PEEKSKILL, N. Y. — Richard Kline, who played Larry on the ’70s sitcom “Three’s Company” joined the Peekskill High School Drama Club as the teens brought the show to life for residents of Emerald Peek Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Peekskill lasr weekend.
The Friday show included the students acting out an episode from the show, followed by a question-and-answer session with Kline. The episode they performed is titled “In Like Larry,” which is Episode 15 from Season Five.
“I thought the kids did a great job,” Kline said. “It was very nostalgic for me to hear and see that script again. I remember bits and pieces of it. Certain incredible punchlines.”
Cast members for the performance were Justin Hahn, Arianna Hurtado, Karina Roberts, Brendon Henneberry, and Brian Cureton. For the Emerald Peek audience, the show was also a walk down memory lane.
“Residents were blown out of the water. Many of them used to watch ‘Three’s Company’ with their kids, so this was a nostalgic treat for them,” said Ivy Banach, director of marketing for the center and a family friend of Kline’s. “I’m so thankful he was able to come and bring such joy to our building.”
Banach worked with Terry Sandler, Peekskill High School Theater teacher and drama advisor, in organizing the show, which was followed by a buffet lunch and an autograph session with Kline.
Sandler said the the experience was a wonderful opportunity for his students, and a memory they will not soon forget.
“The whole experience was incredible. Richard Kline sat behind me laughing the entire time, saying, ‘I remember saying that line! These kids are doing great!'” Sandler said.
“But the best part was that I never had to use my ‘canned laughter’ sound effect we had prepared ahead of time because the audience was laughing naturally,” he said.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
Robert Cort will produce the big-screen take on the classic sitcom.
New Line wants you to come and knock on its door.
The studio is in negotiations to pick up the rights to the classic television series Three’s Company, and is tapping scribes Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein, the duo behind its 2009 hit He’s Just Not That Into You, to pen the screenplay.
Robert Cort, the veteran producer whose credits range from Tom Cruise’s Cocktail to Julia Roberts’ Runaway Bride, is attached to produce along with Don Taffner Jr.
Three’s Company was a top 10 show that aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984 and centered on the friendship forged between two single women living in Santa Monica who took in a man as a roommate, this in an age when such cohabitation was not a social norm. To keep the arrangement kosher with the landlords, the trio concocted a story saying the man had no ill intentions towards the women because he was gay. A comedy of errors, with plenty of innuendo, ensued week after week for eight seasons.
John Ritter had the role of his career (and won an Emmy) playing the young man, Jack Tripper, while Joyce DeWitt played the spunky brunette of the female duo. Suzanne Somers became a national sex symbol playing the dumb blonde, although she left halfway through the show’s run due to a salary dispute and was replaced by Jenilee Harrison and later by Priscilla Barnes.
The series, which was actually based on a British TV show, Man About the House, was known for its memorable characters. The landlords, played by Norman Fell and Audra Lindley, received their own (but short-lived) spinoff show. Richard Kline was Tripper’s on-the-prowl, used-car salesman best friend. And Don Knotts was a later landlord who believed he knew a thing or two about women.
New Line and the writers and producer are planning on having the feature set in the 1970s.
Hollywood went through a phase in the 1990s translating TV shows into movies. The Brady Bunch and The Addams Family were among the hits, but by the time 2002’s I Spy, starring Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson, bombed, the well was running dry.
A revival, however, may be taking place. Just a few weeks ago, Paramount began shooting a big-screen version of 1990s mainstay Baywatch, starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron. And Sony has made two 21 Jump Street movies that were hits financially and critically.
Kohn and Silverstein have made a name for themselves writing relationship-oriented movies such as Valentine’s Day and How to Be Single, both for New Line, and the Channing Tatum-Rachel McAdams love drama The Vow. The duo is repped by UTA, Management 360 and Sloane Offer.
“Three’s Company,” the iconic sitcom that made household names of John Ritter and Suzanne Somers, may be getting a reboot as a movie.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, New Line Cinema is negotiating for the movie rights to the classic TV show that ran from 1977 to 1984 on ABC.
“Three’s Company” focused on the hijinks of the two women and one man who shared an apartment in California. The original stars were Somers, Ritter and Joyce DeWitt playing Chrissy Snow, Jack Tripper and Janet Wood, respectively, in addition to a cast of supporting characters.
This would not be the first TV show to make the switch to the movie theater. “21 Jump Street” and its sequel raked in more than $500 million dollars, and fans are eagerly anticipating the big screen version of the mega-popular TV series “Baywatch.”
As Hollywood gets into the mood for movie versions of re-run gold, big stars are signing up. Mark Wahlberg will soon star in the reboot of “The Six Billion Dollar Man,” while Elizabeth Banks will helm another remake of “Charlie’s Angels.”
Fans are already campaigning online for who they want to play the “Three’s Company” roommates, with calls for Ashton Kutcher or Channing Tatum to play Jack and either Jennifer Lawrence, Anna Faris, Amy Schumer or Tina Fey to play Janet and Chrissy.
“The show is iconic, and the three characters are so big that a lot of actors want to get in on this … New Line will have no trouble casting,” Borys Kit, senior film writer with The Hollywood Reporter, told ABC News.
New Line Cinema declined to comment to ABC News.