, they attempt a kiss to see if they might actually work out as a couple. Their attempt results in them accidentally bumping their noses into each other and complaining about how much it hurt. After that, they have an extremely short peck on the lips before sitting in stony silence. |
| 75 | * AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: When Helen is distraught that Mr. Roper forgot their anniversary and wants to spend some time away from him, the trio lets her stay in Mr. Furley's empty apartment as he is away on a trip. When Mr. Furley comes back early and climbs into his bed without realizing Helen is there, she takes advantage of the situation to convince her husband that she is having an affair with Mr. Furley to make him jealous. While Mr. Roper is not typically very affectionate, he ultimately gets upset and, with Jack's encouragement, tries to fight Mr. Furley to reclaim Helen. |
| 76 | * BaitAndSwitchComment: A common RunningGag. |
| 77 | ** When Jack goes to the hospital for a [[MinorInjuryOverreaction minor cut]] he received while cooking, Felipe tells him that his relative sustained a similar injury and the cut got infected. Felipe tells Jack YouDoNotWantToKnow the ending, but tries to reassure him that it turned out fine. |
| 78 | -->'''Felipe:''' But it all turned out fine in the end.\ |
| 79 | '''Jack:''' What happened in the end?\ |
| 80 | '''Felipe:''' [[DownerEnding The whole town turned up for the funeral!]] |
| 81 | ** When Felipe asks Jack to cover a shift for him, after Jack was fired. |
| 82 | -->'''Jack:''' But Mr. Angelino doesn't like me.\ |
| 83 | '''Felipe:''' Doesn't like you? Oh no, he hates you! |
| 84 | ** Mr. Furley claims to have written many {{Strongly Worded Letter}}s to his brother Bart, complaining about not being provided with enough funds to maintain the building. When the tenants are surprised that Mr. Furley would stand up to his brother, Mr. Furley adds that he might [[DeliveryNotDesired start mailing them]] at some point. |
| 85 | * BaitAndSwitchComparison: In a scene where Larry tries to arrange a date for Jack. |
| 86 | --> '''Larry:''' I just wanted to know if you wanted to spend an evening with a beautiful, young lady.\ |
| 87 | '''Jack:''' No thanks, pal. I'd rather spend an evening with Janet. |
| 88 | ** When Mr. Furley helps out in the kitchen at Jack's Bistro. |
| 89 | --> '''Mr. Furley:''' I thought I'd put the salad in the cooler to keep it fresh, like they do at ''good'' restaurants. |
| 90 | * BangingPotsAndPans: After Mr. Furley tries to evict the trio for making too much noise, this is one of the things Janet does to make as much noise as possible to spite him. |
| 91 | * BankToaster: Inverted. Janet says that she's so terrible at accounting, her bank offered her an alarm clock to move her account elsewhere. |
| 92 | * TheBartender: Jim and Mike, who work at the Regal Beagle. |
| 93 | * BeachEpisode: Setting the show in Santa Monica gave the producers the perfect excuse to [[WalkingSwimsuitScene parade the female leads around in skimpy bathing suits]]. |
| 94 | * BedsheetLadder: The trio tries to escape with one when trapped in the bedroom by diamond thieves, but they accidentally throw the whole sheet out the window because they didn't tie it properly to their headboard. |
| 95 | * BigBrotherBully: According to Mr. Furley, his older brother Bart buried him in the sand head-first when their family went to the beach as a child. He also pulled out his brother's teeth to get money from the ToothFairy. |
| 96 | * BillBillJunkBill: When Jack is sorting through the mail after Chrissy moves out. "Look at this: We got a bill from the gas company, a bill from the electric company, there's a letter from Chrissy, telephone bill..." They take interest in the letter from Chrissy, hoping it contains a check for her share of the rent. Instead there's only an I.O.U. for Mr. Furley. |
| 97 | * BitchInSheepsClothing: Felipe, Jack's jealous assistant chef at Angelino's who smiles to his face and pretends to be a loyal worker but is always trying to get him fired so he could be head chef. Becomes subverted later on, when the two actually do become friends. Helps when Jack gets his own restaurant and is no longer competition. |
| 98 | * BlatantLies: When Jack convinces Lana to have dinner with Mr. Furley to avoid the trio being evicted, Lana only agrees to the plan on the condition that she won't be left alone with Mr. Furley. When Mr. Furley complains about Jack's presence, Jack claims that chefs in Romania sit with their guests to ensure their food is consumed properly. After the girls accidentally throw the entree out the kitchen window, Jack tells them that in Romania it's customary to skip the entree and serve dessert first. |
| 99 | * BlazingInfernoHellfireSauce: In an attempt to prevent Felipe from losing his job, Jack sabotages a dish destined for a VIP diner with a ludicrous amount of pepper so that Mr. Angelino will fire him. The VIP ends up loving the spicy dish and is delighted by how much pepper Jack used. HilarityEnsues when he befriends Janet and feeds her multiple mouthfuls of it. |
| 100 | * BluffTheEavesdropper: When Jack and Chrissy suspect Mr. Roper has been listening to their conversations through the building's plumbing, they [[StagingTheEavesdrop stage an antagonizing conversation]] in front of the bathroom sink to confirm their suspicions. Helen doesn't really believe her husband would stoop that low, but Mr. Roper takes the bait and bursts through the front door [[WalkInChimeIn right on cue]]. |
| 101 | * BreakingBadNewsGently: Jack lies to his grandfather about being a doctor, but it backfires when his grandfather wants to see him at work at the hospital. When Terri refuses to help him MaintainTheLie, he attempts to guilt her into cooperating by making a PhoneyCall to his grandfather. He starts by asking the hotel operator to ask his grandfather to [[DramaticSitDown sit down]] before reading the message and lays it on until Terri finally relents. |
| 102 | * BreakingTheFourthWall: Mr. Roper would usually smile or laugh at the camera after making a crack about his wife. |
| 103 | * BroadcastLive: Jack's InUniverse talk show cooking demonstration, which he [[DisastrousDemonstration screws up]]. |
| 104 | * [[BunnyEarsLawyer Bunny Ears Chef]]: Despite his clumsiness in just about every other setting, Jack is a very talented chef. |
| 105 | * CampGay: Routinely, Jack doesn't act any differently to convince the landlords that he is gay, but invokes this trope whenever they tease him about it. He also does so whenever he accidentally gives some indication of his true sexuality, to MaintainTheLie. |
| 106 | * CampStraight: Jack. This certainly helps when it comes to playing gay. |
| 107 | * CannotTellALie: After Jack's date dumps him for his various BlatantLies about his lifestyle, he decides to never lie again, which gets him into hot water with the girls. |
| 108 | * CasanovaWannabe: Larry, who fabricates a separate persona for each girl he dates and keeps track of them all in a notebook. Mr. Furley fits this trope also, and Jack does to a lesser degree. |
| 109 | * CasinoEpisode: Jack goes to an underground casino operated by the family of his ultra-rich girlfriend, but misses the cues that it is a mock gambling event for fundraising purposes. After he loses $15,000 of chips that he believes he will have to pay back, Janet and Terri go in to convince the operators to forgive his non-existent debt. |
| 110 | * {{Catchphrase}}: |
| 111 | ** Jack: "Oh lordy, lordy, lordy..." |
| 112 | ** Mr. Furley: "Now hear this!..." and "Open up! It's R.F.!" |
| 113 | * CensorSuds: Mentioned: |
| 114 | -->'''Mr. Furley:''' You mean Lana saw me in the bathtub? |
| 115 | -->'''Chrissy:''' You don't have to be embarrassed. The little bubbles hid everything. |
| 116 | ** Parodied when Jack walks in on Chrissy in the bath and tells her she needs more bubbles when she kicks him out. |
| 117 | * ChainedHeat: Jack and Chrissy accidentally handcuff themselves together, and Jack has a date to keep. |
| 118 | * ChivalrousPervert: Jack has a new girlfriend every other episode and has flirted with his roommates numerous times, but he never goes beyond that, and shows numerous times that he's there when the girls need him. [[spoiler:He also gets a seemingly permanent girlfriend in the series finale.]] |
| 119 | * ChristmasEpisode: Season 2's "Three's Christmas", which has the roommates spending the holiday with the Ropers in lieu of the more happening party they were hoping to attend. |
| 120 | * ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: |
| 121 | ** Season 4 introduced a new main character in the form of Lana, who frequently tried to hit on Jack, who didn't like her advances. She was only around for four episodes before disappearing without any explanation [[note]]in-universe. She was dropped because nobody liked her character[[/note]]. |
| 122 | ** Chrissy wasn't mentioned at all after Cindy moved in, and Cindy likewise disappeared the following season. |
| 123 | * ClipShow: "The Best of ''Three's Company''", hosted by Creator/LucilleBall. |
| 124 | * CluelessDeputy: Chrissy's distant cousin, Jay Garfield, who gets in trouble with his superiors for [[DudeWheresOurCar misplacing his patrol car]]. |
| 125 | --> '''Jay:''' I had to get out and chase a suspect and I forgot where I parked the car.\ |
| 126 | '''Jack:''' Somehow, knowing he's out there protecting me, I don't feel as safe anymore. |
| 127 | * ColdTurkeysAreEverywhere: When Jack bets Janet he can maintain his VowOfCelibacy longer than Chrissy can fast, he doesn't realize one of his (many) old flames had just arrived in town, who Janet and Chrissy happily invite over to meet Jack. Chrissy doesn't have it any easier with her own undertaking — Jack tempts her with scrumptious food and Janet uses food-related metaphors in their conversations. |
| 128 | * ComicallySmallBribe: |
| 129 | ** When Cindy goes missing, Mr. Furley goes to the Regal Beagle to look for her. He pays a blonde girl three dollars to tell him anything she knows, but the girl turns out to be an undercover cop and arrests Furley for solicitation of a prostitute. |
| 130 | ** After Mrs. Roper receives multiple gifts from a secret admirer, he tips the delivery person a quarter to reveal who the sender of the gifts is. |
| 131 | ** When the trio tries to purchase Mr. Roper's old car, he is reluctant to sell it to them as he already promised to sell it to a used car dealer. He immediately relents when the trio offers him $12.16 more than the dealer does. |
| 132 | ** When Jack falls down the stairs of the apartment, Mr. Roper tries to reach a settlement with him in exchange for not suing him, the property owner. Mr. Roper offers $50 for the settlement, which seems measly as Jack suffered a broken leg in the fall. |
| 133 | * ComicalOverreacting: Mr. Furley does this a lot, often bursting into the trio's apartment too flustered to explain why he is upset while doing an EyeTake. In one case, he loses it on Janet because she refuses to pronounce [[YouSayTomato ketchup as "catsup"]]. |
| 134 | * CommutingOnABus: Cindy does this in Season 6 before falling victim to ChuckCunninghamSyndrome. |
| 135 | * ComplexityAddiction: |
| 136 | ** When the the Ropers plan a SurpriseParty for Jack's birthday, Chrissy's plan to get him to attend involves bringing him to various places around town, where they eventually run into someone who invites him to Ropers' apartment. Janet suggests taking Jack to the Reagle Beagle for a drink and letting Mrs. Roper invite him directly. |
| 137 | ** When Larry and Mr. Furley are attempting to deter the trio from moving out of the apartment, they exploit this trope to convince them that they will have to make various unnecessary bus connections and transfers to get to work or school. Janet points out that there's one bus that will take them there directly. |
| 138 | * ConMan: Jack's uncle likes to write bad checks. When he writes one to Mr. Roper to pay for the trio's rent, they try to get the check back from him before he cashes it. |
| 139 | * ConvenienceStoreGiftShopping: When Mr. Roper gives flowers to Helen. |
| 140 | -->'''Helen:''' Oh, they're beautiful! You even enclosed a card.\ |
| 141 | '''Stanley:''' I did?\ |
| 142 | '''Helen:''' ''[reads]'' "To Granny, Rest in Peace"? You stole them from the cemetery! |
| 143 | ** In one episode, Mr. Roper purchases a parakeet for his wife's anniversary, which he actually intends as a companion for his own pet bird. |
| 144 | * CookingDuel: When Jack loses one of these at his culinary school, he realizes one of the cheating competitors swapped their dish with his before they were judged and tries to set up an EngineeredPublicConfession. |
| 145 | * [[CorruptPolitician Corrupt Health Inspector]]: One of them threatens to shut down Jack's Bistro unless Jack pays them a bribe. |
| 146 | * CrackOhMyBack: Happens to Mr. Furley when he tries to teach Cindy a dance move. Cindy [[AccidentalDanceCraze imitates the move precisely]], including his cry of agony. |
| 147 | * CrankyLandlord: Mr. Roper. Downplayed with Mr. Furley, who tries much harder to be friendly to the tenants, but still gets grumpy when the plot requires. |
| 148 | * CryLaughing: When Chrissy is admitted to the hospital for a head injury, she entertains the doctor with some jokes. When Janet runs into him in the hallway, she thinks he is crying because Chrissy's injury will be fatal. |
| 149 | * TheCouch: The apartment prominently has a couch in the living room, and it happens to be where most scenes take place. |
| 150 | * CucumberFacial: Mr. Roper eats the cucumber slices when Helen puts one on. |
| 151 | -->'''Helen:''' Be sure to eat them slowly, Stanley. They're your breakfast for today. |
| 152 | * CureYourGays: When Mr. Furley offers to teach Jack to be straight, Jack jumps at the opportunity to stop being MistakenForGay without realizing that that Mr. Furley intends to evict him from the apartment after he passes. In the series finale, Mr. Furley thinks his friendship with Jack did the trick when Jack moves in with a woman. |
| 153 | [[/folder]] |
| 154 | |
| 155 | [[folder: D to F]] |
| 156 | * DatingServiceDisaster: Jack, under the alias Duke Bradford, tries computer dating and is matched up with Janet, who is using the alias Desiree. After they find out what happened, they decide to continue the date anyway. |
| 157 | * ADayInHerApron: Inverted. As [[LethalChef Lethal Chefs]], the girls rely on Jack to cook for them. Whenever he's not around and they are forced to feed themselves, HilarityEnsues. |
| 158 | * DeliveryNotDesired: The [[StronglyWordedLetter Strongly Worded Letters]] Mr. Furley has written to his brother Bart, telling him off for mistreating him. |
| 159 | * TheDentistEpisode: When Jack gets a toothache, he reluctantly decides to have it treated by the dentist Terri is dating. However, when Terri breaks up with the dentist and he discovers they live in the same apartment, he assumes that it must be because she is having an affair with him. Janet and Terri fear that the dentist might harm Jack out of anger, but fortunately he takes care of the cavity without issues. |
| 160 | * DestinationDefenestration: When Mr. Furley visits Jack in jail, one of the other inmates tells him that this is supposedly the reason he is incarcerated for. He only reveals this ''after'' Mr. Furley tells him he is a landlord, so it's not clear if this is true, or if he was lying to intimidate Mr. Furley. |
| 161 | %% Zero Context Example * DidTheyOrDidntThey |
| 162 | %% Zero Context Example * DinnerWithTheBoss: ''So many examples |
| 163 | * DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery: In one episode, a man named Jim Walsh who bullied Jack in the Navy is invited by an unknowing, well-meaning Chrissy to the roommates' apartment. Walsh is a complete and utter {{Jerkass}} who happens to be blind, and plays on sympathy to get away with his abhorrent behavior, even shaming Jack for attempting to hit him after ''relentlessly'' egging him on to do so. Frustratingly, Walsh ends up being a KarmaHoudini. |
| 164 | -->"Serves ya right, trying to hit a blind man!" |
| 165 | * DisastrousDemonstration: Jack's poorly rehearsed ShowWithinAShow cooking demonstration, which causes him to lose his job at Angelino's restaurant. But Mr. Angelino realizes the performance was SoBadItsGood and attracts more business to the restaurant, he reluctantly presses the ResetButton and hires Jack back. |
| 166 | * DistractedByMyOwnSexy: When Mr. Furley is looking at himself in the mirror: |
| 167 | -->'''Mr. Furley:''' I better not look too long. I may fall in love. |
| 168 | * DistractedByTheSexy: The original TitleSequence has Jack running his bike off a beachfront sidewalk and tumbling into the sand as a result of this. |
| 169 | * DivideAndConquer: When the trio intends to move out of the apartment and into a nicer residence, Larry and Mr. Furley attempt to guilt them into staying by manipulating each tenant to believe that the others truly wish to stay, and are only willing to move out for the others' benefit. |
| 170 | * DIYDisaster: |
| 171 | ** Mr. Roper and Mr. Furley's attempts to fix things around the building tend to end up with some sort of defect or malfunction. According to Helen, Mr. Roper once fixed their freezer so that it defrosts every time the toilet is flushed. |
| 172 | ** When Jack attempts to fix the telephone instead of waiting for a technician from the phone company, the phone continues to ring even after the receiver is lifted to answer the call. |
| 173 | * DoItYourselfPlumbingProject: When Mr. Roper attempts to unclog the drainpipe of the sink in his apartment, he takes advantage of the opportunity to eavesdrop on the upstairs tenants through the open drainpipe. When Mrs. Roper forgets that a section of the pipe has been removed, she unplugs the sink and drenches as he is working underneath it. When Mr. Roper finishes replacing the pipe and hits it with a wrench to test its integrity, water sprays out on him. |
| 174 | * DoorSlamOfRage: After Mr. Furley attempts to evict the tenants for making too much noise, the trio tries to make as much noise as possible to spite him before they move out. While Jack and Janet obnoxiously drop the phone and [[BangingPotsAndPans bang pots and pans together]], Chrissy tries to slam the swinging kitchen door, which pivots into the kitchen silently. |
| 175 | * TheDoorSlamsYou: A RunningGag is characters constantly getting hit by the kitchen or bedroom doors being thrown open or slammed shut. Exaggerated with Cindy, who never seems to enter a scene without hitting someone with a door. |
| 176 | * DrinkBasedCharacterization: Each of the landlords had his own drink obsession. Mr. Roper always wanted cocoa, and Mr. Furley's favorite beverage was root beer. |
| 177 | * DrippingDisturbance: When Mr. Furley attempts to repair one of these in the kitchen, he interrogates Jack about precise sound of the drip as he believes this will help him determine the cause of the problem. |
| 178 | * DudeWheresOurCar: Chrissy's cousin, a CluelessDeputy, gets in trouble with his department for misplacing his police car. |
| 179 | * DumbBlonde: Chrissy and Cindy. Also Janet, in the episode where she wears a blonde wig. |
| 180 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: |
| 181 | ** Most noticeable with Chrissy, who during the very first few episodes is not quite TheDitz that she [[CharacterizationMarchesOn later develops into]]. |
| 182 | ** When Mr. Furley is first introduced, he is a lot less friendly to the tenants than he later becomes, at one point trying to (and nearly succeeding in) evicting them for making a bit of noise. |
| 183 | * EasyComeEasyGo: On two occasions, the group was offered the opportunity to move into a nicer residence for the same price and spent the episode packing and saying goodbye to their neighbors. Both times, the nicer house ended up not being available to them in the end. |
| 184 | %% Zero Context Example * EndOfEpisodeSilliness |
| 185 | * EekAMouse: When a mouse is spotted in the girls' bedroom, the girls move into Jack's room because they are scared of sleeping in the same room as it. Mr. Roper also claims the building is "overrun with giant mice" to deter his mother-in-law from visiting. When Larry eliminates the mouse, neither Jack nor Mr. Roper want anyone to know as they are taking advantage of the situation for their own benefit. |
| 186 | * EngineeredPublicConfession: |
| 187 | ** When Jack loses a CookingDuel to a cheating contestant, Janet invites the cheater back to the apartment on a date and tries to convince him to boast about the incident where Dean Travers can hear. |
| 188 | ** When a health inspector demands a bribe from Jack to avoid closing his bistro on a technicality, Jack later tries to discuss the terms of the payment with him while wearing a HiddenWire. |
| 189 | * EnterStageWindow: |
| 190 | ** This is Jack's method of sneaking into a food critic's office to retrieve an IrrevocableMessage. Janet is recruited to pose as an adoring fan and aspiring restaurant owner to distract the critic so he looks away from the window. |
| 191 | ** When Mr. Roper wakes up in Jack's bed the morning after a wild party, this is his first hope of escape without being seen. |
| 192 | --> '''Jack:''' It doesn't open.\ |
| 193 | '''Mr. Roper:''' Why not?\ |
| 194 | '''Jack:''' [[HoistByHisOwnPetard You never fixed it.]] |
| 195 | * EscalatingPunchline: |
| 196 | ** In the pilot episode, Chrissy doesn't think it was her preparation of the punch that got Janet painfully drunk, and thinks it might have been one of the ''many'' types of liquor she added. |
| 197 | --> '''Chrissy:''' Maybe there was something wrong with the gin. Or the rum. Or the whiskey. Or the tequila. Or the vodka. |
| 198 | ** When Mr. Furley tries to buy flowers for his date, the $25 bouquet Jack recommends turns out to be out of his price range. Jack takes off half of the flowers, but Mr. Furley continues to list off expenses he will need to pay for. |
| 199 | --> '''Mr. Furley:''' I'm taking this girl out for dinner.\ |
| 200 | '''Jack:''' [removes half of the flowers from the bouquet]\ |
| 201 | '''Mr. Furley:''' Then I'm taking her to see a movie after.\ |
| 202 | '''Jack:''' [removes more flowers from the bouquet]\ |
| 203 | '''Mr. Furley:''' Of course, I'll have to buy her popcorn too.\ |
| 204 | '''Jack:''' [removes more flowers from the bouquet]\ |
| 205 | '''Mr. Furley:''' Buttered.\ |
| 206 | '''Jack:''' [removes more flowers from the bouquet]\ |
| 207 | '''Mr. Furley:''' Then again, my car is in the shop so we'll have to take a cab.\ |
| 208 | '''Jack:''' [removes almost all the flowers from the bouquet]\ |
| 209 | '''Mr. Furley:''' Both ways.\ |
| 210 | '''Jack:''' [Holds out a single rose] |
| 211 | * ExecutiveMeddling: [[invoked]] When Jack is invited to a televised cooking demonstration, a producer moves around the items Jack hid cue cards in, turning the show into a DisastrousDemonstration. |
| 212 | * ExplodingCloset: When the group goes on a camping trip to a cabin. Jack opens a door expecting it to be the bedroom and is bombarded by a pile of firewood. Janet opens the closet and the contents fall on her. |
| 213 | * ExpospeakGag: When Jack [[MinorInjuryOverreaction overreacts]] to the injury that happens while cooking at Mr. Angelino's restaurant. |
| 214 | -->'''Doctor:''' You've got a laceration of the middle phalanx.\ |
| 215 | '''Jack:''' Oh, my God! Give it to me straight, Doc. I can take it.\ |
| 216 | '''Doctor:''' Okay. You've got a li'l boo-boo. |
| 217 | * EyeTake: Mr. Furley is known to do this whenever he sees or hears anything shocking. |
| 218 | * {{Farce}}: The TropeCodifier for sitcom farce; many ordinarily non-farcical sitcoms will [[ShoutOut explicitly reference]] this series when they make forays of their own into the genre. |
| 219 | * FakeTwinGambit: Jack pretends to be his own twin, "Austin" the macho cowboy, in order to fool Mr. Furley so he can date his niece. |
| 220 | * FakingTheDead: Jack pretends to be dead to escape a man who is determined to kill Jack for looking at his girlfriend. Believing it to be a ruse, he goes to see Jack's body and apologizes for terrorizing Jack. Jack gives himself away by habitually replying, "That's OK." |
| 221 | * FakingAndEntering: When the trio's rent payment goes missing without explanation, they assume it was stolen by a burglar and report the supposed break-in to the police. Finding no signs of forced entry, the responding officer accuses them of making it up to justify not having enough funds to pay their rent. Ultimately, it's discovered that the cash was missing because [[spoiler:Mr. Roper had already collected it.]] |
| 222 | * FashionDissonance: Mrs. Roper's assortment of caftans and Mr. Furley's polyester-intensive "swinger" outfits. |
| 223 | * FauxYay: Jack pretends to be gay so he can live with two female roommates. |
| 224 | * FawltyTowersPlot: Terri tells a doctor at the hospital that she can't go out for dinner with him because he needs to take care of her "husband" Jack who has a broken ankle, and because their friends who only speak French are in town. When the doctor suggests having dinner altogether at their apartment, Jack needs to wear a cast and Janet and Larry pretend to be a couple. The doctor's wife turns out to speak fluent French and doesn't understand why Janet and Larry won't talk at all, and one of Jack's girlfriends shows up which calls his "marriage" with Terri into question. |
| 225 | * FinancialTestOfFriendship: Mr. Furley's managerial job and residence exist solely because his brother, Bart, owns the building. After his attempts to repair fixtures around the apartment turn into [[DIYDisaster DIY Disasters]], Jack calls in a complaint to Bart which results in Mr. Furley being fired from his job and subsequently losing his apartment. The trio feels obligated to let Mr. Furley move in with them as they were responsible for the loss of his home, but after he turns into TheThingThatWouldNotLeave, they [[ZanyScheme conspire]] to get him reinstated as the building manager. |
| 226 | * {{Flanderization}}: In the first season, Chrissy was a little naive but not exactly stupid. Second season on, she almost became TooDumbToLive. |
| 227 | * FoodSlap: |
| 228 | ** An epic one happens to Jack when he secretly makes dates with two different women '''and''' Janet and Chrissy on the same night and they all find out about it. They dump a bottle of wine and a bowl of soup on his head, smash a cake in his face, and stuff a hot dog in his mouth! |
| 229 | ** Jack does this to a man who he wrongly believes is sleeping with Chrissy. It turns out to be a friend of the bartender's who was going to consider hiring Jack for his restaurant. |
| 230 | ** In the episode where Mr. Furley is introduced, the girls do this to him at the Regal Beagle, mistakenly believing he is a StalkerWithACrush and not realizing he is their new landlord.[[note]]Combined with the fact Jack threw away all of the furniture he moves in with, this [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome nearly gets the trio evicted]][[/note]]. |
| 231 | * ForcefulKiss. Lana Shields does this to Jack several times. At times Jack seems to enjoy the kissing while it takes all of his energy to resist her feminine wiles. At other times, Jack was repelled because she was older than he was but once she got her lips on him it was difficult for Jack to get away. Eventually Lana was written off the show because it seemed illogical that Jack wouldn't return her affections. |
| 232 | * ForgottenAnniversary: |
| 233 | ** This is the plot point in the episode ''Night of the Ropers'', where Mrs. Roper tries to make her husband jealous by [[OperationJealousy pretending she is having an affair]] with Mr. Furley. |
| 234 | ** In another episode, Mr. Roper scrambles to find a gift for Helen after she reminds them about their anniversary. |
| 235 | * TheFunInFuneral: In the episode "Dying to Meet You," Jack fakes his own death to escape the threats he receives from the jealous boyfriend of a girl he likes. Although the boyfriend is satisfied early on, Mr. Furley delays his departure with an extended eulogy, which ruins the plan. |
| 236 | [[/folder]] |
| 237 | |
| 238 | [[folder: G to I]] |
| 239 | * GenreBlindness: Borders on [[ContractualGenreBlindness contractual]]. |
| 240 | * GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity: |
| 241 | ** Jack has this sort of relationship with Mr. Angelino, his AngryChef MeanBoss. |
| 242 | ** Mr. Furley, who must remain subservient to his brother Bart, lest he lose his job and, by extension, his home. |
| 243 | * GetOut: Often invoked when Larry is thrown out of the apartment for saying something highly insensitive. |
| 244 | * GilliganCut: When Jack and Chrissy [[ChainedHeat handcuff themselves together]] without a key, Janet says that [[WhoWouldBeStupidEnough nobody could be dumb enough]] to be tricked into separating them without getting suspicious. The camera cuts to Mr. Furley. |
| 245 | * GirlOfTheWeek: Jack has one almost OnceAnEpisode, but the relationship almost always ends when she finds out about his living arrangement, or when the girl from the ''previous'' week shows up at the apartment during their date. |
| 246 | * GirlsVsBoysPlot: When Jack claims that men have more self-control and willpower than women after Chrissy impulsively eats a pie that he prepared for a cooking exam, Janet proposes a contest to test if Jack can resist women for longer than Chrissy can resist food. |
| 247 | * GrandFinale: The two-part "Friends and Lovers", which has Janet getting married, Terri moving to Hawaii, and Jack moving in with a new girlfriend. |
| 248 | %% * HappyEndingOverride: One early episode has Chrissy's mother visit, with her being afraid of her parents knowing that a man is living with her and Janet, so Jack has to stay out of the apartment while she is there, and when she decides to spend the night, Jack has to hide in Janet and Chrissy's room. [[spoiler: But they find out that the Ropers had told her about Jack and was okay with him living with them, as she felt they needed a man to protect him in the neighborhood they live in.]] A later episode has Chrissy's father coming over, and it turns out that while her mother was okay with the situation, her father, a minister, did not know. |
| 249 | * HandbagOfHurt: When Mr. Roper believes a prospective tenant is a cross-dresser, she wallops Mr. Roper with her purse for poking her in the chest. |
| 250 | * HangoverSensitivity: Happens to everyone the pilot episode, after Chrissy's punch concoction at Eleanor's moving away party gets the guests drunker than they would like to be. |
| 251 | * HaveAGayOldTime: This series probably marks the point where the word 'gay' passed from Hollywood and Theatrical slang into the popular lexicon. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in an episode in the middle of the series: |
| 252 | -->'''Judge:''' Are you gay? |
| 253 | -->'''Jack:''' Well, I can be sad sometimes, too. |
| 254 | %% Zero Context Example * HeadTiltinglyKinky |
| 255 | %% Zero Context Example * HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Felipe |
| 256 | * HeightInsult: Jack's new policy of total honesty in "Honest Jack Tripper" starts a fight between Janet and Cindy: |
| 257 | -->''[The three are talking about Janet's new dress]''\ |
| 258 | '''Cindy:''' I said [that dress] wasn't right for ''me.'' But it's all right for someone with--\ |
| 259 | '''Jack:''' 'Short legs,' go ahead.\ |
| 260 | '''Janet:''' Short legs?!\ |
| 261 | '''Cindy:''' Janet, I didn't mean--\ |
| 262 | '''Janet:''' Let me tell you something, buster. My legs are not too short, they are not too tall, they are just right! But maybe someone with legs like a giraffe might not notice that!\ |
| 263 | '''Cindy:''' Who you callin' a ''giraffe?!''\ |
| 264 | '''Janet:''' If the legs fit, ''wear 'em''! |
| 265 | * HeresJohnnyHomage: Larry delivers one at the start of Jack's rehearsal of his televised cooking demonstration, to Jack's annoyance. |
| 266 | * TheHero: Jack, who is the main character and the mastermind of all the [[ZanyScheme ZanySchemes]] the group engages in. |
| 267 | * HiddenWire: Jack attempts to [[HiddenWire secretly record]] a corrupt [[TheInspectorIsComing health inspector]] who wants to shut down his bistro unless he receives a bribe, but the microphone comes loose and falls down Jack's pant leg during the interaction. When he hands the recording over to the authorities, the tape is cued to a previous conversation where Jack asks Mr. Furley to buy a cooking pot for him, and the detectives think Jack is trying to bust Mr. Furley for trafficking cannabis. |
| 268 | * HighClassCallGirl: Chrissy's friend Darlene happens to be one, but Janet and Jack don't tell Chrissy to avoid disappointing her since Chrissy looks up to Darlene highly. They convince Chrissy she is an airline stewardess, which becomes a problem when Chrissy tries to go to work with Darlene to see what her job is like. |
| 269 | * HilariousOuttakes: A quite infamous one where Jack falling onto a bed while wearing shorts resulted in one of John Ritter's testicles briefly being visible. It was digitally covered up [[EnhancedOnDVD in syndication]], to which Ritter had the priceless response that they should alternate both versions, since "Sometimes you feel like a nut and sometimes you don't" (a ShoutOut to the Almond Joy/Mounds jingle of the era). |
| 270 | %% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * HitMeDammit |
| 271 | * HonestJohnsDealership: |
| 272 | ** After Mr. Furley replaces their broken couch, Jack and Janet track the old couch down at one of these. |
| 273 | ** Jack's best friend, Larry, is notorious for working at one of these as a used car salesman. |
| 274 | * HospitalHottie: Jack has this experience with Terri when he first meets her as a patient at the hospital, refusing to let her give him a tetanus shot. Throughout her time in the series, Terri continues to mention that the doctors are more aggressive to her than the patients. |
| 275 | * HowManyFingers: Jack and Janet administer this test to Chrissy after she falls and hits her head in the bathtub. They are shocked to hear Chrissy reply "five" when Jack is only holding up two fingers, but Chrissy clarifies that [[MathematiciansAnswer two fingers are straight up, and three are folded behind Jack's hand]]. |
| 276 | * IAlwaysWantedToSayThat: Larry says this when he interrupts the rehearsal of Jack's TV cooking demonstration by jumping up at the start and saying "[[HeresJohnnyHomage Heeeeeeeeere's Jacky!]]" |
| 277 | * IHaveToWashMyHair: A lady who Mr. Furley has a date with uses this excuse to cancel their date. Janet suggests Mr. Furley ask her to go out the next day, to which Mr. Furley replies that she told him that was the day she ''dries'' her hair. |
| 278 | * INeedAFreakingDrink: Larry and Mr. Furley, after they find out the main characters have found a nicer residence and will be [[TheMovingExperience moving away]] from them. |
| 279 | * IWantMyMommy: Jack frequently screams "Mommy!" when startled or in pain. |
| 280 | * IllTellYouWhenIveHadEnough: Happens to Larry at the Regal Beagle while he is trying to [[DrowningMySorrows drown out the memories]] of a girl who left him after only knowing him for a few hours. |
| 281 | * IllTimedSneeze: Jack fakes his death in an episode to escape from a jealous boyfriend who's intent on revenge after spotting him looking at his girlfriend. He needs to resist sneezing while in the casket after one of his "mourners" brings flowers. |
| 282 | * IdiotBall: When Mr. Roper realizes he can [[EasilyOverheardConversation clearly hear]] the tenants' conversations through the bathroom drainpipe, he goes upstairs and makes obvious references to what he heard. It's not long before Jack and Chrissy get suspicious and set up a [[BluffTheEavesdropper sting]] to prove his misconduct. |
| 283 | * ImprobableFoodBudget: Despite living in PerpetualPoverty and frequently having trouble [[BrokeEpisode paying the rent]], Jack can constantly afford to prepare gourmet meals at home. As a SupremeChef in training, Jack can [[JustifiedTrope justify]] spending large amounts of his budget on ingredients as he needs the experience and exposure to graduate cooking school and find a culinary career. Since the girls are [[LethalChef Lethal Chefs]], they have no choice but to allow Jack to blow their budget on food as he is the only one capable of preparing edible meals for them. |
| 284 | * InformedAbility: |
| 285 | ** Jack was supposedly a boxer in the Navy, but the closest we ever see him come to actually using this skill is when he calls a tough guy's bluff and the situation ends without a fight. At one point he reveals he lost every fight he was in. |
| 286 | ** Parodied with Mr. Furley, who consistently claims to know kung-fu and adopts a [[IKnowKungFaux faux]] martial arts stance when intimidated, but clearly does not have any fighting ability. |
| 287 | * InnocentInnuendo: Frequently happens InUniverse, as a result of OutOfContextEavesdropping. |
| 288 | ** In one case, Mr. Furley overhears Jack and Chrissy and thinks they are "getting it on" in the shower, but what they are really getting on is a shower curtain. |
| 289 | --->'''Jack:''' Okay, Chrissy, I'll get in the tub with you. Then we can get it on.\ |
| 290 | '''Chrissy:''' Stand next to me, I'll show you what to do.\ |
| 291 | '''Jack:''' This isn't exactly the first time I've ever done this.\ |
| 292 | '''Chrissy:''' Maybe so, but girls are better at this than boys.\ |
| 293 | '''Jack:''' Come on, Chrissy, [[Music/ElvisPresley a little less talk and a little more action]].\ |
| 294 | '''Chrissy:''' Okay, you do your part and I'll do mine. ''[pause]'' I don't think it'll reach.\ |
| 295 | '''Jack:''' Of course not. You've got to unfold it first. |
| 296 | ** When Jack and Chrissy are hiding in the bedroom and eavesdropping on Janet and her date, who are admiring a set of fern plants. |
| 297 | --->'''Date:''' Those are two beauties! I've never seen such gorgeous exaltatus.\ |
| 298 | '''Chrissy:''' I've never heard them called ''that'' before!\ |
| 299 | '''Date:''' If you want them to grow, you've got to put them in the window. [...] They feel a little dry. When was the last time you steamed them?" |
| 300 | * TheInspectorIsComing: With Jack spending much of the series working in (and later owning) a restaurant, there's naturally a fair share of episodes dealing with food critics, inspectors, and prestigious guests. |
| 301 | ** When a critic leaves Jack's Bistro after only taking a few bites of food, Jack writes him a nasty letter as he is under the impression he will unfairly receive a poor review. When the critic later explains he enjoyed the food and left hastily because he had many more restaurants to review that same day, Jack has to devise a plan to get the letter back before the critic opens it. |
| 302 | ** When a health inspector threatens to shut Jack's Bistro on a technicality unless he receives a bribe, Jack attempts to [[HiddenWire secretly record]] the corrupt inspector and send the tape to the authorities. |
| 303 | * IntoxicationEnsues: |
| 304 | ** In the episode "Up in the Air", Jack mixes tranquilizers and alcohol and winds up causing a scene at a party which ends with him dancing with a potted plant on his head. |
| 305 | ** When Jack's FakeTwinGambit nearly fails, Mr. Furley's heavily intoxicated state is the only thing that prevents him from realizing the ruse. |
| 306 | %% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * IResembleThatRemark: |
| 307 | * IrrevocableMessage: When a food critic walks out of Jack's Bistro after only taking a few bites of food, Larry urges Jack to send him a StronglyWordedLetter insulting him. But when Jack finds out it was all a misunderstanding, he concocts a ZanyScheme to retrieve the letter before the critic opens it. |
| 308 | ** When Jack's ConMan uncle writes a bad check to Mr. Roper to pay for their rent, they come up with a plan to get the check back before it is cashed. |
| 309 | [[/folder]] |
| 310 | |
| 311 | [[folder: J to L]] |
| 312 | %% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Larry. |
| 313 | * JiggleShow: Probably one of the TropeCodifier examples. Chrissy doesn't wear a bra and is frequently shown jumping up and down in celebration, for no apparent reason. Jack likes watching her and even comments that she cheers better than anyone he knows. |
| 314 | * JustOneExtraTicket: When Janet has a pair of tickets to a Music/FrankSinatra concert that she isn't able to use, Jack and Chrissy spend the episode attempting to please her so that she will give both tickets to one of them. Instead of picking one of them to receive both tickets, Janet ends up giving one to each of them. |
| 315 | * KarmicMisfire: Mr. Roper threatens to raise the trio's rent unless they volunteer to clean up the building's overgrown garden. They find a plant that Mrs. Roper uses in her submission to a flower arrangement competition, but when Larry mistakenly believes the plant to be cannabis, Mr. Roper destroys the arrangement moments before it is to be judged. Mrs. Roper is utterly distraught, but Mr. Roper gets away with taking advantage of the trio for free landscaping services. |
| 316 | * TheKeyIsBehindTheLock: When Jack and Chrissy handcuff themselves together without the key, the ask Mr. Furley for help removing them. But when Mr. Furley's locksmithing tools are in a locked toolbox, he tries to cut the cuffs off with a blowtorch. |
| 317 | %%* TheKlutz: Jack and Cindy. |
| 318 | * LegFocus: Joyce [=DeWitt=] had a ''gorgeous'' set of gams and always wore pantyhose on the show, refusing to appear bare-legged even when her character Janet was supposedly [[ModestyTowel naked under a towel]]. She even appeared in several commercials for L'eggs. |
| 319 | * LetThemDieHappy: When Jack's grandfather is terminally ill, Jack tells him he is a doctor to make him proud. But when his grandfather recovers and expects to tour Jack's office at the hospital, Jack needs Terri's help to MaintainTheLie. |
| 320 | * LethalChef: Janet and Cindy, which is one of the reasons they go to such lengths to let Jack live with them. |
| 321 | * LotsOfLuggage: Cindy packs so much stuff for a camping trip that she isn't able to get her suitcase closed. When Janet questions whether she really needs all that for a single weekend, she removes only a single piece of clothing. |
| 322 | * LoanShark: Jack teaches a loan shark's wife to cook after he couldn't pay back his loan. |
| 323 | * LocalHangout: The [[AdjectiveAnimalAlehouse Regal Beagle]] |
| 324 | * LockedInAFreezer: Jack and Mr. Furley are locked in one in "Baby, It's Cold Inside". |
| 325 | ** Cindy locks Mr. Angelino and Felipe in one briefly. |
| 326 | * LockedInTheBathroom: Jack's date locks herself in the bathroom while Jack is having a food critic over for dinner. Unable to convince her to come out, Mr. Furley, attempts to [[SkeletonKeyCard unlock the door with his credit card]], which she takes when he pushes it through the crack. |
| 327 | * LoveTriangle: When Janet asks Jack to deliver the flowers Larry ordered for a girl he's fallen in love with, Jack falls in love with her while dropping off the flowers. Janet tries to prevent them both from finding out they are dating the same girl, but both of them decide to abandon the relationship after finding out she is also dating two other guys at the same time. |
| 328 | * LyingToThePerp: Janet uses this tactic to expose a crooked health inspector who demanded a bribe to not shut Jack's Bistro down on a technicality. |
| 329 | --> '''Janet:''' When are you going to own up to the $500 you demanded from him?\ |
| 330 | '''Inspector:''' It was only $126. |
| 331 | [[/folder]] |
| 332 | |
| 333 | [[folder: M to O]] |
| 334 | * MaintainTheLie: |
| 335 | ** Mr. Furley pretends to be a MockMillionaire when his successful childhood rival comes to visit, enlisting Chrissy to pretend to be his wife. His friend unexpectedly decides to stay the night instead of going to his hotel, leaving Chrissy with no chance to leave without giving away the lie. |
| 336 | ** Jack tells his dying grandfather that he is a doctor to make him proud. When his grandfather recovers and pays him a surprise visit, he borrows one of the offices at the hospital Terri works at to avoid disappointing his grandfather. |
| 337 | * MasterOfUnlocking: Mr. Furley claims to be one of these when Jack and Chrissy [[ChainedHeat accidentally handcuff themselves together]] without the key. Ironically, he fails to help them because his [[TheKeyIsBehindTheLock toolbox is locked shut]]. |
| 338 | * MathematiciansAnswer: When Jack administers a HowManyFingers test to Chrissy holding up two fingers, Chrissy says she sees five fingers. Chrissy explains that two fingers are straight up, and three are folded behind Jack's hand. |
| 339 | * MeanBoss: |
| 340 | ** Frank Angelino, the owner of the restaurant where Jack works. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as this type of relationship is [[AngryChef typical of restaurant culture]], and as TheKlutz Jack costs his employer a great deal of expense and inconvenience. |
| 341 | ** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] with Chrissy's boss, J.C. Braddock, who is very kind and pleasant and has a positive relationship with Chrissy. The same cannot be said for ''her'' boss, a nasty high-ranking executive who attempts to fire Chrissy for resisting his efforts to get frisky. |
| 342 | * MinorInjuryOverreaction: Felipe provokes one when Jack receives a minor cut on his finger by telling a story about his cousin who had a similar injury which got infected. When he reveals that his cousin died from the infection, Jack barges into the examination room while Terri is treating a more serious patient and demands to be seen first. |
| 343 | * MissConception: When Stanley mistakenly believes Chrissy is pregnant as a result of OutOfContextEavesdropping, he tells Helen that "one of her boyfriends must have had something to do with this." The [[SarcasticDevotee exasperated Helen]] quips that he "knows more (about conception) than [she] thought." |
| 344 | * MistakenForDying: After Chrissy is treated at the hospital for a head injury, the doctor tells Janet that Chrissy can "go" at any time (meaning leave the hospital and go home). But as the doctor is [[CryLaughing crying from laughter]] from Chrissy's jokes, Jack and Janet interpret that to mean Chrissy will pass away at any moment. |
| 345 | * MistakenForGay: Invoked by Janet in the pilot episode to manipulate Mr. Roper into letting Jack stay with them. Jack continues to exploit the trope throughout the series to maintain the ruse. |
| 346 | * MistakenForPregnant: At one point, Mr. Roper is convinced that Chrissy is pregnant due to a case of OutOfContextEavesdropping (through the building's plumbing.) |
| 347 | * MockMillionaire: |
| 348 | ** Jack pretends to be one to fit in with an ultra-rich girl he is dating. He doesn't realize the event they attend is a charity fundraiser featuring mock casino games and believes he will have to pay for the $15,000 of chips that he receives. |
| 349 | ** Mr. Furley pretends to own the building to date an attractive woman, who turns out to be a developer who intends to bulldoze the building and turn it into condominiums. |
| 350 | ** Mr. Furley pretends to be a real estate tycoon to impress a rich childhood friend. |
| 351 | ** Larry pretends to be one when he is dating a girl, who dumps him when she finds out he isn't really rich. |
| 352 | * MortonsFork: Bart's refusal to provide his brother, Mr. Furley, with funds to maintain the building is a recurring trend in the series. When his solution to the tenants' complaints is to fire Mr. Furley, it's made clear that Mr. Furley is left with the dilemma of drawing his brother's ire by failing to please the tenants or drawing his wrath by asking for more money. |
| 353 | * MouseTrap: Jack steps on one that is being used to catch the mouse in the apartment in the EekAMouse episode. |
| 354 | %% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * MrsRobinson: Lana definitely fits this description. |
| 355 | * MurphysBed: A famous scene involves Jack trying -- and repeatedly failing -- to get comfortable in a ''very'' tippy hammock. |
| 356 | * MyBelovedSmother: In one episode, an elderly woman named Gladys latches onto Jack and drives him crazy by interfering in his personal life like an overbearing mother. Gladys also mentions that she treated her own son in a similar manner, which ultimately prompted him to kick her out of the house. |
| 357 | * NakedPeopleAreFunny / NakedPeopleTrappedOutside: Season 3's second episode has Janet and Mrs. Roper attending a protest rally at a nude beach. After the police break it up, the two have to run home without their clothes on. |
| 358 | * NaughtyUnderTheTable: When Jack, Lana and Mr. Furley have dinner together. Though Furley considered it HIS date with Lana, she was interested in Jack and grabbed him under the table, causing him to exclaim "Hey!" and jump to his feet. |
| 359 | * NeverLendToAFriend: Jack and Larry seem to [[PerpetualPoverty perpetually]] owe each other money, which is typically brought up as the plot requires. |
| 360 | * NeverWinTheLottery: Jack wins a $10,000 in a baking competition, but a wardrobe malfunction during the presentation of the check causes him to forfeit the prize. |
| 361 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: Double subverted. When Mr. Furley falls in love with a woman under the pretense of being a MockMillionaire, the heroes implement a ZanyScheme to break them up before she finds out he doesn't really own the building. After Mr. Furley becomes incredibly depressed by the breakup, the trio regrets interfering with his relationship and Jack convinces her to reconnect with Mr. Furley. But when Larry discovers the woman is a real estate tycoon who intends to purchase the building and evict the residents, they concoct another ZanyScheme to break them up again. |
| 362 | * NoAccountingForTaste: Stanley and Helen's relationship. They only show they love each other once every blue moon, with most of the gags between them involving Stanley's unwillingness to touch Helen and Helen feeling that she's taken for granted. |
| 363 | * NoEnding: |
| 364 | ** One episode featured Mr. Furley secretly taking in a cat, which a little girl lost that the roommates have been trying to help find for her. At the end of the episode all that happens is the girl sees Mr. Furley holding the cat, and then cue credits. |
| 365 | ** When this episode plays in syndication, TheTag is cut for time. In it, the building inspector appears and sees the three kittens the roommates have collected. Mr. Furley says he is taking them straight to the pound, and the building inspector, aghast, takes the three kittens home with him. The little girl says she'll try raising goldfish instead, and leaves. [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse But we never do find out what happened with the original kitten.]] It's never spoken of again in the series. |
| 366 | * NoSuchThingAsHR: Jack finds a job at a sandwich shop and is sexually harassed by his female boss. When he tries to stand up to her and tell her to stop, she fires him. Jack [[HilaritySues sues her]] for [[GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity wrongful termination]], but loses the case due to Mr. Furley's courtroom antics. |
| 367 | * NonVoyageParty: When Eleanor returns and the girls ask Jack to bake a cake for her party, Jack sabotages the cake believing it is a party celebrating his departure. The party turns out to be a surprise party to celebrate his graduation from culinary school. |
| 368 | * NoodleIncident: Chrissy's CluelessDeputy cousin, Jay Garfield, gets in hot water with his department after misplacing his squad car. He explains that he had to park the car to chase a suspect on foot, but the details are left to the viewer's imagination. |
| 369 | * NotSoFinalConfession: When Jack is LockedInAFreezer with Mr. Furley and doesn't believe they will be rescued in time, Jack confesses to Mr. Furley that he is straight. They are rescued immediately after, but Mr. Furley assumes that Jack lied because he was delirious from hypothermia. |
| 370 | * NotInTheFace: Larry adopts Jack's identity to impress a GirlOfTheWeek. After Jack learns Larry's ruse was the source of the grief he has been experiencing, Larry asks Jack to avoid his face when punching him. |
| 371 | * NotWhatItLooksLike: Often happens when Mr. Furley or Mr. Roper walks in at a bad time. |
| 372 | * OneDialogueTwoConversations: This is pretty much how every wacky situation happens. |
| 373 | ** When Mr. Roper is convinced that Chrissy is pregnant, Helen tries to have a heart-to-heart conversation with her about her "little visitor". She doesn't realize Chrissy is simply trying to get rid of a wart. |
| 374 | ** When Janet plans to redecorate their bedrooms, Jack and Chrissy think she's hiring a man to father her baby. |
| 375 | ** When Jack plans to remove a tattoo he got while he was drunk, Janet thinks he's getting a vasectomy. |
| 376 | * OhCrap: After the Ropers leave, Jack sells the contents of their garage believing them to be unwanted items. Meanwhile, the girls dump their drinks on a StalkerWithACrush at the Regal Beagle. But when the man turns out to be Mr. Furley who is moving into the Ropers' old apartment, they realize they have just assaulted their new landlord and sold all of his furniture. |
| 377 | ** MassOhCrap: This incident leaves all three members of the group speechless and unresponsive to Mr. Furley's statements, causing him to believe that all of them have "a hearing problem". |
| 378 | * OnionTears: When Jack happens to be chopping onions, Janet uses the tears to make Larry think Jack was crying over a fight they'd had. |
| 379 | * OperationJealousy: |
| 380 | ** When Mr. Furley comes back early from a business trip and climbs into the bed Helen is temporarily occupying, she takes advantage of the situation to make Mr. Roper jealous. |
| 381 | ** Mrs. Roper sends flowers and gifts to herself in one episode to make her husband think she has a secret admirer. |
| 382 | * OutOfContextEavesdropping: As the trio shares a suite and friends and the visitors frequently drop in at any time, this is how most of the misunderstandings in the show happen. |
| 383 | ** When Chrissy overhears a conversation between her father and a potential employer, she thinks that he is having an affair with her and intends to divorce her mom. |
| 384 | ** Mr. Roper overhears Chrissy talking about removing a wart on her finger and believes she is getting an abortion. |
| 385 | * OvenLogic: When Jack demonstrates a recipe on a ShowWithinAShow, Chrissy asks if the food wouldn't be cooked faster if he cooked it at a higher heat. Due to a ScriptSwap, Chrissy and the audience never hear the explanation. |
| 386 | [[/folder]] |
| 387 | |
| 388 | [[folder: P to R]] |
| 389 | * PaperThinDisguise: Jack's attempt to pull a FakeTwinGambit involves only [[WigDressAccent putting on a cowboy hat and speaking in a southern accent]], but it's enough to fool Mr. Furley. |
| 390 | * PercussiveShutdown: After Mr. Furley's failed attempt to fix the doorbell causes it to constantly ring even when it's not being pushed, Jack rips it off the wall to stop the noise. Terri happens to walk in while he's still holding it. |
| 391 | --> '''Terri:''' What's going on?\ |
| 392 | '''Jack:''' Mr. Furley just fixed our doorbell.\ |
| 393 | '''Terri:''' It's portable now? |
| 394 | * PerpetualPoverty: This is the trio's situation, as Jack spends the start of the series as a StarvingStudent trying to pass cooking school. Even after he graduates, he spends much time bouncing [[NewJobAsThePlotDemands from job to job]]. It becomes less the case in later seasons when Jack becomes a successful chef with steady income. |
| 395 | * PhoneyCall: |
| 396 | ** The phone rings while Jack is pretending to talk to Irene. |
| 397 | ** Jack does this again when he pretends to call his grandfather's hotel to leave him a message informing him that he's not actually a doctor. Janet grabs the phone and discovers he called Larry. |
| 398 | * PieInTheFace: [[CookingDuel "The Bake-Off"]] ends with this happening to everybody. |
| 399 | * PlayingATree: Mr. Furley says he played a rock in a SchoolPlay in the 4th grade. |
| 400 | * PlayingCyrano: When Larry goes on a date with Terri, he makes Jack feed him lines from the booth behind them because he is nervous. The only way he could make Jack agree to this plan was by setting Jack up with a date of his own, which Larry picked from his large collection of contacts. Jack says all the right romantic things for Larry to repeat, but as Jack is simultaneously interacting with his own date, Larry fails to distinguish which remarks are actually intended for him to repeat. |
| 401 | * PleaseDontLeaveMe: When the trio finds a nicer house to move in to, Larry and Mr. Furley realize they will lose their only friends and create a ZanyScheme to guilt them into staying. |
| 402 | * PluckyOfficeGirl: At one point, Chrissy asks her boss for a promotion in an effort to advance above this role to a more significant position in the company but becomes despondent when she is turned down. Jack teaches her to be assertive ''and'' jokingly adds that she should "wear a low-cut dress". The SarcasmBlind Chrissy does ''both'' and is immediately granted the promotion, causing Jack and Chrissy to mistakenly assume the dress was the source of her success (not realizing Chrissy's boss is female.) |
| 403 | * PoliceAreUseless: Since a lot of the plots could be resolved by calling the police, this trope gets used frequently. |
| 404 | ** When the trio's rent money goes missing on one occasion with no explanation, they call the police to report a burglary. When the attending officer finds no signs of forced entry and notices other valuables are present, he concludes that the police report must be an excuse for the group to be late paying their rent. |
| 405 | ** After Cindy goes missing, Jack and Janet send Larry and Mr. Furley out to find them. When none of them come back, the police refuse to take a missing report as it hasn't been 24 hours. As an alternative, Jack tries to report a burglary, telling the call taker that someone has stolen his roommate, friend, and landlord. |
| 406 | * PoorlyDisguisedPilot: |
| 407 | ** Season 3's "An Anniversary Surprise", which sets up ''Series/TheRopers'' by revealing that Stanley has sold the apartment building so he and Helen can move to a new, nicer place across town. |
| 408 | ** An offshoot is the actual pilot to ''The Ropers'' itself ("Moving On"), which is often shown as part of ''Three's Company'' in syndication complete with the ''Three's Company'' opening and closing credits. |
| 409 | ** The end of the final episode [[FromTheAshes sets up the premise]] for ''Three's a Crowd''. |
| 410 | * PorkyPigPronunciation: Stanley tries to type up a bill of sale for his car and realizes the U key is missing from his typewriter. |
| 411 | --> '''Stanley:''' How am I supposed to spell "automobile" without U? |
| 412 | --> '''Helen:''' C-A-R. |
| 413 | * PornStash: Mr. Roper has one. He calls it "putting them somewhere convenient". |
| 414 | * PosterPatchup: When Mr. Furley happens to walk in as the trio accidentally causes a crack in the wall while hanging a painting, Chrissy holds the painting over the crack so he won't see it. She lowers the painting when Mr. Furley walks away, but he sees it after unexpectedly turning around. The group assures him they will repair the damage, but the incident turns out to be an aggravating factor in Mr. Furley's later decision to evict them for making too much noise. Naturally, they are saved by the ResetButton. |
| 415 | * PostStressOvereating: Janet does this after she convinces herself that Jack is dating a prostitute. |
| 416 | * ThePratfall: Jack Tripper was legendary for these. One well-known scene has him [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0s0A7JqSy0 falling repeatedly as he tries to climb into a hammock]]. |
| 417 | * PreachersKid: Chrissy's father is a priest. While he is understanding of her living situation, his prospective employers aren't, resulting in him losing out on a promotion in one episode. |
| 418 | * PricelessMingVase: |
| 419 | ** [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] by Mr. Furley, who opposes the tenants' plan to let a young boy stay over because his apartment downstairs is "filled with priceless antiques." Chrissy retorts that "'Priceless' means it's [[ExactWords not worth anything]]." |
| 420 | ** After Jack gets too drunk, he breaks Janet's family heirloom vase. |
| 421 | ** In "The Heiress," a $20 vase is given to Janet as an inheritance from a deceased customer of hers. Later on, an appraiser who's attracted to Janet reassesses it, making it the tropemaker. After Mr. Furley smashes it under false pretenses, Jack still thinks it's valuable, particularly from the "Wan-Tai" dynasty according to two broken pieces. Janet then swaps the pieces in place to reveal it's really from {{UsefulNotes/Taiwan}}. |
| 422 | * PrisonChangesPeople: When Jack ends up in jail due to a misunderstanding, his fellow inmates become scared of him after finding out he assaulted the toughest cop on the force. Jack takes advantage of the situation by acting tough, but Mr. Furley is convinced that this trope has occurred even though he is in a holding cell and has only been there [[BaitAndSwitchTimeSkip for a few minutes]]. |
| 423 | * TheProblemWithPenIsland: Janet once misread the word ''therapist'' on a business card as "''the rapist.''" |
| 424 | * PunnyName: |
| 425 | ** [[UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper Jack Tripper]]. Also a MeaningfulName, as Jack has a bad habit of [[TheKlutz tripping and falling over the couch]]. And tripping while trying to get out of the tub near the beginning of the first episode - while telling Chrissy and Janet his name. |
| 426 | ** The character's name in ''Man About The House'' was "Robin Tripp", a pun on [[ThoseWackyNazis Ribbentrop]]. |
| 427 | ** Chrissy's given name is "Christmas Noelle Snow". |
| 428 | ** Janet Wood worked in a flower shop. |
| 429 | * PutOnABus: |
| 430 | ** Helen and Stanley sold the building and moved away at the end of the third season, setting up [[Series/TheRopers their spinoff series.]] [[TheBusCameBack They returned]] for an episode in Season 5 after said spinoff was cancelled. |
| 431 | ** In season 5, Chrissy went back to Fresno to take care of her mother, and most of her appearances were relegated to offscreen conversations on the telephone. Her cousin Cindy was brought in to take her role until she went to college at the end of the season (though she continued to appear until the end of season 6) and was replaced by Terri, who stayed until the end of the show. |
| 432 | * RawEggsMakeYouStronger: When Janet and Chrissy invite their workout trainer's ultra-tough brother to the apartment for lunch, the first thing he wants to start the meal with is by drinking twelve raw eggs. |
| 433 | * RealLifeWritesThePlot: Suzanne Somers was holding out for more money so the studio just called her bluff -- because they couldn't technically fire her due to the terms of the contract, they instead let it run out by [[WrittenInAbsence moving her away]]. |
| 434 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Janet delivers one to a dance instructor who tries to take advantage of her. |
| 435 | * RecklessGunUsage: When Jack buys a revolver, he proceeds to be his usual clumsy self with it (tossing it from hand to hand while claiming it was unloaded), ultimately dropping it and causing a discharge. |
| 436 | * RecurringCharacter: Lana Shields, Mr. Angelino, Felipe, Dean Travers, Reverend Snow, bartenders Jim and Mike. |
| 437 | * RequiredSpinoffCrossover: Jack, Janet, Chrissy, and Larry all appeared on ''Series/TheRopers''. Larry also turns up in a ''Three's a Crowd'' episode. |
| 438 | * RightForTheWrongReasons: In one episode, Jack becomes worried for Janet when he sees her seemingly friendly dance instructor coercing a married woman to go to his house and assumes that he will do the same to Janet. Later it's revealed that the young woman was the instructor's sister who was being convinced to practice her dancing at home. Jack feels bad for painting the guy as a sexual predator and shows up one night to the dance studio to apologize for the mistake, only for him to see Janet's dance instructor hitting on her [Janet] for real. |
| 439 | * RightInFrontOfMe: |
| 440 | ** Jack and Larry both tend to burst into a scene and blurt out their sensitive news without checking who is standing there. In one scene, Larry storms into the apartment and begins [[FeeFiFauxPas describing an encounter he had with his girlfriend]] without realizing that Chrissy's father, a minister, is standing in front of him. |
| 441 | ** When Jack catches Cindy's boss cheating on his wife with his secretary, he announces it to Janet and Cindy the moment he comes home, where Cindy's boss and his wife are visiting Cindy. |
| 442 | * RoommateCom: The show revolves around Jack Tripper and his two female roommates, Janet Wood and Chrissy Snow, who is later replaced by her cousin Cindy followed by Terri Allen. Their apartment is owned by married couple Mr. and Mrs. Roper, who later got their own sitcom and were replaced by Ralph Furley. Jack originally had to lie about his sexual orientation to Mr. Roper since Mr. Roper would not allow him to move in with the two women if he were straight. |
| 443 | * RudelyHangingUp: Janet does this to Chrissy when she calls in the middle of the night to tell her about a nightmare she had. |
| 444 | --> '''Janet:''' You want to hear about the dream I had?\ |
| 445 | '''Chrissy:''' Sure!\ |
| 446 | '''Janet:''' Great, I'll tell you once I finish having it. [slams phone] |
| 447 | ** Mr. Furley does this to Jack when he asks him to fix the thermostat in the apartment. |
| 448 | --> '''Jack:''' He said 'it's never cold in California' and hung up. |
| 449 | * RuleOfThree: Jack burns his hand three times while cooking at Angelino's, with Felipe suggesting he use an oven mitt each time. |
| 450 | * RunningGag: |
| 451 | ** Mr. Furley's tacky and flamboyant outfits that he puts on for special occasions, or no occasion at all. |
| 452 | ** Mr. Roper trying to claim that whichever old or broken item he is asked to fix or replace is a valuable antique. |
| 453 | ** Mr. Roper eating something [[IAteWhat gross or inedible]] and saying it's better than Helen's cooking. |
| 454 | [[/folder]] |
| 455 | |
| 456 | [[folder: S to U]] |
| 457 | * SarcasticDevotee: Mr. Roper's wife, Helen, who frequently snarks at him for being cheap, unromantic, or stating the obvious. In the pilot episode, when the girls are trying to convince Mr. Roper to let Jack move in with them: |
| 458 | --> '''Janet:''' It'll be completely platonic.\ |
| 459 | '''Mr. Roper:''' I don't care what it is-- [[CallingMeALogarithm what's that mean?]]\ |
| 460 | '''Mrs. Roper:''' Like you and me, Stanley. |
| 461 | ** When Mr. Roper mistakenly becomes convinced Chrissy is pregnant: |
| 462 | --> '''Mr. Roper:''' You know, there's got to be some guy out there who's the father.\ |
| 463 | '''Mrs. Roper:''' Very good, Stanley, you know more than I thought. |
| 464 | * ScriptSwap: ExecutiveMeddling on a ShowWithinAShow that Jack stars in leaves him reading the stamp on the bottom of a cooking pot instead of the CueCard he had hidden in the pot. |
| 465 | -->'''Jack:''' By cooking at a lower temperature, your fish will be -- [looks down] -- [[AstonishinglyAppropriateInterruption Made in Taiwan]]. |
| 466 | * TheScrooge: |
| 467 | ** Mr. Roper. It's never revealed how much money he really has, but it's enough to own an apartment building, and to support himself and his wife, Helen, without any apparent source of income besides the rent. Even so, he refuses to hire an expert for any sort of repair around the building and will not shell out for even the smallest indulgences for Helen. |
| 468 | ** Mr. Furley, generally when he takes anyone out on a date. When he takes Janet out for dinner, he orders only one salad to split between the two of them. |
| 469 | ** Mr. Furley's brother, Bart. He owns a company that owns multiple apartment buildings, but tries to spend as little money as possible on maintaining them. When Jack visits his office at one point to discuss his termination of Mr. Furley (for failing to maintain the building with the money he doesn't provide him with), it is filled with broken furniture that Bart refuses to replace. |
| 470 | * SeamlessSpontaneousLie: Jack tends to be able to come up with these on the fly, necessitated by the [[ZanyScheme Zany Schemes]] that the group engages in. |
| 471 | * SecretKeeper: Mrs. Roper figures out very early on that Jack isn’t actually gay. She promises not to tell her husband though, knowing him finding out the truth could result in Jack getting the boot. |
| 472 | * SendInTheSearchTeam: After Cindy leaves the apartment late at night, Jack and Janet come to the conclusion that she's been kidnapped. Larry and Mr. Furley go out looking for her, but when they are delayed by various coincidences, Jack and Janet become convinced something sinister is going on. |
| 473 | * SerialRomeo: |
| 474 | ** Jack, who seems to be in love with every GirlOfTheWeek he comes across. |
| 475 | ** As Larry is TheCasanova, he is ridiculed by the other characters every once in a while when he claims to have truly fallen in love with one of his partners. |
| 476 | * SexualEuphemism: Mr. Roper tells Jack how fortunate he is not to have a wife who constantly asks him to do "things", but doesn't openly specify that he means sex. Jack suggests it could be something like "putting up a shelf", and he and Mr. Roper continue to use that as a euphemism throughout the episode, to the bewilderment of their partners who don't understand the reference. |
| 477 | * SexySecretary: Chrissy works as a personal assistant for the female vice-president of a firm, who is cordial to her. In one episode however, her boss's male boss tries to get frisky with her, and fires her when she resists. |
| 478 | %% PartialContextExample * SexySweaterGirl: Jack was often distracted by sweater girls on this show, resulting in {{Freudian Slip}}s on several occasions: "You need to separate the yolk from the sweater." "I just came to button up my coffee." In "And Baby Makes Two," both Janet and Chrissy were this. |
| 479 | * ShaveAndAHaircut: How Larry usually knocks on the door. |
| 480 | * ShowerOfLove: Mr. Furley is convinced Jack and Chrissy is doing this when he [[OutOfContextEavesdropping overhears them]] installing a new shower curtain. |
| 481 | * TheShowMustGoWrong: When Jack is invited to cook on [[BroadcastLive live TV]], a combination of [[invoked]] ExecutiveMeddling and PerformanceAnxiety turns the show into a DisastrousDemonstration that results in the loss of his job at Angelino's restaurant. Mr. Angelino [[ResetButton rehires]] Jack after realizing that the SoBadItsGood debacle actually attracted more business to the restaurant, and Jack uses his celebrity status to negotiate a pay raise and time off benefits. |
| 482 | * TheShrink: When Jack dates one, she asks him not to mention her occupation as it frequently causes people to think of her as a therapist rather than a friend. Most of the cast ends up finding out, except for Janet, who is convinced she is a prostitute. |
| 483 | * ShuttingUpNow: When Larry starts babbling about Jack's living situation and realizes he's not helping Jack's court case. |
| 484 | --> '''Larry:''' Your Honor, can you throw me out of this courtroom? |
| 485 | * ASimplePlan: Whenever Jack hosts a formal gourmet dinner for a date (usually to patch things up after some previous mishap made the girl raging mad), it is always spoiled when one of his previous [[GirlOfTheWeek Girls Of The Week]] shows up either for an impromptu visit, or for a [[TwoTimerDate scheduled date he forgot about]]. Sometimes, the guest of honor is a prestigious food critic which Jack seeks to impress to advance his culinary career. In these cases, it is the guest who will act up and turn the event into a catastrophe. In both cases, the landlords have a habit of barging in at the worst possible moment and [[FromBadToWorse escalating the situation even further]]. |
| 486 | * SkeletonKeyCard: This is Mr. Furley's solution after Jack's date [[LockedInTheBathroom locks herself in the bathroom]]. But when he slides the card into the door frame, Jack's date takes the card and won't give it back. |
| 487 | * SleepingWithTheBoss: When Chrissy's boss invites her on a trip to Vegas immediately after granting her a promotion, Jack and Janet are convinced this is happening. They fail to realize that Chrissy's employer is female. |
| 488 | * SleepingTheirWayToTheTop: When Chrissy complains that she didn't receive a promotion at work because her performance isn't appreciated, Jack jokingly suggests wearing a low-cut dress. But when the LiteralMinded Chrissy does exactly that and receives a promotion, Jack and Janet assume her clothes were responsible without realizing Chrissy's boss is female. |
| 489 | * {{Sleepwalking}}: Chrissy starts doing this in one episode. |
| 490 | * SoBadItsGood: InUniverse - Jack's [[BroadcastLive televised]] DisastrousDemonstration is so bad that it actually turns him into a minor celebrity, resulting in an influx of business to Angelino's restaurant and results in his reinstatement to the position he is fired from. |
| 491 | * SpinOff: ''Series/TheRopers'' had the title characters moving into a swanky townhouse; ''Three's a Crowd'' followed Jack's adventures with his new restaurant and live-in girlfriend. Both were based on spinoffs of the British version. Neither was particularly successful. |
| 492 | * SpiritualSuccessor: ''Series/ModernFamily'', which also has most of its comedy revolve around wacky misunderstandings, also features gay characters (except they're [[CharacterizationMarchesOn actually gay]]), and is just as popular as ''Three's Company'' was back in the day. |
| 493 | * SqueamishAboutSlaughter When the group visits Cindy's relatives' farm, Mr. Furley is tasked with killing a chicken for their dinner. He isn't able to work up the courage to do it and encourages the mostly flightless bird to fly away to freedom. |
| 494 | * StalkingIsFunnyIfItIsFemaleAfterMale: If [[DirtyOldMan an older man]] became obsessed with one of the female roommates, [[StalkerWithACrush continually harassed them]], and even moved into the apartment building to be near them it would definitely be creepy to say the least. But this is exactly what Lana did to Jack and it was PlayedForLaughs. |
| 495 | * StandardOfficeSetting: Chrissy, and later Cindy, work as secretaries in this sort of environment. A few episodes center around the conflicts with their bosses. |
| 496 | * StarvingStudent: Jack is one of these early in the series, as he attempts to pass cooking school. |
| 497 | * StatingTheSimpleSolution: When Mr. Furley asks Janet for help with his dried-out fern. |
| 498 | -->'''Mr. Furley:''' I made sure it had plenty of sunlight and gave it lots of plant food. I even dusted it.\ |
| 499 | '''Janet:''' How often did you water it?\ |
| 500 | '''Mr. Furley:''' ...Water? |
| 501 | * StayInTheKitchen: In one scene, Terri mistakenly believes Jack is ordering her to go into the kitchen and bring him wine, but he is really practicing Spanish phrases for a job opportunity. |
| 502 | * StripPoker: Jack, Larry, and Lana play a game of this in "Snow Job". Mr. Furley ends up losing, with almost no clothes left on at all. |
| 503 | * StronglyWordedLetter: |
| 504 | ** In "Out on a Limb," a food critic comes into Jack's Bistro, takes a quick bite, and leaves, causing Jack to worry that the critic hated the food and is going to give him a bad review. Larry suggests that Jack send the critic an angry letter, with Janet typing it. Larry starts the letter with "Dear Sleazebucket," and it goes downhill from there.[[note]]Jack and Janet ask Larry how he could come up with such a hostile letter off the top of his head like that. He says it was easy because he got the exact same letter that morning at the used-car dealership.[[/note]] Of course, the critic loved the food and gives Jack a great review, so the gang has to [[IrrevocableMessage retrieve the letter before the critic can see it]]. [[spoiler:The critic ends up reading the letter, but it turns out Janet toned it down.]] |
| 505 | ** In another episode Mr. Furley says that he's written many strongly worded letters to his brother complaining about not having enough money to maintain the building. He then says that if his brother doesn't shape up soon he's [[DeliveryNotDesired going to start mailing them]]. |
| 506 | * StuckInTheDoorway: Happens to the group a few times when they all try to exit the apartment at the same time to attend to an urgent situation. |
| 507 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Cindy for Chrissy. The only real difference between them was that Cindy was a klutz. Terri is an aversion. Though a blonde, she was quite intelligent. |
| 508 | * SustainedMisunderstanding: When Mr. Furley asks Jack for coffee grounds to fertilize his roses, he avoids explaining to the girls why he needs the coffee grounds in an effort to [[DefiedTrope defy]] this trope. |
| 509 | --> '''Mr. Furley:''' If I told you I need coffee grounds for my roses, you would say 'I've heard of grounds for divorce but never grounds for roses.' And then she would say 'Why are you divorcing your roses?' |
| 510 | * SupremeChef: Jack. Much of the earlier seasons revolve around his efforts to pass cooking school and break into the culinary industry. In later seasons, he owns his own bistro. As the other characters are [[LethalChef Lethal Chefs]], it gives them a reason to keep him around instead of finding a female roommate (or, you know, an actual gay guy). |
| 511 | * TeamChef: Jack. The rest of the cast turns out to be {{Lethal Chef}}s. |
| 512 | * TemporalThemeNaming: Chrissy, who's legal name is Christmas Snow, was named after Christmas day. |
| 513 | * ThatWasNotADream: Happens to Mr. Roper when he wakes up in Jack's bed after a night of partying. |
| 514 | --> '''Mr. Roper:''' Helen, you won't believe the nightmare I'm having. |
| 515 | * ThatWasObjectionable: When Jack takes a former employer to court, the counsel for the defendant objects to a question without event. Shortly after, Janet leaps up in the gallery and objects to something the judge says. |
| 516 | * ThematicThemeTune / TitleThemeTune: "Down at our rendezvous / Three is company, too!" |
| 517 | * TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: Mr. Furley, when he moves in with the trio after he losing his job as the building manager, leaving him with nowhere to stay as his residence came with the job. |
| 518 | * ThiefBag: A man who robs Janet's workplace demands Jack fill one of these with "green stuff." Being at a flower shop, Jack fills it with leaves. |
| 519 | * ThisIsMySide: After Jack and the girls get into a row over who gets to use the bathroom first in the morning, Jack divides the mirror into three halves with shaving cream so that they don't get into each other's way. |
| 520 | * ThrowingOutTheScript: Mr. Furley does this to the overly sentimental PleaseDontLeaveMe speech Larry wrote for him to read at the trio's moving away party. |
| 521 | * TiedUpOnThePhone: Happens sometimes with the phone in the apartment. |
| 522 | * TookALevelInJerkass: After trying on a blonde wig and seeing the attention she gets, Janet starts to more and more embody the DumbBlonde. Problem is, unlike Chrissy or Cindy, she gets downright obnoxious and insulting. Fortunately, she has a HeelRealization in the end and cleans up her act. |
| 523 | * TransAtlanticEquivalent: The show is the American version of ''Series/ManAboutTheHouse''. The same also applies for both of the {{spinoff}}s; ''Series/GeorgeAndMildred'' became ''Series/TheRopers'' and ''Robin's Nest'' became ''Three's A Crowd''. |
| 524 | * TVTelephoneEtiquette: Played for laughs. Whenever something startling happened in the apartment when a character was on the phone, they would tend to hang the phone up in shock. Often they would pick the receiver up again (after the call was disconnected) and apologize to the other party for RudelyHangingUp. |
| 525 | * TwoGirlsAndAGuy: Jack, Janet, and Chrissy, the three main characters. |
| 526 | * TwoTimerDate: Jack manages to schedule dates with two different girls on the same night he promised Janet and Chrissy he would make dinner for them. With one date upstairs in Larry's apartment and another downstairs in Mr. Roper's apartment, he spends the night running between the three venues. |
| 527 | * TwoWordsICantCount: When Jack is trying to tell Lana that she can't come over to his apartment after their date. |
| 528 | -->'''Jack:''' [[TwoWordsAddedEmphasis One word]]: ''No way.'' |
| 529 | * TheUglyGuysHotDaughter: |
| 530 | ** Bart Furley is rather short. His daughter is full-sized and very attractive. |
| 531 | ** An early episode had Jack getting involved with Mr. Roper's hot niece. |
| 532 | * UndercoverCopReveal: |
| 533 | ** When Jack learns a set of self-defense techniques from Terri, he uses them to break up an altercation outside the apartment. The fight turns out to be a plainclothes cop trying to subdue a criminal, who arrests Jack for assaulting a police officer. |
| 534 | ** When Terri goes missing, Mr. Furley attempts to pay a girl at the Regal Beagle for information about her whereabouts. She turns out to be an undercover cop who arrests him on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute. |
| 535 | * UnfortunateItemSwap: At the flower shop, Janet accidentally mixes up the orders for a honeymoon and a funeral. This results in the newlywed couple receiving a card that says "Rest in Peace," and the mourners receiving a card that says "Good luck in your new life." |
| 536 | * UnresolvedSexualTension: There were multiple episodes throughout the series giving off hints that Janet and Jack might have a thing for each other, but nothing ever really came of it, and in the finale, Janet gets married to another man while Jack moves in with Vicki. |
| 537 | * UnsatisfiableCustomer: |
| 538 | ** Jack has to deal with one of these when he finds a job cooking at a sandwich shop, who starts helping herself to ingredients, to the owner's chagrin. |
| 539 | ** A few of these pop up at Janet's flower shop, one of whom demands to be served before another customer because she is in a hurry. She then reveals that she doesn't have anywhere to be and simply didn't want to wait. Another demands to get change from Janet when she is busy, and then tells her that she just wanted change for the parking meter and never intended to make a purchase at the shop. |
| 540 | * UnsettlingGenderReveal: In the TitleSequence, is shown at an amusement park getting into a bumper car with who looks like a long-haired woman from the back. When the bumper car turns around, it is apparent that this "woman" has a mustache. |
| 541 | [[/folder]] |
| 542 | |
| 543 | [[folder: V and W]] |
| 544 | * VictoriasSecretCompartment: |
| 545 | ** After informing Jack and Larry of the possible hiding places for a wad of money she first thought of, Cindy says that she finally decided the safest hiding place was inside her blouse. |
| 546 | ** In an attempt to score some action with Jack, Lana takes some money off of him and puts it into her cleavage, telling him to "make a withdrawal." Jack isn't amused, but Chrissy finds it hilarious, saying, "[[IncrediblyLamePun It's a treasure chest!]]" |
| 547 | ** When an obese lady in line in front of Jack to use an automated teller machine hides the wad of bills she withdraws in her shirt, Jack quips that it's "safer there than in the bank." |
| 548 | * VowOfCelibacy: In one episode Jack [[TheBet makes a bet with the girls]] that he can refrain from having relations with women for a certain amount of time. The girls then try to [[ColdTurkeysAreEverywhere find ways to make him lose the bet]]. |
| 549 | * WackyCravings: When Cindy is MistakenForPregnant, Jack and Janet are convinced that their suspicions are confirmed when Janet sees Cindy making a tuna fish and jelly sandwich. |
| 550 | * WatchingTheReflectionUndress: In one episode Jack and Chrissy are temporarily sharing the bedroom normally used by Chrissy and Janet, but there's a mouse in the room that Janet is afraid of. Chrissy tells Jack to turn away so she can get into bed, so he turns and looks right at a mirror which shows him Chrissy in her skimpy nightie. |
| 551 | * WeddingEpisode: The first half of the two-part series finale depicts Janet's wedding to Phillip, a guy she met at the flower shop. |
| 552 | * WhatAreYouInFor: When Mr. Furley visits Jack in jail, he asks this of one of the inmates who heckles him through the bars. Even though the inmate is secure in his cell, Mr. Furley abandons Jack and runs off after he replies, [[DestinationDefenestration "I threw my landlord out the window."]] |
| 553 | * WhatDidIDoLastNight: |
| 554 | ** How Jack wakes up in the bathtub in the pilot episode. |
| 555 | ** When Mr. Roper goes upstairs to break up Jack's noisy party, he ends up joining in the festivities, and wakes up the next morning [[BedmateReveal in bed with Jack]]. |
| 556 | ** After Jack has too much to drink, he forgets about breaking Janet's PricelessMingVase before going to sleep. |
| 557 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Mrs. Roper has a parakeet in the first season, and the gang gives her a puppy that Larry has manipulated them into taking. No mention is made of the pup after that episode, although it's a fair assumption she still has the parakeet. |
| 558 | * WhoWouldBeStupidEnough: When Jack and Larry attend a charity fundraiser, they don't realize that the casino games are only for fun and the chips represent play money. When Janet says that it would not be fun if someone lost a large sum of money at the event, the host says, "Who would be stupid enough to think they were playing for real money?" AnswerCut to Jack and Larry, who think they are getting rich with winnings at the craps table. |
| 559 | ** When Jack and Chrissy accidentally attach themselves to each other with handcuffs without the key, they attempt to find someone who can open the cuffs without assuming they are escaped prisoners. |
| 560 | -->'''Jack:''' We need someone we can trust. Or fool.\ |
| 561 | '''Janet:''' Come on Jack, nobody's that dumb.\ |
| 562 | '''Jack:''' Oh, yes there is.\ |
| 563 | [GilliganCut to Mr. Furley] |
| 564 | |
| 565 | * WhyWasteAWedding: After Larry's gold-digger bride runs off when she finds out he's [[MockMillionaire not rich]], the group convinces Roper (who paid for the whole thing) to use it as an opportunity to renew his vows with his wife. |
| 566 | * WigDressAccent: Jack convinces Mr. Furley [[FakeTwinGambit he has a twin brother]] Austin by donning a cowboy hat and adopting a southern accent. |
| 567 | * WineIsClassy: Wine is always served anytime a character hosts a high-end event or goes on a formal date. Played for laughs when Mr. Roper is enlisted as the bartender for one of Chrissy's employer's corporate parties and serves wine to a guest. |
| 568 | -->'''Guest:''' What year is it?\ |
| 569 | '''Mr. Roper:''' Lady, if you don't know that you've had too much to drink already. |
| 570 | * WorseWithContext: |
| 571 | ** When the police receive a noise complaint about the music the trio is dancing to, the responding officer mentions that he is on probation because he lost "something" once. He subsequently reveals the object he lost was his [[DudeWheresOurCar police car]]. |
| 572 | ** Moments earlier, he tells the trio that the complainant is also upset because her husband won't climb down from the roof of their house. When Jack doesn't understand how that's relevant, he explains the husband is sitting up there with binoculars to watch Chrissy and Janet dance. |
| 573 | * WorthlessTreasureTwist: After Mr. Roper sells TheAllegedCar to Jack, a collector reveals that cars from that model year are valuable and offers him a large sum of money for it if he can get it back from Jack. Mr. Roper starts a ZanyScheme to convince Jack to return the car without revealing his intentions, but it turns out they were mistaken about the model year and the car is worthless. |
| 574 | * WouldRatherSuffer: When Mr. Furley makes mention of wanting to go on a cruise with Lana, Lana tells him that she would rather "go down with the ship" than go on a cruise with him. |
| 575 | [[/folder]] |
| 576 | |
| 577 | [[folder: X to Z]] |
| 578 | * YouAreNumberSix: When the girls are gossiping with Mrs. Roper about various tenants having affairs with each other, they refer to all the tenants by their unit number. |
| 579 | * YouDoNOTWantToKnow: After Jack cuts his finger cooking, Felipe attempts to provoke a MinorInjuryOverreaction by telling Jack a story about his cousin who had a similar injury which got infected. He refuses to tell Jack what happened, but when Jack demands to know, he reveals that his cousin passed away. |
| 580 | * YourOtherLeft: When Jack and Janet are matched on a date due to a DatingServiceDisaster, they can't avoid hitting their noses together during an AwkwardKiss. They agree to tilt their heads to opposite sides, but can't figure out whether it's Jack's left or Janet's left. |
| 581 | * YouSayTomato: |
| 582 | ** Mr. Furley's BerserkButton is pressed after Janet doesn't agree that ketchup is pronounced "catsup". |
| 583 | ** When Jack plans to sue his employer for sexual harassment, the trio pronounces it as "hair-us-ment", with stress on the first syllable. Mr. Furley asks if they are sure it shouldn't be pronounced as "har-ass-ment", with stress on the second syllable. |
| 584 | * ZanyScheme: Used almost OnceAnEpisode by the trio to escape from the latest situation they are in. Usually masterminded by Jack or Larry. |
| 585 | ** When Jack writes a nasty letter to a food critic without realizing the critic enjoyed his food, him and Terri devise a plan to get the letter back before the critic opens it. Jack plans to shimmy along the exterior of the 3rd floor of the building to the window of the critic's office while Terri distracts the receptionist. |
| 586 | ** When the trio plans to move out of the apartment and into a nicer house, Larry and Mr. Furley devise a plan to manipulate them into staying. |
| 587 | ** After Jack lies to his grandfather about being a doctor, he convinces Terri to let him sneak into an office at the hospital to keep up the ruse. |
| 588 | %% ** CounterZany |
| 589 | [[/folder]] |
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