When Things Were Rotten

1975

Seasons & Episodes

  • 1

EP4 Those Wedding Bell Blues Oct 01, 1975

7.2| 0h30m| en
Synopsis

When Things Were Rotten is an American situation comedy television series created in 1975 by Mel Brooks and aired for half a season by ABC. A parody of the Robin Hood legend, the series starred Richard Gautier as Robin Hood. Also in the regular cast were Dick Van Patten as Friar Tuck, Bernie Kopell as Alan-a-Dale, Henry Polic II as the Sheriff of Nottingham, Ron Rifkin as Prince John, Misty Rowe as Maid Marian, and David Sabin as Little John. Richard Dimitri played a dual role as identical twin brothers; Renaldo was one of the Merry Men, while Bertram was the Sheriff's right-hand man.

Director

Producted By

Crossbow Productions

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Reviews

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Mischa Redfern I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.
aramis-112-804880 Five years before "Airplane" changed the nature of comedy in the movies, "When Things were Rotten" presented the same anarchic, rapid-fire ambiance on the small screen.From the then-fertile mind of Mel Brooks, this Robin Hood spoof came at a time when television comedy was 1) presented before a live audience, which meant that it was stagy, limited, and had tired laughs from an audience that had already seen several takes of the same lines and possibly an argument about them; and 2) was geared more to advocacy serio-comedy in realistic situations.The creative 60s, which had comedy shows with genii, witches, and monsters, with settings on desert islands, western forts, and even World War II POW camps, had given way to mundane settings with scripts, from the mid to late 70s, that were nothing more than insults piled upon each other.Enter Brooks, co-creator of a successful "Get Smart." It sounded like a good idea: take the Robin Hood legend, the tropes of which everyone knows, give it a good cast, a few plots to act as skeleton on which to place jokes, and pile the jokes on. If you do enough jokes in a short enough space of time some of which are bound to get laughs. Oh, and the sillier, the better. And anachronisms are more joke fodder.Somehow, it misfired. The cast seemed pretty good on paper. Dick Gautier as Robin, Bernie Kopell as Alan-a-dale, Dick van Patten as Friar Tuck, and Misty Rowe -- best known from her skimpy costumes on "Hee Haw" -- as Maid Marion. Rowe is letter-perfect and Gautier was a good choice. But the usually reliable van Patten and Kopell don't seem to have their typical way with lines.For the other actors, Henry Polic II is a good sheriff. Young Ron Rifkin is not good as King John (was this before Brooks met Ron Carey?) In a dual role, as a supporter of the Sheriff and a twin brother in Robin's band, Richard Dimitri is every bit as annoying as Stephen Stucker later became in "Airplane!" only without once being funny in either role (unlike Stucker, who was funny once). David Sabin is Little John in a role that cries out for a Paul L. Smith.The generally dreary proceedings are brightened by the occasional guest shot. A few years before becoming a star in "10" Dudley Moore was particularly amusing in his episode. And he knew how to deliver a line without mugging.Unfortunately, some jokes that might have been amusing in 1975 simply don't translate well in a new century. In one episode Rowe thinks she has a vial of poison but every time she opens it, it says, "Perfume!" This is a take-off from an old Parkay commercial where someone opens its lid and the Parkay tub says "Butter!" So much for topical humor.Of course, there are a few great areas, like Rowe's cleavage, if you enjoy that sort of thing. And Gautier's gung-ho Robin. But the disappointments, such as Kopell's strangely lackluster showing, outnumber the successes. And that's too bad. "When Things were Rotten" was just the show television needed in the dead zone of 1975's comedy landscape. Perhaps that's why supposedly "serious" shows like "Charlie's Angels" and "The Rockford Files" more successfully filled the comedy void, even if they weren't laugh-a-minute.
trobinson32 It killed me that this show was canceled so quickly. I remember laughing my head off during every episode. Most of the other comments have described the premise and the cast, so I'll just describe one of the scenes I remember best. King Richard, who was off at the crusades, was required to set foot on English soil once a year or else lose the crown, so word got out that he was sailing to England. Of course his brother, Prince John, was plotting to prevent the king from reaching shore, while Robin Hood was determined to help the king. At dawn, a ship appears near shore and the king begins wading toward the beach. The prince is then shown running down the beach and then Robin Hood starts running up the beach from the other direction. The camera keeps shifting to each man as they converge. Finally the king reaches the beach and steps on a home plate in the sand and immediately does a U-turn and heads back to the ship while an umpire screams "Safe." Then the prince runs at the umpire and starts to argue. The ump says he was safe and the prince says "Well I say kill the umpire" and pulls out his sword. Then Robin Hood shows up and battles him. Typical Mel Brooks craziness.
gc123517 It was 1975 and I was 11/12 years old when I first saw this program. This show was a comedic version of Robin Hood's adventures. It immediately became my favorite program and I watched it every week. Needless to say, I was very disappointed when it left the air. What is more amazing is that I have never seen it in syndication over the last 30 years. However, thanks to A&E and the internet, I have been able to re-watch this program this past weekend and really enjoyed it.I remembered Dick Gautier as "Hymie" from "Get Smart", but I was surprised to recognize Bernie Kopell as "Seigfried" the second time seeing "WTWR". Frankly, reviewing IMDb's web page shows that many stars and guests from "WTWR" have done prominent work. 2 guests were regulars on "Barney Miller", Prince John was a regular on "Alias", and Dick van Patten appeared in "Robin Hood: Men in Tights". Dick Gautier has been doing voice work on prominent animated series. It's hard to believe he's about 74 years old now.I would encourage anyone who misses this program to check all the actor links on IMDb for this show, and you will be surprised at what the "WTWR" cast has been up to; also, contact A&E and see if they will rebroadcast this show. It would be nice if they included updates on the cast.
Bill-398 I am not certain that anyone will ever see or care about this, but I have not forgotten this series, because it was extremely well done and way ahead of its time. It was one of the funniest tv series that I can recall. Where is anyone who can provide information with regard to it? Surely I am not the only lunatic who thought it was was funny.