A collection of Norman Fell mugging for the camera:

Brilliant.

Growing up in Australia, we'd always see both the U.K. and American versions of these TV shows, and it was really fun to compare the different styles of comedy. In 'Man About the House' George Roper was more of a meek, ineffectual henpecked husband than he was in this version.

I never realized how badly or how often he mugged for the camera like that. It's kind of sad, really. Well, obviously, he wasn't trying to play the role seriously.

Three's Company is running on Antenna TV and I've watched a bit to refresh my memory.

Aside from the great John Ritter, it's a terrible show.

Those look like out takes don't remember him mugging that much. He was a pip!

Must have been a thing with them. They let him keep on doing it.

Ah, well, if those are out takes, that would explain why I don't remember him doing it that much. But wow, he must have really thought those jokes were solid gold or something - he seemed so proud of them.

Honestly, though, that character was a pretty awful man and worse husband.

Not outtakes. Once he'd established the bit -- in the second season, I think -- he did it in nearly every episode. It was funny! It still makes me laugh.

Those aren't outtakes. That was one of his signature gimmicks.

Well, maybe it's one of the reasons I never thought highly of the show. It's been awhile, so I don't recall. 1977 to 1984, eh. Maybe there wasn't much else on, and perhaps I didn't watch the full series. It just wasn't that appealing to me.

I do recall I always thought Joyce DeWitt was far sexier than Suzanne Somers.

I love Mrs. Roper.

Those are some funny lines, especially the ones about her mother.

I wish they'd never spun The Ropers off into their own show.

I did not like Don Knotts as Furley.

They cranked up the "Mugging for the Camera" switch to 11 when he came on board!

From what I read, Norman Fell was not comfortable getting his own spin-off as he was part of a very successful show and included language in the deal to make sure he got his old job back in case it flopped. The Ropers was on the air just long enough to screw him out of returning to Three's Company.

I think it was something like a year. They put off cancelling it so it fell out of that range.

I would have love to have seen The Ropers return and Furley booted out.

From the Wikipedia entry on The Ropers, it was cancelled one month after the one year hold of their jobs. Fell believed its cancellation was held until after the clause expired as Knotts had successfully integrated into the show and they now only had to pay one actor instead of two.

Those bastards.

George & MIldred, which was the U.K. original, was also spun-off from Man About The House and ran for years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_and_Mildred

Robin's Nest ran for years as well. Its American counterpart, Three's A Crowd, was cancelled after only one season.

Anybody remember that Jeffrey Tambor was on The Ropers?

This was also a story point in the made-for-TV "Three's Company" docudrama.

From "Arrested Development"?

I think the narrator of that show was once in a series with Mr. Furley.