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
Directed by	Norman Abbott Bruce Bilson Peter Bonerz Marty Feldman Peter H. Hunt Jerry Paris Coby Ruskin Joshua Shelley
Starring	Richard Dimitri Dick Gautier Bernie Kopell Henry Polic II Ron Rifkin Misty Rowe David Sabin Dick Van Patten
Composer(s)	Artie Butler
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Producer(s)	Mel Brooks Stanley Jacob Norman Steinberg
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Paramount Television
Distributor	CBS Television Distribution
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	September 10 – December 3, 1975

When Things Were Rotten is an American sitcom 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 Dick Gautier (who earlier had played Hymie the Robot in Brooks' Get Smart series) as Robin Hood. Also in the regular cast were Dick Van Patten as Friar Tuck, Bernie Kopell (another Get Smart veteran) as Alan-a-Dale, Henry Polic II as the Sheriff of Nottingham (whose name was Hubert), 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. Brooks again spoofed the Robin Hood legend in his 1993 film Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

One-liners, sight gags and literal humor were hallmarks of the show's style, e.g., complaining villagers, commanded to "Hold your tongues!," obediently reach into their mouths. In another episode, the Sheriff asked to hang the banners, with an immediate cutaway to a husband, a wife, and their two children on a wall, saying "Hi, we're the Banners." There was also occasional breaking of the fourth wall: In one episode, as one of Robin's men (Renaldo) was being interrogated, with an accuser (Little John) asking, "Are you ready to tell that to your maker?", Renaldo turns his head, looks off-camera, and says, "Mel! I'm innocent!"