Suzanne Somers on leaving the role of 'Chrissy' on Three's Company - EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG

[generic]

The difference between Somers and Ritter, though, was that Three's Company could continue without Somers, it COULDN'T continue without Ritter.  Thus, the salary difference.  She didn't get that.

[dellliberette]

I remember watching and still liking Three's Company but being frustrated as a kid because things weren't the same after Chrissy. Cindy's clumsiness was annoying and Terry was boring. #Chrissy.

[YELLOW]

John made $50, 000 to Suzanne's $30, 000. That's not 10x as much.

She also left out the part where she cost the studio at least 230, 000 for a missed taping, and forced them to rewrite a handful of scripts. THAT'S why they let her go.

[GazaPrincessCPG]

I like Chrissy but I didnt miss her because Cindy and Terri were just fine for me :)

[myview]

I watched Three's Company and Suzanne Somers was a big loss to the show..but she wasn't the star. She did have more celebrity than the others but John Ritter was clearly the star of that sitcom. The show went on for three or four seasons after her departure... Had she been star, the show would have been canceled upon her departure..she didn't bring what Carroll O'Connor, Larry Hagman or Alan Alada brought to their shows.

[AGoat]

Her problem was demanding the same money as John Ritter. He was the star.

Without him; no show at all. With out Suzanne, a lesser show; but still a show nonetheless.

[shawnghala]

I enjoyed watching Suzanne Somers on Three's Company. She was hilarious! Three's Company is a totally awesome show, which I grew up watching during my childhood. I watch old reruns of Three's Company even now and I just love it!

[Shadohz]

Here's the problem: She's trying to attach current social conscience (equal rights/equal pay) with something that occurred over 2 decades ago. The truth of the matter is her people had piss-poor negotiation skills. She was playing the role of a pretty, dumb blonde on a popular show. They are a dime-a-dozen in Hollywood. They attempted to use strong-arm tactics as their bargaining technique and it failed... miserably. That's a big part of the problem that the Fems don't understand today about pay wage. It's market-driven, not equality driven. If her star power was as strong as she suggested, then they would've been able to reach a compromise that worked in her favor. 

[Yabbadabbawhat]

I understand how when someone becomes an unexpected breakout star they would ask for more money, but not at the expense of the show that got you there in the first place. Henry Winkler was unquestionably a breakout star, and an icon to boot. Yet he asked to take a lower salary in exchange for profit sharing later on, instead of alienating the other lead actors (Ron Howard and Tom Bosley). To this day he gets paid every time Happy Days airs.

[MultiSmartass]

I noticed that, too.
Here's with the problem with Suzanne-she assumed that getting on magazine covers, Tv chat shows and posters meant that she was THE star of the show.
She wasnt-John Ritter was.
Everything she noted-demos, media exposure-doesnt translate into a viable enough reason for her to get a big pay raise
Had she asked for maybe $30-40, 000 more and not made a grab for an ownership stake, it might have been a different story.
Instead she wanted the whole pie.
Big mistake.

[southwestjohnny]

She's conveniently leaving out a great deal of the story. First of all, when she didn't get what she wanted, she stopped showing up for work while the rest of the cast was waiting on the set ready to begin filming. She attempted to hold the show hostage. After doing this more than once, that was when the show finally started to fight back by reducing her screen time to one minute per episode. Also, Suzanne was NOT the star of 'Three's Company', it was John Ritter. That was why he was getting more money than the rest. And as far as the other highly paid men on television at the time Suzanne is referring to, they, too, were the stars of their shows, (Alan Alda on 'MASH', and Carroll O'Connor on 'All In The Family' to name a couple). The series would not have been able to continue without those characters. They were the focus, Suzanne was not the focus of her show, even with all of her useless magazine covers. She had a ridiculously distorted idea of her own worth, and got too greedy, and jeopardized the jobs of her friends and co-workers as a result. She got exactly what she deserved. Good.

[thenewctc]

Ahh she went on 2 7 successful seasons on STEP BY STEP where she was the star with Patrick Duffy, SHE DID FINE

[kgmaj]

I like her. I really do. But there is something about her that is not quite authentic. I sense a phoniness. Before all that stuff went down she DID refuse to come to work. The cast had two different scripts. There is some selective memory with her. Did she ever stop to think how the producers were going to pay her and her co-stars $150, 000 and a piece of the back end. Was she crazy?

[MMAfighter]

Suzanne was hot commodity, but she and alan were too greedy, wanting almost $100, 000 per episode & a percentage in ownership of the show. True Larry Hagman, Alan Alda, and Carroll O'Connor were paid $100, 000. Per episode for their shows, but they were much more relevant to their shows than Suzanne was to 3's Company. Could you imagine Dallas without JR? All in the Family without Carroll O'Connor? Larry was smart. He negotiated his contract during the shows hiatus and during the Who Shot JR? hoopla. He threatened not to come back, & Lorimar was already considering another actor for the part of JR. They considered Robert Culp. What would happen was JR gets shot in the face & has reconstructive surgery, which explains the face difference. However, Lorimar met Larry's demands and paid him what he wanted. I have the utmost respect for Suzanne, but she and Alan especially were too greedy. Then she would be a no show at rehearsals at times. She tried to have the show by the balls. There were constantly rewrites of the script to accommodate whether Suzanne would be there or not. It's true that the show suffered some when she left, but ratings picked back up when Priscilla Barnes joined the cast. I think the producers tried to hard to make Jenilee Harrison a carbon copy of Chrissy.

[videoxify]

I agree that her character was very special, but she wasn't fired for asking for more money, she was fired because after they refused to give her what she asked for she started acting up and was then in breach of her contract by refusing to appear on multiple shows during the beginning of S5 claiming to have a false injury that prevented her from working, during her final year while she was still under contract with the show she went on coast-to-coast TV multiple times and badmouthed the producers and owners of the series 

[briwanderz]

"so i looked around and said why are all the men including john ritter making 10 times more then me.... at that time i didn't know john was making more.."
contradicts herself, and it was no where near 10 times..  not even double.

i really don't think she can try to claim any kind of innocence in this, she didn't show up for tapings and cost the company a lot of money, made the other people have to work extra hard and prepare for shows IF she showed or IF she didn't.  she basically threatened the whole show.

i believe it was mostly her husbands stupidity but she also went along with it... and she still sounds like she won't fully admit to it.

[AngeloMantzios]

Suzanne was brainwashed to think she was better than everyone else. She would no-show the tapings and completely hold the show hostage. She went from nothing to a huge star... and if she would have understood that she, Jon and Joyce made the show go, she would have enjoyed a long tenure of success. Instead, she and her husband got greedy and she paid the price. Too bad. I liked the show.

[kevico]

I love Suzanne Somers. However, she forgot to mention the x amount of times she called in sick ~ wouldn't that be another reason to be fired? ...not just asking what ALL male actors were making! I love you Suzanne but I just thought this should be added...

[samdroidva]

The producers made this mistake a few times. If you remember Mr and Mrs Roper, you know what I mean. I liked Mr. Firley a lot but I Just loved Stanley Roper he was Da Bomb! I guess that's why they tried to give them their own show, but it was a loss. Chrissy was a loss, you think they would've found some middle ground. Doh Well!!!!

[MultiSmartass]

You are right, John was the star.
Here was the problem with the negotiation: She not only asked for more money but a piece of the back end-meaning cut of syndication where the real money was.
This was a huge mistake.
This also explains why Ross said he would not share his "blood" with her.
Here is what Somers should have done:
She should have gotten Ritter and Dewitt to form a united front.
She should have asked for maybe 75-80, 000 per episode and not more than 100K.
No back end deal.