R.I.P. John Ritter

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Sleep well, Jack Tripper.http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/12/ritter.obit/index.html

― ham on rye (ham on rye), Friday, 12 September 2003 08:54 (twenty-two years ago)

that's the most fucked up random way to die i've heard about in a while.

― Dave M. (rotten03), Friday, 12 September 2003 08:57 (twenty-two years ago)

This is sad. The "Problem Child" movies weren't great but the dude sure didn't deserve this.

― gobemouche, Friday, 12 September 2003 09:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Aw :( I rather liked him in "8 Simple Rules", cheesy as it was.

2 in one day... damn. *sad*

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 12 September 2003 09:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Three's Company = the true binding glue of America. RIP John

― Joe (Joe), Friday, 12 September 2003 10:03 (twenty-two years ago)

This really bums me out. I grew up on Three's Company. I sure hope Larry and his kimono are taking it ok. Rest in Peace Tripper.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 12 September 2003 10:26 (twenty-two years ago)

OMG.

I really liked him when he was guest-starring on "Ally McBeal" as Elaine's boyfriend, the one Ally fancied. He could play dramatic if he wanted to. I also remember he was one of the few things I would like about those Lifetime-style weepy melodramas.

OMG.

I also remember watching "Three's Company" when I was younger.

OMG. *jaw drops*

― Just Deanna (Dee the Lurker), Friday, 12 September 2003 10:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Goddam that was my favorite show in the whole world. Fellow fans will understand - hopefully this sad event was the result of a totally improbable and ridiculous 'misunderstanding'. Remember the one where he was getting the tattoo removed but Janet mistakenly thought he was going to get a vasectomy? ("But Jack, what if you get married one day, how will your wife feel?" "Don't worry about that, I'm never going to tell her!")

― dave q, Friday, 12 September 2003 11:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I always like the episode where they get some extra money and Jack buys a pimp fur coat. He does that funny beatbox and dance thing. Hilarious.

Man, the Regal Beagle is going to be one lonely place.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 12 September 2003 12:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Whoa -- i'm glad he got to do a "Ritter: SECRETS!" for Conan Obrien, at least. Otherwise, all that knowledge woulda been taken to the grave.

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Friday, 12 September 2003 12:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Remember the episode where they thought this mysterious guy had killed his wife after an argument and stuffed her in a truck, but dude was actually a ventriloquist? That may have been one of the absurdest things I've ever seen on television.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 12 September 2003 12:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I pretty much remember all the episodes. I especially like the one when Jack and Furley go to the hairy chested shrink and he makes them bark and make elephant noises. THen they erupt into a barking argument.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 12 September 2003 12:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I just remember weird randomness from the show, VERY weird. And Don Knotts in the credit sequence for some reason.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 12 September 2003 12:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Aww man. :( How bout the one where he pretended to be his brother Tex and Mr. Furley was none the wiser. Or the one where he took valium and danced with a lamp at a cocktail party.
I'm sure I could tell you the plot of each episode after watching the first 10 seconds of it.
I did a parody of Three's Company on audio tape when I was like 9. Sang the theme song, did all the voices, embellished on an actual plot ("Mr. Furley, someone stole our rent money" "Oh, BULL"), even made-up commercials ("come to Buttch's Burn-out Bananza...). I re-discovered the tape a few years ago but now it's lost again, dammit.

― oops (Oops), Friday, 12 September 2003 12:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Jack you still owe me $10 from that date with Lana.
http://www.threescompany.com/tcompany/www/images/laryhead.jpg

― Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 12 September 2003 12:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I remember that episode where he was dating Buffy's mom but turned out to be an evil robot named Ted. I just recall my parents watching "Three's Company" when I was a little kid.

RIP

― alex in montreal, Friday, 12 September 2003 12:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Ohhh, I lived on the same floor as his son at NYU... He used to throw lots of parties with lots of beer and lots of hos.

― phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 12 September 2003 13:09 (twenty-two years ago)

When I was little I used to always get him confused with John Denver. Yeah, um, when I was little...

― Sarah McLUsky (coco), Friday, 12 September 2003 13:18 (twenty-two years ago)

John Ritter did the voice of Clifford the Big Red Dog too.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 12 September 2003 13:19 (twenty-two years ago)

but dude was actually a ventriloquist? That may have been one of the absurdest things I've ever seen on television.

heh. this is a recycle of a plotline from an old Amos & Andy show.

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Friday, 12 September 2003 13:33 (twenty-two years ago)

My favourite episode was when Jack convinced Mr. Roper not to commit suicide.

― fletrejet, Friday, 12 September 2003 13:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Come and knock on Heaven's door...

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 12 September 2003 13:42 (twenty-two years ago)

"oohhhhhhhhhh STANLEEEEEEEEEEEEY!"

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Friday, 12 September 2003 14:05 (twenty-two years ago)

jeez. Norman Fell was a serious and great character actor, and he'll be remembered just for this show.

thank god that Don Knotts has _the Ghost & Mr Chicken_ to insure his legacy.

http://www.dogsinthenews.com/issues/0111/pictures/ghostofmrchicken.jpg

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Friday, 12 September 2003 14:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Whoa.

RIP John Ritter. When Three's Company was on and I was a little kid, I never realized your character was pretending to be gay. I missed the entire premise of the show, but I still loved ya. Keep biking along that beach.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 12 September 2003 15:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Jack, we hardly knew ye.

― luna (luna.c), Friday, 12 September 2003 15:56 (twenty-two years ago)

RIP, mi hefe.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Friday, 12 September 2003 18:01 (twenty-two years ago)

"That's the first time I've had coq au vin made with cocoa!"

― nickn (nickn), Friday, 12 September 2003 18:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Remember the one where the mob boss comes in and orders linguine with clam sauce, and somehow the whole box of red pepper gets dumped into it, and Jack is flipping out, and it turns out the guy loves it!! "Just like mamma used to make!"

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Friday, 12 September 2003 18:32 (twenty-two years ago)

The 'food critic' one!

― dave q, Friday, 12 September 2003 18:59 (twenty-two years ago)

oh, wait, was it a food critic? ah ... even better..

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Friday, 12 September 2003 19:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I didn't even know this person's name. And I wasn't even going to check this thread until I saw trife (rightfull, I think) going batshit over on ILM about the (admittedly retracted, but still appalling) 'fuck John Ritter' comment. And now I find out it's someone who I really liked who has died. One of those people who you say 'oh he's quite a big star, really' if you see him doing a guest appearance on Ed or ER or some other American TV show. The Problem Child movies are excellent, really excellent, I must have seen them both about 10 times each. RIP, rest in peace.

― David. (Cozen), Friday, 12 September 2003 19:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I've really enjoyed him in a lot of roles. This is sad.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 12 September 2003 19:22 (twenty-two years ago)

the red pepper in the linguini thing is the funniest thing ive ever heard in my life!! i can totally imagine john freaking out to that, he was better at comedy self-torment than almost anybody, he shouldve played hamlet!!

― trife (simon_tr), Friday, 12 September 2003 19:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Much respect to the Ritter man. I didn't really watch his Dating My Daughter show, but the few times I caught it, I enjoyed it. In fact, I think that I last saw one a few weeks back and it was the one with all the in-jokes about Three's Company. Total classic.

I am pretty sure that I saw all the Three's Company episodes, but that was like from age 3 to 5, so I totally remember nothing aside from the theme song.

Skin Deep...oh so horrible, but oh so good for being so horrible. God bless Blake Edwards.

Kudos for Panic, Sling Blade, and, fuck it, Problem Child...at least part one, anyway.

...

I call shotgun for Amy Yasbeck! (okay, that was low)

― Girolamo Savonarola, Friday, 12 September 2003 19:28 (twenty-two years ago)

he is the heart and soul of the problem child films

― trife (simon_tr), Friday, 12 September 2003 19:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Skin Deep was shown to me in my Introduction to Film class. Do not ask me why. I'll never forget the colored-condom battle sequence

RIP John Ritter

― Vic, Friday, 12 September 2003 19:36 (twenty-two years ago)

trife is so right about 'problem child'!! those movies were poignant masterpieces

RIP john ritter

― geeta (geeta), Friday, 12 September 2003 21:01 (twenty-two years ago)

This has really got to me today. When I was a little kid I adored Three's Company and had to watch it whenever it was on. I still namecheck Jack Tripper all the time, because he was just such a great slapstick character.

― Nicolars (Nicole), Friday, 12 September 2003 21:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I think this has hit me more than any celebrity death this year. I know it's not a competition of commensurability all this, all these deaths, but still.

― David. (Cozen), Friday, 12 September 2003 21:04 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah same here, i always feel worst when someone who made me laugh dies...

― trife (simon_tr), Friday, 12 September 2003 21:15 (twenty-two years ago)

He was great in Sling Blade, and with Three's Company he made it possible for kids everywhere to explain their platonic roommate situations to their relatives. DAMN shame to die unexpectedly like that.

― Layna Andersen (Layna Andersen), Friday, 12 September 2003 21:33 (twenty-two years ago)

As you can see I also feel bad about Ritter, but...nevermind =(

― ham on rye (ham on rye), Friday, 12 September 2003 22:15 (twenty-two years ago)

He had a really great voice too! distinctive and immediately identifiable

― s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 12 September 2003 23:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I remember arguing with my ex after we saw "Sling Blade" about the merit of John Ritter's performance. The ex thought Ritter just blended into the scenery. The more I argued with him the more I thought Ritter had really pulled something off. Usually when straight actors play a gay character in a dramatic context they don't play "effeminate" even if the character seems to call for it, probably because they're afraid they'll come off as campy or even offensive and not dramatic. But by God, Ritter played an effeminate gay man and was totally convincing and never ever flirted with camp; it was a truly dramatic performance. All the more remarkable considering his background on Three's Company. Yeah, I'm sorry he's gone.

― jewelly (jewelly), Saturday, 13 September 2003 16:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Diamond - that's two different episodes actually. There's the Mafia guy one, and the one where the food critic walks in, has one bite and walks out again, and Jack being unaware that this is 'standard practice for food critics' (according to this show) dictates a really insulting letter to him, but (can't remember what chick) knows that Jack is just being silly so she just types up an innocuous cordial letter instead and sends it without telling him. He thinks the 'nasty' letter went out though so when the food critic's super-positive notice goes out the next day, he has to try all these ploys to intercept the letter before it gets there.

― dave q, Sunday, 14 September 2003 10:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I had three pet leeches when I was smaller and I called them Jack, Janet and Chrissie. This is a sad, sad day.

― Lara (Lara), Sunday, 14 September 2003 12:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Who came first in the running order of the US news. Ritter or Cash?

― Pete (Pete), Monday, 15 September 2003 08:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Cash. Cash was even first up on IMDB.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 15 September 2003 11:31 (twenty-two years ago)

LA might have been the one exception -- I caught some local news thing somewhere on Friday while I was out and Ritter was first, Cash second. Probably not a surprise seeing as this is a company town, really.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 September 2003 12:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I found out about John Ritter dying like so:

Me: Wait, did that dude just say Johnny Cash died?
Tom: Johnny Cash died?
Me: WTF? I didn't hear about this?
Tom: Haha, no internet for a while and we miss everything.
Me: I'll call the person who would know.
(dials mom while chatting about how this is terrible news etc)
Mom: Hello?
Me: When did Johnny Cash die?
Mom: I think it was the same day John Ritter died.
Me: What? That's a whole new question now!!!

I was completely confused and came up with a great idea that they hung tough together and went out with each other in some fantastic blaze of glory, which seemed to make more sense than this, somehow.

Totally stunning news no matter what.

― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 15 September 2003 15:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I saw his "last interview with Entertainment Tonight" last night and he did this great thing where he demonstrated the various types of spit-takes. The Elliot Gould one was the best.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 15 September 2003 15:58 (twenty-two years ago)

eight months pass...

Bosko Balaban Stats For Season

Name Bosko Balaban
Team Aston Villa
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Substituted 0
Total Minutes Played 0
Avg Minutes Played Per Start 0
Goals 0
Avg Goal Mins When Starting 0.0
Avg Mins Played/Goal Scored 0
Goals Scored As Sub 0
Number of Bookings 0
Total Booking Minutes 0
Avg Bookings Per Start 0
Number of Red Cards 0
Total Red Card Minutes 0
Avg Red Cards Per Start 0

― bosko, Monday, 14 June 2004 02:47 (twenty-one years ago)

wtf???

― Rock Bastard, Monday, 14 June 2004 02:51 (twenty-one years ago)

three years pass...

A new afterecho:

Early next month, in response to a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Yasbeck and Ritter's four children, a Los Angeles County jury will be asked to decide: Did Ritter have to die?
Lawyers for the plaintiffs fault the care Ritter, 54, received from two doctors -- one who interpreted the results of a body scan he had in 2001, the other who treated him the night he died.
Defense attorneys say their clients did nothing wrong and that Ritter would have died no matter what doctors did.
The trial will feature high-stakes legal questions, celebrity cameos and dueling medical opinions by researchers who have written books on the arterial condition that killed Ritter.
Besides the medical issues, the proceeding probably will delve into sensitive areas for Hollywood bosses: how much successful television stars are worth and how that question is settled in contract negotiations.
It also will highlight how differently malpractice lawsuits play out when the alleged victim is wealthy. Ritter, best known for his starring role as Jack Tripper on "Three's Company," was an actor with tremendous earning potential, the plaintiffs' lawyers say. Because of his subsequent success on the series "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter," his family is asking for more than $67 million in damages -- a stratospheric sum compared with most such claims.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 24 January 2008 15:53 (seventeen years ago)

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