When Things Were Rotten
American television series - 1975
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.[1] It aired for half a season on the ABC network.[2] The series starred Dick Gautier as the handsome and heroic Robin Hood.
Norman Stiles
John Boni
Dick Van Patten
Bernie Kopell
Richard Dimitri
Henry Polic II
Misty Rowe
David Sabin
Ron Rifkin
| When Things Were Rotten | |
|---|---|
Robin Hood and his Merry Men | |
| Genre | Parody Sitcom Adventure |
| Created by | Mel Brooks Norman Stiles John Boni |
| Starring | Dick Gautier Dick Van Patten Bernie Kopell Richard Dimitri Henry Polic II Misty Rowe David Sabin Ron Rifkin |
| Composer | Artie Butler |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Producers | Mel Brooks Stanley Jacob Norman Steinberg |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies | Crossbow Productions Paramount Television |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | September 10 – December 3, 1975 |
The series received mostly critical acclaim,[3] though John Leonard wrote that watching it was "like being locked inside a package of bubblegum where the only card is Alvin Dark."[4] It failed to find an audience and was cancelled after 13 episodes. The Bionic Woman was its midseason replacement, and became a great success.[5] 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.[6]
Cast
- 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
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Capture of Robin Hood" | Jerry Paris | Mel Brooks, John Boni & Norman Stiles | September 10, 1975 |
| 2 | "The French Dis-connection" | Coby Ruskin | S : Gene Wood and Jay Burton T : Bo Kaprall and Pat Profit | September 17, 1975 |
| 3 | "The House Band" | Joshua Shelley | Barry E. Blitzer & Jack Kaplan | September 24, 1975 |
| 4 | "Those Wedding Bell Blues" | Marty Feldman | Jim Mulligan | October 1, 1975 |
| 5 | "A Ransom for Richard" | Peter H. Hunt | William Raynor & Myles Wilder | October 8, 1975 |
| 6 | "The Ultimate Weapon" | Peter Bonerz | Steve Zacharias | October 15, 1975 |
| 7 | "Ding Dong, the Bell is Dead" | Bruce Bilson | Les Roberts | October 22, 1975 |
| 8 | "There Goes the Neighborhood" | Cory Ruskin | Tony Geiss and Thomas Meehan | October 29, 1975 |
| 9 | "Quarantine" | Norman Abbott | John Reiger & Garry Markowitz | November 12, 1975 |
| 10 | "Birthday Blues" | Peter H. Hunt | Harry Lee Scott and Robert Sand | November 19, 1975 |
| 11 | "The Spy: Parts 1 and 2" | Peter H. Hunt | Lawrence H. Siegel | November 26, 1975 |
| 12 | ||||
| 13 | "This Lance for Hire" | Joshua Shelley | Jack Amob & Bruce Selitz | December 3, 1975 |
