{{Short description|American sitcom (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 news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/arts/television/borscht-belt-sherwood-forest.amp.html|title=''Borscht Belt Sherwood Forest''|first=Frank|last=DeCaro|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|publisher=[[The New York Times Company]]|issn=0362-4331|oclc=1645522|date=July 19, 2013|access-date=February 19, 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>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/10/26/archives/tv-view-the-worst-television-season-ever-ever-ever-tv-view-the.html|last=Leonard|first=John|title=The Worst Television Season Ever, Ever, Ever|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|publisher=[[The New York Times Company]]|issn=0362-4331|oclc=1645522|date=October 26, 1975|access-date=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/|website=[[DVD Talk]]|publisher=[[Internet Brands]]|access-date=September 3, 2014}}</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>{{cite web|url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/shows/Things-Rotten/4635|title=DVD release info|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150105145051/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/shows/Things-Rotten/4635|archive-date=January 5, 2015|work=[[TVShowsOnDVD.com]]|publisher=[[Paramount Streaming|CBS Interactive]]|access-date=April 10, 2013}}</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 |total_width= auto |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:English-language American television shows]] [[Category:Television shows set in London]] [[Category:Robin Hood parodies]] [[Category:American Broadcasting Company sitcoms]]