When Things Were Rotten

*When Things Were Rotten*
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

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.

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 air date
1	"The Capture of Robin Hood"	Jerry Paris	Mel Brooks, John Boni & Norman Stiles	September 10, 1975 (1975-09-10)
2	"The French Dis-connection"	Coby Ruskin	S : Gene Wood and Jay Burton T : Bo Kaprall and Pat Profit	September 17, 1975 (1975-09-17)
3	"The House Band"	Joshua Shelley	Barry E. Blitzer & Jack Kaplan	September 24, 1975 (1975-09-24)
4	"Those Wedding Bell Blues"	Marty Feldman	Jim Mulligan	October 1, 1975 (1975-10-01)
5	"A Ransom for Richard"	Peter H. Hunt	William Raynor & Myles Wilder	October 8, 1975 (1975-10-08)
6	"The Ultimate Weapon"	Peter Bonerz	Steve Zacharias	October 15, 1975 (1975-10-15)
7	"Ding Dong, the Bell is Dead"	Bruce Bilson	Les Roberts	October 22, 1975 (1975-10-22)
8	"There Goes the Neighborhood"	Cory Ruskin	Tony Geiss and Thomas Meehan	October 29, 1975 (1975-10-29)
9	"Quarantine"	Norman Abbott	John Reiger & Garry Markowitz	November 12, 1975 (1975-11-12)
10	"Birthday Blues"	Peter H. Hunt	Harry Lee Scott and Robert Sand	November 19, 1975 (1975-11-19)
11	"The Spy: Parts 1 and 2"	Peter H. Hunt	Lawrence H. Siegel	November 26, 1975 (1975-11-26)
12	"The Spy: Parts 1 and 2"	Peter H. Hunt	Lawrence H. Siegel	November 26, 1975 (1975-11-26)
13	"This Lance for Hire"	Joshua Shelley	Jack Amob & Bruce Selitz	December 3, 1975 (1975-12-03)

References

^ John Clute and John Grant (1997). The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997). Orbit. ISBN 978-1-85723-368-1.
^ Frank DeCaro (19 July 2013). "Borscht Belt Sherwood Forest". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
^ See, for example, "Review," by Cleveland Amory, "When Things Were Rotten," TV Guide, December 13, 1975, p. 18
^ Leonard, John. "The Worst Television Season Ever, Ever, Ever," The New York Times, Sunday, October 26, 1975. Retrieved September 30, 2021
^ "The Bionic Woman (1976): Season 1". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2014-09-03.
^ DVD release info Archived 2015-01-05 at the Wayback Machine at TVShowsOnDVD.com

External links

When Things Were Rotten at IMDb

[1] John Clute and John Grant (1997). The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997). Orbit. ISBN 978-1-85723-368-1.

[2] Frank DeCaro (19 July 2013). "Borscht Belt Sherwood Forest". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 February 2021.

[3] See, for example, "Review," by Cleveland Amory, "When Things Were Rotten," TV Guide, December 13, 1975, p. 18

[4] Leonard, John. "The Worst Television Season Ever, Ever, Ever," The New York Times, Sunday, October 26, 1975. Retrieved September 30, 2021

[5] "The Bionic Woman (1976): Season 1". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2014-09-03.

[6] DVD release info Archived 2015-01-05 at the Wayback Machine at TVShowsOnDVD.com

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v t e Mel Brooks
Awards and nominations On screen and stage
Films directed	The Producers (1967) The Twelve Chairs (1970) Blazing Saddles (1974) Young Frankenstein (1974) Silent Movie (1976) High Anxiety (1977) History of the World, Part I (1981) Spaceballs (1987) Life Stinks (1991) Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
Films written only	The Producers (2005) Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (2022)
Films produced only	The Elephant Man (1980; uncredited) To Be or Not to Be (1983) The Fly (1986; uncredited) 84 Charing Cross Road (1987)
TV series created	Get Smart (1965–1970) When Things Were Rotten (1975) The Nutt House (1989) Spaceballs: The Animated Series (2008–2009) History of the World, Part II (2023)
Musicals written	Shinbone Alley (1957) All-American (1962) The Producers (2001) Young Frankenstein (2007)
Comedy sketches	The 2000 Year Old Man
Other	"To Be or Not to Be (The Hitler Rap)" (1983)