Don't These Things Come In Threes? Who's Next?

[easttxtv]

Last year, this kind of news seemed to come along in much more than 3s. Seemingly one of the longer yearly listings that I can remember.

 

[TheBigA]

OK.. Bob Guccione dead at 79. There's the third one.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Geez, you guys have a morbid sense of humor. You must all work in TV newsrooms.

 

[KERCAlum]

Whew! I thought for a second there it was going to be Betty White!

You're nuts. Nothing can kill Betty White. In fact the Earth will spin out of its orbit and crash into the sun killing all of us and Betty White will still be alive.

Chuck Norris wears Betty White pajamas. (I was going to say Cliff Lee, but this seemed like a better joke...)

 

[firepoint525]

First, Barbara Billingsley joins that great sitcom in the sky...now Tom Bosley. Who's next? (And don't forget, BB was in the funniest movie ever made, "Airplane"; Leslie Nielsen isn't looking so hot these days...I have a DVD of all the "Naked Gun" episodes, and he appears as a commentator on it.)

Yes - things always come in threes...except when they don't. We tend to notice when things come in three, which confirms that pattern for us. But then we ignore it, or don't notice when things come in ones, fours, or whatever.

Exactly! Whenever I hear these "deaths come in threes" nonsense, I think, "three in how much of a time frame? Days? Weeks? Months?" This "deaths come in threes" nonsense could be stretched to fit whatever definition that the believer of that nonsense wants to believe, therefore making such a belief system irrelevant, and thus, unprovable. :

 

[LKellerIII]

OK.. Bob Guccione dead at 79. There's the third one.

Actually, Guccione would make 4 in this thread, by my count - Billingsley, Bosley, and Sheffield ("Boy" from Tarzan), being 1,2, and 3.

 

[quadraphonic]

It just seems wrong to hook Billingsley, Bosley, and Guccione as the 3 this time.
Guccione seems like the "one of these just doesn't belong" there.

 

[formeraa]

Inevitably, some major star will die within the next week to make #3. It's just basic probability!

 

[LKellerIII]

It just seems wrong to hook Billingsley, Bosley, and Guccione as the 3 this time.
Guccione seems like the "one of these just doesn't belong" there.

You've got a point. They are all "celebrities" in a sense, but it's probabalby sacrilege to mention a soft porn publisher's name in the same sentence with 2 wholesome TV parent icons. ;D

 

[firepoint525]

The only time (that I can recall anyway) when celebrity deaths "came in threes" was on February 3, 1959, the day the music died. Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Richie Valens all died the same day.

The closest (again, that I can recall) involving separate deaths, rather than a common tragedy, was the week in June 2009, when Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson all died, the latter two on the same day!

For this "comes in threes" b.s. to work for me, all three deaths must come within the same week!

 

[Laurence Glavin]

First, Barbara Billingsley joins that great sitcom in the sky...now Tom Bosley. Who's next? (And don't forget, BB was in the funniest movie ever made, "Airplane"; Leslie Nielsen isn't looking so hot these days...I have a DVD of all the "Naked Gun" episodes, and he appears as a commentator on it.)

I'm only entering a comment to move this post to the top. Just call me "Oscar the Cat".

 

[dhett]

To be honest, in all this excitement, I've lost count.

Are we on 1, 2 or 3 now?

 

[LynnW]

Leslie Neilson RIP

 

[wncc]

Dr. Alan Rumack and Frank Drebin died along with him. That's your three.

 

[DToTheJ]

The guy that directed one of the "Star Wars" movies died. Does that count?

 

[notalkallstatic]

The guy that directed one of the "Star Wars" movies died. Does that count?

Also Dino De Laurentiis passed away, so that is three:
1: Dino
2: Leslie
3: "Guy who direct one of the Star Wars movies"

 

[LKellerIII]

The guy that directed one of the "Star Wars" movies died. Does that count?

Also Dino De Laurentiis passed away, so that is three:
1: Dino
2: Leslie
3: "Guy who direct one of the Star Wars movies"

All you "things come in threes" advocates are able to confirm your thesis only by starting or ending your count at arbitrary times. Keep in mind that this thread started October 19th with Barbara Billingsley, so we're probably up to 6 by now...though I don't care enough to actually go back and count.

But an honorable mention has to go out to Lawrence Glavin who started the thread by noting that Leslie Nielsen hadn't been "looking so hot lately"...which amounted to a somewhat prescient prediction.

 

[quadraphonic]

I saw where an Italian director from the 50s jumped out of a hospital window the other day. He was 95.
I don't know how that figures into the "happens in threes" thing, or if it applies in Italy, but it's another director.