The rare short-lived 1975 series When Things Were Rotten is coming to dvd in November. :cool: :cool: :cool:

The rare short-lived 1975 series When Things Were Rotten is coming to dvd in November. :cool: :cool: :cool:


Source?, Not that I don't trust you, it's just that this is without a doubt my favorite short-lived series of all time and I've always wanted an official release although I do have it on VHS taped from the Comedy Channel.

Source?, Not that I don't trust you, it's just that this is without a doubt my favorite short-lived series of all time and I've always wanted an official release although I do have it on VHS taped from the Comedy Channel.
This was reported yesterday on tvshowsondvd.com. They reported that Amazon.com was taking pre-orders for a November release. They updated that story today to say that Amazon is no longer taking pre-orders for this title because Paramount hasn't officially announced it yet.

This was reported yesterday on tvshowsondvd.com

Might have known. :rolleyes:

Oh, I just read the part that there's no more pre-orders. Well, its still coming, eventually!! :) :)

Any updates on this series?

I remember WTWR. Although I had to look it up to refamiliarise myself with who was in it, and I didn't remember that it was written by Mel Brooks. I remember Bernie Kopell from Love Boat being in it, and the two twins, one who was good and one who was bad. (Bertram I think his name was.) And Dick Van Patten as Friar Tuck.

I'd love to see this again too!

Any updates on this series?


Here's your update. The Powers That Be took a look at it and realized the show was actually not very good and nixed the release.

I am a big fan Mr. Mel Brooks, and I look forward to adding this important series to my 'Get Smart' collection together with his inspired theatricals THE PRODUCERS, THE TWELVE CHAIRS, BLAZING SADDLES, SILENT MOVIE, HIGH ANXIETY and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. So much the fan of Mr. Brooks am I that I even went out into the collectors marketplace to purchase a dusty VHS of an '80s unbought pilot that Mr. Brooks wrote called 'The Nutt House'.

'When Things Were Rotten' did OK in the ratings (a 15.7HH average) and was replaced at mid-season by 'The Bionic Woman' spinoff from 'The Six Million Dollar Man'. It was part of a fall season of shows that Mr. Fred Silverman inherited from his predecessor heading up ABC, and the only one he held on to was 'Welcome Back, Kotter' -- I've long maintained that 'When Things Were Rotten', 'On the Rocks' and 'Irwin Allen's Swiss Family Robinson' were three series that merited additional seasons. Mr. Silverman chose 'On The Rocks' for a full season pickup leading off Mondays instead of 'When Things Are Rotten', and it, together with 'Irwin Allen's Swiss Family Robinson' both stayed on the bubble until the end of their maiden seasons.

What distinguished Mr. Brooks in the '60s and '70s was his ability to find humour in turning stale genres (musicals, westerns, silents, horror films) upside down with his zany send-ups. No subject was too sacred to escape his savagely mocking pen.

I would love to see Mr. Brooks experience the same renaissance that Miss Betty White has enjoyed and make a return to television, if only to create yet another blockbuster series. I think he has the mojo to create a superb procedural satire-sendup or perhaps even something that knocks reality off its perch.

I'm sure the 'When Things are Rotten' DVD delays are centred on the legal time needed to clear permissions and find an appropriate marketing window, and nothing more.

Nutt House was picked up by NBC. In fact, it was on their 1989 fall schedule. Gone after a month, yes, but it did go to series.

I'm sure the 'When Things are Rotten' DVD delays are centred on the legal time needed to clear permissions and find an appropriate marketing window, and nothing more.


You go ahead and keep thinking that. Get back to me in a few years when its still not out. Your man Mel is the one who looked at them, realized they sucked, and nixed a release. But you go on and keep believing what you want.

Nutt House was picked up by NBC. In fact, it was on their 1989 fall schedule. Gone after a month, yes, but it did go to series.
yea, I remember it. It was on wednesday nights at 9:30 right before "QUANTUM LEAP".

A number of the gags from When Things Were Rotten wound up being recycled in Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Why wouldn't Mel reclaim some of that, anyway?

The long awaited When Things Were Rotten is finally coming to DVD! It will soon be available through Amazon's Create-a-Space Program.
Announced today at TVSODVD.com.

Here is the link
http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Things-Rotten-The-DVD-Edition/18266

I am excited about this one!

This show was bad in 1975 when it originally aired, 38 years hasn't improved it any. However, I am curious to see the show again so I might decide to buy the DVD. If I recall, the series was inspired from Monty Python And The Holy Grail, a movie that was popular in theatres during that time.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Du Mont June 11, 2011
I'm sure the 'When Things are Rotten' DVD delays are centred on the legal time needed to clear permissions and find an appropriate marketing window, and nothing more.

Read more: http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=272233#ixzz2R47N6Skt
You go ahead and keep thinking that. Get back to me in a few years when its still not out. Your man Mel is the one who looked at them, realized they sucked, and nixed a release. But you go on and keep believing what you want.

Well, a few years have passed, and I'm just getting back to you now that permissions have been cleared and a marketing window has been opened to let you know that it will soon be out bencasey. :)

This show was bad in 1975 when it originally aired, 38 years hasn't improved it any.

That's a freaking joke if I've ever heard one. :lol:

The show was hilarious and my opinion of it hasn't changed from the time I saw it during it's original run at age 11 and now at 48. This and the The Six Million Dollar Man were the only 2 shows that I ever begged my parents to let me stay up past my bedtime and watch.

That's a freaking joke if I've ever heard one. :lol:

The show was hilarious and my opinion of it hasn't changed from the time I saw it during it's original run at age 11 and now at 48. This and the The Six Million Dollar Man were the only 2 shows that I ever begged my parents to let me stay up past my bedtime and watch.
I agree. It was a great show. I haven't seen it since it first aired but I watched it every week.

If it was such a great show, it wouldn't have been cancelled after 13 episodes and only 3 months on the air. The series was poorly conceived and poorly written, the one thing it had going for it was 3 good actors were in the cast, Dick Gautier, Bernie Kopell, and Dick Van Patten. But despite the talent, they were given absolutely horrendous material to work with. Back in the day when short lived shows like this were cancelled, they were considered to be poor TV and written off as failures. Now years later, when studios plan to release failed shows like this on DVD, they try to put a positive spin on it and now suddenly these shows have gone from flops and failures to "lost classics". I guess they will say anything to try and sell a DVD. :lol:

According to Tim Brooks and Earle Marshs' Directory to Prime Time TV Shows, critics applauded Mel Brook's WTWR as one of the most inventive shows of the season, but viewers paid no attention to it and and it was soon cancelled.

Seems like another series that wasn't given a chance.

The length of time that a show runs has no bearing on how great it is. There have been plenty of shows that had short runs but were pretty good. That was more true in the 70's when there was only 3 networks and people had to watch their shows live. WTWR went up against Little House on the Praire and Tony Orlando & dawn, two of the more popular shows of the time.

The length of time that a show runs has no bearing on how great it is. There have been plenty of shows that had short runs but were pretty good. That was more true in the 70's when there was only 3 networks and people had to watch their shows live. WTWR went up against Little House on the Praire and Tony Orlando & dawn, two of the more popular shows of the time.
dude, I think you mean the 50s; not the 70s. In the 70s there were 7 channels and shows weren't done live anymore (except for SNL) like they were in the 50s when there were only 3 channels.

dude, I think you mean the 50s; not the 70s. In the 70s there were 7 channels and shows weren't done live anymore (except for SNL) like they were in the 50s when there were only 3 channels.

By watching live, I think they meant you watched the show while it was airing and not like later on when you could record them and watch later.

By watching live, I think they meant you watched the show while it was airing and not like later on when you could record them and watch later.
Exactly. That's what I meant. You had to watch the shows on the night they originally aired. You could not record shows to watch later. The competition had a lot to do with some good shows going unnoticed.