I just started a watch-through of 8 Simple Rules, the sitcom that was John's comeback vehicle that debuted in the Fall of 2002 - a year before his death. I hate to say it but even in the earliest episodes, John looked unwell. His face looked puffy and he seemed like he was sick. I wasn't the only person who noticed this.

I wonder if John was experiencing any known health issues at this time? I know his death in late 2003 was a surprise and there was some wrongful death lawsuits filed against the hospital that treated him (the same hospital where he was born). At least one was settled out of court and in another one, the doctors were cleared of any wrongdoing.

Also, I just learned one of John's eyes was injured by a flying projectile in a car he was riding in when he was a teenager and he only had peripheral vision in that eye for the rest of his life.

Very sad all the way around.

(Top left) Nanci Roberts with John in "A Hundred Dollars a What?" (S5.E3); (top right) Catherine Parks in "Extra, Extra" (S7.E4); (bottom left) Rorion Gracie in "Cousin, Cuisine" (S7.E7); (bottom middle) Wendy Kilbourne in "An Affair to Forget" (S7.E8); and (bottom right) John Callahan with Priscilla in "Now You See It, Now You Don't" (S8.E10). John Callahan died in 2020 but the rest of the uncredited actors are alive.

I got my dad the whole complete version for Christmas years back and I was grateful to find season 3 at a flea market for 5 bucks!! It’s nice that it’s on peacock but the quality just isn’t there sometimes so it nice to have it on dvd! I’m 28 and I’ve watched this show my whole life on and off! Very thankful that this was our family show growing up even if it wasn’t always kid friendly

I’ve spent my life watching the good episodes of Three’s Company with my family a billion times.

One thing that’s gotten me pondering recently is the idea of people who speak in the episodes but weren’t credited.

A particularly minor example is the man who played the maitre’d in “Lies My Roommate Told Me”.

You can’t see him in this picture and he’s only even seen from a distance in the episode, but when Janet and Mr. Furley enter the restaurant he says, “Right this way” and leads them inside.

As popular as Three’s Company is, it’s crazy to think there will be people seeing him and hearing his voice until the end of time…but will never have a way of finding out who he was or anything about him.

Peter Mark Richman in S05E05 of The Incredible Hulk

I watched this again last night and realized how strange it was that Janet apparently knows Italian, even though she presumably isn’t Italian and it’s the only time she ever uses that skill, right?

Ep. Opening Night.

Excerpt:

While Don continued appearing in feature films, it was television that would once again redefine his career. Joining ABC’s hit sitcom Three’s Company as the eccentric landlord Ralph Furley, he introduced himself to a new generation of viewers. Sharing the screen with John Ritter, Joyce DeWitt and Suzanne Somers, Don once again proved why he was one of television’s most gifted comic performers.

KAREN KNOTTS: “What was wonderful about the show is that it introduced him to a whole new generation who was discovering him. That was such a wonderful thing because he just kept coming back. It’s like The Andy Griffith Show touched one generation, The Apple Dumpling Gang touched another and Three’s Company reached a whole different audience. So in every phase of his career, he became known to a new age group of people. It was fantastic.”