# Could a THREE'S COMPANY reboot, done as an actual menage a trois, work in 2015\> **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 8, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345 "2015-09-08T16:16:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/1 "2015-09-08T16:16:08Z")
Watching _/Three’s Company_ back in the day, I always thought two things: A) Joyce DeWitt was about fifteen times hotter than Suzanne Somers (though DeWitt and Priscilla Barnes were about equal) and ii) Janet and Jack had a serious thing for one another, but didn’t pursue it because she thought it was unwise giving their living arrangements. In other words, Misters Roper and Furley’s fears of rampant sexual debauchery in that little apartment were not unfounded. Which gets me to thinking. What with the current proopensity for rebooting old TV shows and movies, surely somebody has thought of doing a TC remake. Could such a show work – aired on a broadcast or basic cable network, not HBO or Starz or the like – work with such a change in the premise? That is, Janet is in fact the lover of both Jack and the blonde of the season and cannot choose between them, so they establish a shared household? (Just that permutation, though. I don’t care for three-ways.) Thoughts, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/2 "2015-09-08T16:18:53Z")
On the CW (is that still around?), anything is possible. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/3 "2015-09-08T16:33:07Z")
That would make it such an entirely different show that there’d be no point in reusing the name. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/4 "2015-09-08T16:34:58Z")
Are they going to get a third bedroom? Seems unfair otherwise. I don’t really see where the humor comes from. Product of its time as it was, part of the Three’s Company humor came from the “Jack’s pretending to be gay” angle. What sort of humor comes from the new dynamic? Sounds more like a wearisome drama than a sit com to me. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/5 "2015-09-08T16:35:57Z")
My thoughts exactly. The whole premise demands that there be no sexual relationship between the trio. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/6 "2015-09-08T16:38:53Z")
I’m trying to wrap my head around the idea of a landlord who gives a rat about unmarried couples living together, which was part and parcel of the original premise. It is not a thing I’d think would really work in this day and age… without feeling awfully contrived. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/7 "2015-09-08T16:42:23Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That would make it such an entirely different show that there’d be no point in reusing the name. _Battlestar Galactica_. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/8 "2015-09-08T16:47:34Z")
Not really comparable. The new _Galactica_ was the kind of show that the original was trying to be: A grim space adventure. Yes, the original failed horribly in that, and ended up being a campy over-the-top parody of itself, but it was still trying to be serious. The original _Three’s Company_, though, never tried to be anything other than what it was. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/9 "2015-09-08T17:00:35Z")
The original show relied heavily on the repressed landlord’s obsessive interest in the freewheeling sexual behavior of his tenants, played for laughs. Set in modern times, where are the laughs? I mean, you could have a creepy psychodrama about the situation. Not a farce. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/10 "2015-09-08T17:03:49Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > I’m trying to wrap my head around the idea of a landlord who gives a rat about unmarried couples living together, which was part and parcel of the original premise. It is not a thing I’d think would really work in this day and age… without feeling awfully contrived. Somewhere I can see a French farce coming out of this. The only problem is, French farce generally doesn’t make a good platform for a sitcom. An episode every now and then (see _Frasier_) but not the entire story. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/11 "2015-09-08T17:17:23Z")
What if we contrive a reason that they must convince everybody else that they are in a hot menage a trois, when they in fact greatly detest each other? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/12 "2015-09-08T17:19:11Z")
You’d be better off trying to reboot Bosom Buddies as the story of two men who get an apartment in a women-only building by posing as transgender women. If you could survive having your studio burned to the ground by the LGBTQ community, that is. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/13 "2015-09-08T17:23:58Z")
I can’t see why a landlord would object to the living arrangements, or why onew of them would pretend to be gay as an explanation. You’d need to have some completely different secret and dynamic to make it believable. Like maybe one of the roommates is an extraterrestrial. Or a Serial Killer, or something. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/14 "2015-09-08T17:27:57Z")
I think it could work if you kept the menage a secret from the landlord. Just make him an old, traditional guy like Mr Furley who rents out the apartment but doesn’t like to see that kind of stuff going on. As progressive as we are now, most people still pair up, an open relationship like that is not common and I can see Jack trying to still hide his relationship from the landlord. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/15 "2015-09-08T17:29:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I can’t see why a landlord would object to the living arrangements, or why onew of them would pretend to be gay as an explanation. > You’d need to have some completely different secret and dynamic to make it believable. Like maybe one of the roommates is an extraterrestrial. Or a Serial Killer, or something. _My Favorite Martian_ and _ALF_. _Murder, She Wrote_ as a sitcom sound interesting. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/16 "2015-09-08T17:39:45Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > You’d need to have some completely different secret and dynamic to make it believable. Like maybe one of the roommates is an extraterrestrial. Or a Serial Killer, or something. _My Two Dads_ combined with _Dexter_ and/or _The X-Files_, with a little bit of _Family Ties_ gone really bad thrown in. It would only work if it starred Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, and Lucy Lawless, with a rotating roster of has-been 'Eighties sitcom and teen horror movie stars being killed off every episode only to reappear again in the guise of a totally differnent character. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/17 "2015-09-08T17:42:02Z")
I’m not even convinced the setup worked on the original show. It had ONE plotline, repeated every week. Someone hears something, causing them to have a misunderstanding/incorrect assumption about other characters. The misunderstanding is cleared up; roll credits. The only reason it ran more than three episodes is that audiences back then enjoyed the titillation. Today, I can’t imagine audiences would give a rat’s ass. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/18 "2015-09-08T17:42:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That would make it such an entirely different show that there’d be no point in reusing the name. > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > _Battlestar Galactica_. You got _that_ right. Not even _close_ to the same show. OTOH, **Chronos** has a point, too. There was no point in re-using the name for that, either. ETA: > [@Chronos](#): > > Not really comparable. The new _Galactica_ was the kind of show that the original was trying to be: A grim space adventure. Yes, the original failed horribly in that, and ended up being a campy over-the-top parody of itself, but it was still trying to be serious. The original _Three’s Company_, though, never tried to be anything other than what it was. But that undercuts your point.\* If a new _TC_ is an entirely different show, that makes it analagous to _Battlestar Galactica_ transitioning from campy parody to grim space adventure. \*your first point. Personally, I’m all about campy o-t-t parody. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/19 "2015-09-08T17:48:16Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I don’t really see where the humor comes from. Product of its time as it was, part of the Three’s Company humor came from the “Jack’s pretending to be gay” angle. What sort of humor comes from the new dynamic? Jack is living with – and secretly banging – Janet. Janet insists that Chrissy wouldn’t stand for that, so Jack agrees to pretend to be gay when Chrissy is around. Note that Jack is also secretly banging Chrissy, who insists that Janet wouldn’t stand for that, such that he has to pretend to be gay when Janet is around. So he only ever puts on the ‘gay’ act when all three of them are there. Note that Jack is played by Neil Patrick Harris. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345/20 "2015-09-08T17:58:50Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > What if we contrive a reason that they must convince everybody else that they are in a hot menage a trois, when they in fact greatly detest each other? Go on. At once, or the elf dies. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-threes-company-reboot-done-as-an-actual-menage-a-trois-work-in-2015/730345.md?page=2)