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Suzanne Somers Passed Away At 76

Dev1lXYZ

Member
She played the part of a dumb blonde on Three’s Company so well that most of the public considered her to be the character from the show. It didn’t help that she was on infomercials that sounded like she was reading a cue card that played for what seemed like most of the mid to late 80’s.
 

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
She was so healthy!! It just goes to show that you can't help it. When it is time, it is time. Scary... My grandparents lived to be 92 and 95.

Rest In Peace Suzanne. You were one of the greats.
 

HAYA8U5A

Member
It was such a weird coincidence seeing this news earlier. I am a big Blu-ray/UHD physical collector but I will very, very rarely buy a DVD due to the picture quality. The very few times I do are TV shows I want to own but have no hope of getting released on the other formats and the most recent TV show I made the DVD exception for was Step By Step during the recent Prime sale. I watched the first few episodes this morning and then a few hours later hear about her death. Almost made me feel like some sort of curse like that guy that made the Aaron Carter thread :messenger_hushed:

As a kid I grew up on that Miller-Boyett TGIF block of sitcoms which is why I wanted Step By Step so that was what I first knew her for but then as a teen Three's Company became not just one of my favorite sitcoms of all time but one of my favorite shows period. There was a channel that aired it in syndication around the time I would get home from school so I always got home and watched it with a snack before doing anything else including blowing off friends just so I could watch it first and meet up with them later. They naturally thought I was crazy that I had to go home and watch my "old" TV show first but priorities are priorities :messenger_winking_tongue: The show never seemed right without her since Cindy and Terri could never replace Chrissy (So glad the initial episodes I saw were from earlier seasons and not later seasons since I am not sure it would have connected the same for me even though it was still good until they started to force it ending to launch the spin-off instead of the ending it always felt like was the plan). Hard to believe her and John had the issues with each other they had since that trio clicked and seemed to have the perfect chemistry together along with a great supporting cast.

Fuck Cancer
R.I.P.
 
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Damn. Rest in Peace. Cancer, again... taking another one.
It's crazy how many people are dying, that I grew up watching from my childhood.
I don't feel old, yet, but... I'm getting there. Luckily, I already went through my existential crisis, so I'm good, for the most part, lol.
 

Kraz

Banned
One of the most memorable actresses of the era from one of my favourite shows from childhood. The news got me to look up why she was replaced in later seasons.

Contract negotiations gone awry, not a personal dispute within the cast, were at the root of the issue. In 1980, Somers asked to be paid on par with her co-star John Ritter, who played Jack Tripper, and other male TV stars of the time. That meant asking for $150,000 an episode, up from $30,000 an episode, according to People.

Instead of coming to terms, producers fired Somers from the show. Her husband, Alan Hamel, a former television producer who represented his wife during the negotiations, told People that the move was meant to discourage other women from following Somers's lead.
...
For Somers, who parlayed her Three's Company fame into a Las Vegas act and later went on to become a talk show host, author, and health and beauty entrepreneur, it was always about business. When she landed the part as Chrissy, she explained, she was a single mom who needed the money (she married Hamel, her second husband, after landing the show). This was in sharp contrast to the craft-focused DeWitt, who studied theater in college and earned her master's degree in fine arts from UCLA.

"I always saw this as a business venture … in a group of serious actors. I probably pissed you all off," Somers said.

DeWitt, who went on to a prolific career in theater after the sitcom ended, thanked Somers for the opportunity to "walk her talk," explaining that whenever asked about the scuttlebutt surrounding the series, "I have relentlessly said that it is my opinion that the only reason Three’s Company is worth remembering is that it created an opportunity for all of us to laugh together, to celebrate joy. It’s a profound gift."

She also shed light on the other major difference between the two: DeWitt never wanted fame and has intentionally avoided it through the years. However, she expressed the utmost respect for Somers's accomplishments. “You went up against ruthlessness, and it came down,” she said, but "what you’ve gone on to do is immeasurable.”


A trail blazer in the jungle that found ways to cut paths forward.
 
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