When Things Were Rotten

Mel Brooks is one of our true comic geniuses. He was overlooked for many years, but I am glad that he was able to make a comeback with the Broadway version of his original hit film The Producers. He started off in television with Carl Reiner and the 2,000 year old man skits and he also created Get Smart with Don Adams. When Things Were Rotten is another series that he created that I feel has been overlooked. It came along in a really bad tv season and was unjustly cancelled after only about half a season. Dick Gautier, Bernie Kopell, Dick Van Patten, Henry Polic 11 and Misty Rowe all made a great comic team. Unlike tv shows today, this one made you laugh innocently and not feel guilty about it. Mel Brooks has always been so creative and original in everything that he does. He brought that special quality to this series and I only wish that they would show it again. I was stationed in Korea and saw some episodes on videotape. Brooks made a film almost twenty years later in 1993 called Robin Hood: Men In Tights and he used a lot of the stuff that he used on this show (they pointed that out in a review they did of the film).

I don't know if the proper question is "Why do I remember this short-lived series so well, when nobody else has even HEARD of it?" or "With the writing & acting talent behind it, why didn't When Things Were Rotten make it big?"

With Mel Brooks creating & writing the series and some of the top comedic directors of the 1970s behind the camera, it was a hilarious spoof of the Robin Hood legend. All I have seen of the show as an adult are three episodes on video, with guests Sid Ceasar, Dudley Moore and John Byner. These episodes, though, are as funny as I remember them being as a 12 & 13-year old.

Start with the theme song. This is one of the classic 1960s-70s TV themes... "They laughed, they loved, they fought, they drank, they JUMPED a lot of FENCES... stole from the rich, gave to the poor -- except what they kept for EXPENSES!" :o)

What about the cast? Well, Dick Van Patten (Friar Tuck) and Bernie Kopell need no introduction. Dick Gautier, who played Robin Hood, never quite made the big time. He did turn in good work as the robot Hymie on "Get Smart," though, and is solid as the straight man for countless bafoons in Sherwood Forest. Misty Rowe is an absolute sexkitten and quite funny at the same time, as the airheaded Maid Marian. Richard Dimitri, Hnry Polic, II and David Sabin are also great -- as are the guest stars.

If you ever get a chance to rent or buy the video (or if Nick-at-Nite or one of the other cable channels comes to its senses & begins running these for the first time since 1975), be sure & give it a view! It's Mel Brooks humor at its best!

I too cannot understand why this series has not been re-run. I was only about six when I used to watch it on Saturday afternoons with my mum who absolutely loved the show. I would love to see it again, this time round at 31 I might get more out of it!

I only give it an 8 because I don't recall too much, I mean, it's been a LONG time since I've seen it and I fully DO recall loving this show. I was lucky enough to catch an episode on, I believe YouTube a year or so ago and it brought back great memories. What lead me to YouTube was, after all the years that passed, I still recalled almost the entire theme song so, knowing you can find almost anything imaginable there, I went to see if it was there and if I had the lyrics right. I was about 95% right. If I recalled the theme, it had to have been a great show. Seeing that one episode confirmed it.

It sadly was a classic example of idiotic TV executives who have no right being in those positions, making a decision that is just plain stupid. It should have run at LEAST a full season, if not several. It just never had time to grow and hit it's stride, and that is a damn shame.

This show ran in the fall of '75 (When Things Were Funnier). I remember laughing a bunch at Mel Brooks' latest attempt at TV humor, sitting with my dear old dad (who was roaring on the couch). Alas, it didn't even last until Mel's beloved Hannakuh that fall before ABC gave it the yank.

He revisited some of the material with his similarly themed movie which came out in '93, but it wasn't quite as biting at this show. The comic cast was way better here.

I'd sure pony up if it ever showed again on DVD. Mel, if you're out there, give it some thought.