View source for 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]]<br>[[Sitcom]]<br>[[Adventure]]
| creator              = [[Mel Brooks]]<br>[[Norman Stiles]]<br>John Boni
| director             =
| developer            = 
| presenter            = 
| starring             = [[Dick Gautier]]<br>[[Dick Van Patten]]<br>[[Bernie Kopell]]<br>[[Richard Dimitri]]<br>[[Henry Polic II]]<br>[[Misty Rowe]]<br>[[David Sabin]]<br>[[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<br>Stanley Jacob<br>[[Norman Steinberg]]
| editor               = 
| location             = 
| camera               = 
| runtime              = 30 minutes
| network              = [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
| company              = Crossbow Productions<br>[[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.<ref>{{cite book|title='' [[The Encyclopedia of Fantasy]] (1997)''|author=John Clute and John Grant|year=1997|publisher=Orbit |isbn=978-1-85723-368-1}}</ref> It aired for half a season on the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] network.<ref>{{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}}</ref> The series starred [[Dick Gautier]] as the handsome and heroic Robin Hood.

The series received mostly critical acclaim,<ref>See, for example, "Review," by Cleveland Amory, "When Things Were Rotten," ''TV Guide'', December 13, 1975, p. 18</ref> though [[John Leonard (critic)|John Leonard]] wrote that watching it was "like being locked inside a package of [[Bubble gum|bubblegum]] where the only card is [[Alvin Dark]]."<ref>[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</ref> It failed to find an audience and was cancelled after 13 episodes. ''[[The Bionic Woman]]'' was its [[midseason replacement]], and became a great success.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>[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]]</ref>

==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 [[John, King of England|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==
* [[List of films and television series featuring Robin Hood]]

==References==
<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]]
[[Category:Television shows set in London]]
[[Category:Robin Hood parodies]]
[[Category:American Broadcasting Company sitcoms]]