When Things Were Rotten
{{short description|American television series - 1975}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image = When Things Were Rotten cast photo 1975.JPG
| caption = Robin Hood and his Merry Men
| genre = Parody
Sitcom
Adventure
| creator = Mel Brooks
Norman Stiles
John Boni
| director =
| developer =
| presenter =
| starring = Dick Gautier
Dick Van Patten
Bernie Kopell
Richard Dimitri
Henry Polic II
Misty Rowe
David Sabin
Ron Rifkin
| voices =
| narrated =
| theme_music_composer =
| opentheme =
| endtheme =
| composer = Artie Butler
| country = United States
| language = English
| num_seasons = 1
| num_episodes = 13
| list_episodes =
| executive_producer =
| producer = Mel Brooks
Stanley Jacob
Norman Steinberg
| editor =
| location =
| camera =
| runtime = 30 minutes
| network = ABC
| company = Crossbow Productions
Paramount Television
| first_aired = {{Start date|1975|09|10}}
| last_aired = {{End date|1975|12|03}}
| related =
}}
When Things Were Rotten is an American sitcom television series created in 1975 by Mel Brooks and set in 1197 as a parody of the Robin Hood legend.{{cite book|title= The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997)|author=John Clute and John Grant|year=1997|publisher=Orbit |isbn=978-1-85723-368-1}} It aired for half a season on the ABC network.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/arts/television/borscht-belt-sherwood-forest.amp.html|title=Borscht Belt Sherwood Forest|author=Frank DeCaro|work=The New York Times|date=19 July 2013|access-date=19 February 2021}} The series starred Dick Gautier as the handsome and heroic Robin Hood.
The series received mostly critical acclaim,See, for example, "Review," by Cleveland Amory, "When Things Were Rotten," TV Guide, December 13, 1975, p. 18 though John Leonard wrote that watching it was "like being locked inside a package of bubblegum where the only card is Alvin Dark."[https://www.nytimes.com/1975/10/26/archives/tv-view-the-worst-television-season-ever-ever-ever-tv-view-the.html Leonard, John. "The Worst Television Season Ever, Ever, Ever," The New York Times, Sunday, October 26, 1975.] Retrieved September 30, 2021 It failed to find an audience and was cancelled after 13 episodes. The Bionic Woman was its midseason replacement, and became a great success.{{cite web |title=The Bionic Woman (1976): Season 1 |url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/45030/bionic-woman-season-one-the/ |access-date=2014-09-03 |publisher=DVD Talk}} Eighteen years later, Brooks produced another Robin Hood parody, the feature film Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
The complete series was released on DVD in 2013 as a manufactured-on-demand item exclusively available on Amazon.com's CreateSpace.[http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/shows/Things-Rotten/4635 DVD release info] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150105145051/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/shows/Things-Rotten/4635|date=2015-01-05}} at TVShowsOnDVD.com
Cast
{{cast list|
- Dick Gautier as Robin Hood
- Dick Van Patten as Friar Tuck
- Bernie Kopell as Alan-a-Dale
- Richard Dimitri as Bertram and Renaldo
- Henry Polic II as Hubert, the Sheriff of Nottingham
- Misty Rowe as Maid Marian
- David Sabin as Little John
- Ron Rifkin as Prince John
}}
Episodes
{{Episode table |background=#006400 |overall= |title= |director= |writer= |airdate= |episodes=
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 1
| Title = The Capture of Robin Hood
| DirectedBy = Jerry Paris
| WrittenBy = Mel Brooks, John Boni & Norman Stiles
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1975|09|10}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = 006400
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 2
| Title = The French Dis-connection
| DirectedBy = Coby Ruskin
| WrittenBy = {{StoryTeleplay
| s = Gene Wood and Jay Burton
| t = Bo Kaprall and Pat Profit
| slabel = {{abbr|S|Story by}}
| tlabel = {{abbr|T|Teleplay by}}
}}
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1975|09|17}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = 006400
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 3
| Title = The House Band
| DirectedBy = Joshua Shelley
| WrittenBy = Barry E. Blitzer & Jack Kaplan
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1975|09|24}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = 006400
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 4
| Title = Those Wedding Bell Blues
| DirectedBy = Marty Feldman
| WrittenBy = Jim Mulligan
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1975|10|01}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = 006400
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 5
| Title = A Ransom for Richard
| DirectedBy = Peter H. Hunt
| WrittenBy = William Raynor & Myles Wilder
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1975|10|08}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = 006400
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 6
| Title = The Ultimate Weapon
| DirectedBy = Peter Bonerz
| WrittenBy = Steve Zacharias
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1975|10|15}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = 006400
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 7
| Title = Ding Dong, the Bell is Dead
| DirectedBy = Bruce Bilson
| WrittenBy = Les Roberts
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1975|10|22}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = 006400
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 8
| Title = There Goes the Neighborhood
| DirectedBy = Cory Ruskin
| WrittenBy = Tony Geiss and Thomas Meehan
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1975|10|29}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = 006400
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 9
| Title = Quarantine
| DirectedBy = Norman Abbott
| WrittenBy = John Reiger & Garry Markowitz
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1975|11|12}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = 006400
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 10
| Title = Birthday Blues
| DirectedBy = Peter H. Hunt
| WrittenBy = Harry Lee Scott and Robert Sand
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1975|11|19}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = 006400
}}
{{Episode list
| NumParts = 2
| EpisodeNumber_1 = 11
| EpisodeNumber_2 = 12
| Title = The Spy: Parts 1 and 2
| DirectedBy = Peter H. Hunt
| WrittenBy = Lawrence H. Siegel
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1975|11|26}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = 006400
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 13
| Title = This Lance for Hire
| DirectedBy = Joshua Shelley
| WrittenBy = Jack Amob & Bruce Selitz
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1975|12|03}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = 006400
}}
}}
See also
References
External links
{{commons category}}
- {{IMDb title|0072585}}
{{Mel Brooks}}
{{Robin Hood}}
Category:1970s American sitcoms
Category:Television series set in the Middle Ages
Category:Robin Hood television series
Category:Television series by CBS Studios
Category:1975 American television series debuts
Category:1975 American television series endings
Category:Television series created by Mel Brooks
Category:American English-language television shows