User:Daniel Benfield/Three's A Crowd Video Archive

...Boy, 3's A Crowd gets a bad rep, doesn't it? Then again, it easily deserves it. The public reaction to the show was swift and pissed, calling it trash (no disagreement there), and it ended up being the schlocky Chuck Barris show that ended his major syndication presence until 1986. Pretty much every Barris show that got on the air after this was a revival of a preexisting show.

So why am I doing this? Because I felt like it. :P

LEGAL STUFF SO I DON'T GET SUED: I'm only linking to these videos, none of which were uploaded by me, for the purposes of research and as a public record. Footage ©1978-80/1999-2000 Chuck Barris Productions/Sony and associated entities.

Original Series (1979-80)
Syndicated, Daily: September 17, 1979 - February 1, 1980 (taped at Hollywood Center Studios)

The show that dared to wonder who knows a man best: his wife, or his secretary? The questions here tended to suggest that the husband was having sex with the secretary (or wanted to) unbeknownst to the wife, and even if they weren't the whole exercise was awkward and bordered much closer to relationship-destroying than The Newlywed Game ever did.

As for the run itself, the pilots (with a more "full" set and no "SECRETARY"/"WIFE" placards) aired as the first three episodes of the series. Shortly into the run, the logo present on the front of each group's podium was painted a sort of green/blue color, probably to make it more noticeable; likely at the same time, the Wives' portion of the questioning was altered to have the Secretaries verbally restate their answers rather than simply holding up cards like the Husbands.

In the end, aside from taking down all of Barris' shows in 1980, Crowd also pretty much killed Jim Peck's game show hosting career. While he still did pilots after this point and filled in on The Joker's Wild, Jim never got another series; while Jack Barry planned to pass the Joker torch to him in 1984, following Jack's death some in the company didn't think Jim was a big enough name to keep the show going and went with Bill Cullen instead.

Barris replaced Crowd with a revamped Camouflage that was pretty good but could've been better if it weren't for the overly-hyper contestants...but that's for another Video Archive. ;)

Original set (Pilots)
 * September 17, 1979 (Pilot #1/Premiere: Husbands - Guy/Art/Bob; Secretaries - Joy/Judy/Rose; Wives - Christy/Tina/Jane...and a catfight breaks out over spaghetti! {taped 12/78}; taped from GSN's "50 Greatest Game Shows of All-Time" farce, as #50)
 * September 19, 1979 (Pilot #3: Husbands - Don/Gary/Steve; Secretaries - Cathy/Barbara/Liz; Wives - Phyllis/Laurie/Kenni {taped early 1979}; taped from GSN)

"SECRETARY"/"WIFE" placards added, extraneous background set pieces removed, "3" behind Jim's podium removed (series)
 * Taped 8/79 (Husbands - Ron/Bill/Bud; Secretaries - Gloria/Karen/Yvonne; Wives - Barbara/Monica/Sharon; taped from GSN, audio/video is a bit off)

Logo on each group's podium colored in; Secretaries now verbally restate their answers during the Wives' portion of questioning
 * 1979? (Husbands - Cliff/Len/Seeten; Secretaries - Nancy/Fran/Patti; Wives - Alice/Marilyn/Vicki; taped from GSN, specifically some Valentine's Day-related programming)
 * [Johnny Jacobs notes in his intro of Fran that she likes watching The Dating Game. Has the green logo-sign on each group's podium.]
 * 1979? (Husbands - Bruce/Mike/Bob; Secretaries - Sylvia/Michelle/Maggie; Wives - Shirley/Marcella/Barbara; taped from GSN)
 * [Has the green logo-sign on each group's podium.]


 * 1979? (Husbands - Ken/Dave/Tony; Secretaries - Doni?/Donna/Diane; Wives - Cherie/Roz/Barbara; taped from GSN's "Lover's Lounge" block)
 * [Has the blue logo-sign on each group's podium.]
 * 1979? (Husbands - Ken/Jerry/Marv; Secretaries - Betty Jo/Hazel/Robin; Wives - Sheryl/Dina/Vicki; taped from GSN)
 * [Has the green logo-sign on each group's podium.]


 * 1979? (Finale?: Husbands - Jesse/Bard/Fowler; Secretaries - Patricia/Colleen/Shirley; Wives - Charlene/Joy/Mae...with the "Patricia vs. Charlene" mess that was probably the last straw for this show!; taped from GSN, specifically some Valentine's Day-related programming)
 * [Joy was previously on The Newlywed Game, which Johnny notes in his intro of her. Chuck Donegan lists two 1979 episodes that "helped get the show cancelled"; I'm guessing this was one, but I have no idea what the other one is. Has the green logo-sign on each group's podium.]

Uncertain placement
 * 1979? (Clip of Lisa {Secretary of the first group} showing off her legs for, I think, the judge during the Secretaries' round of questioning)
 * [Has the blue logo-sign on each group's podium.]
 * 1979? (From the 5/25/08 episode of NBC's Most Outrageous Moments, the Wife of the third group {I think; Maryann/Jim/Ann?} misunderstands a question and gets buzzed out!)
 * [Seems to be from after the Secretaries' cards were removed.]

Revival (1999-2000)
GSN, Daily: November 29, 1999 - 2000 [April 12, 2002]

Hosted by Alan Thicke, the revamp toned things down considerably and added more variety to the proceedings. Groups now consisted of boyfriend/girlfriend/ex or boyfriend/girlfriend/best friend.

Randy West held the announcing position for most of the run, with Bob Hilton filling in a few times.


 * 2000 (Girls: Joli/Samantha/Morgan; Boyfriends: Jay/Graig/Steve; Ex-Boyfriends: Taz/Shaun/L.J.; montage of various clips)