The Ropers (1979-1980) was a very short-lived spin off of Threes Company. Here is the intro showing that Jeffrey Tambor must have been born as a balding middle aged guy.
I like how they pulled back too far on Tambor's shot and revealed the edge of the backdrop, but apparently just said 'screw it' and didn't bother re-shooting it.
"Ah, it's outside the edge of those tiny round tubes those poor saps in Alda, Oklahoma will be watching this trainwreck on..." is probably an exaggerated version of what their mindset was.
That "cute and wholesome" lady is Patty McCormack and she played a sweet murderous psychopathic 8 year old named Rhoda Penmark in "The Bad Seed"--she was awesome 😋
It's so hard to not feel sorry for Norman Fell. Many secondary characters would have jumped at the chance to have their own series. But Norman was smart enough to know that a spinoff could fail miserably, and he was happy with the part he had. I did like Don Knotts on "Three's Company." And I even think DK made some improvements. But I still feel sorry for Norman Fell.
He even asked them that if the show were to be cancelled after I think either a year or two if he could come back to Three's Company. The execs kept the show on life support just to fulfill a contractual obligation so Fell couldn't come back.
@@Savoots This is what I would have liked to have seen. Maybe Norman Fell could have been rehired as a bartender at the REGAL BEAGLE. He could have softened towards Jack and been almost fatherly. Maybe every week wouldn't have worked. But certainly 6-8 episodes a season would have been nice.
Three’s Company went on for 4 more years. Norman and Audra would have made likely a couple of million each had they continued. Instead this show got cancelled after 1 year. That had to hurt.
@@richardandre866 They did re-appear on one more episode of Three's Company after this got the boot in 1980; they guest-starred on the season 5 episode "Night of the Ropers," which aired on March 17, 1981.
I work in housekeeping, and Norman Fell dancing with that plunger goes through my mind every time I'm cleaning a bathroom somewhere. Thinking about it (especially that creepy smile) makes me want to burst out laughing, but I hold it in because I don't feel like having to explain that laughter to my co-workers and supervisor. 🤣
@@pontifixmax there were only 3 networks most people could not afford cable and there was no streaming. Oh and I think they did not drug test in workplaces. So the networks had a LOT of leeway---and this!!
I can clearly tell that this theme song has that Sesame Street vibe to it, and it comes as no surprise that The Ropers theme song is composed by Joe Raposo; the same guy who composed music for other shows such as Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and Three's Company.
What was crazy was on some of these episodes, Mrs. Roper was seriously talking about trying to have a baby with Stanley. The woman was over 60 years old. Who wrote this stuff?
Yeah, I was pretty much thinking the same thing. Funny but my memory of this from when I was 12 yrs old, I thought the theme music was a bit more "substantial" than that. Sometimes opening the time vault and going back as an adult is a real let down, compared to what I thought I remembered.
He was born in 1944 (according to imbd and wikipedia). A number pre-Boomers (back then) looked like that (or old, but with dark/greying hair). Really weird how men (even that young) looked in those days. It was silly to look like that, at 35, even back then.
I'll concede that the Ropers was flawed, but I still enjoyed it. I think Norman Fell and Audra Lindley were good actors, and I thought the chemistry between the two was great. They didn't play as well against Anne and Jeffrey Brooks as they did with Janet, Chrissy, and Jack, but they were still fun to watch. I also love how some of the stuff they did at the time probably wouldn't pass muster today, like when Mr. Roper gave little David a beer! I also love Mr. Roper's response when Helen says "Cheviot Hills! Doesn't that sound lovely?" and he responds "So does dysentery, until you know what it means"...
The show did good in the ratings for the first while, until the idiotic network 'switched' it to a different time slot. Then the ratings took a nosedive after that -- unless that's what the network wanted to happen maybe because they didn't like the show themselves after all. Who knows. But leave it to studio execs to screw things up. Numbers of good shows ended up being canceled because of the shifts to different time slots they didn't belong in. That could be a network's loop-hole to get rid of a program they don't like. IDK.
Norman Fell's fixed shit eating grin in his intro shot screams both "I do not want to be doing this" and "Thank Christ I have steady work for six months" at once. The UK version ended in 1980 with a cinema film so bad it killed the lead actress.
He didn't want to do the Ropers spin off. He thought they had a good thing on Three's Company and didn't want to risk that for their own show. So they told him that if The Ropers didn't last a season they could come back to Three's Company, so he agreed. When The Ropers got cancelled he asked when they could come back to Three's Company and they said "oh we said if it didn't last a season. It made one season so you're sol".
Norman Fell was concerned about leaving a top rated series for a spinoff and had it in his contract that if this show flopped in the first season, he could return to Three's Company. Unfortunately, this show went on for a season and a half, and they wouldn't let him (them) come back to the original show. I think the strongest Three's Company ever was was before The Ropers left. And then after Suzanne Somers left, it was the beginning of the end.
At 0:28 you can see on the right that the camera zoomed out too far and caught the edge of the paper backdrop, and then tries to coolly zoom back in-but it's too late! Wipe to the next slide.
My father used to watch this for Norman Fell. I know why now. He had an unrealistic expectation that the Rat Pack were going to guest star on an episode!
I didn't care for the Vicky Bradford character or her dad. Didn't care for Phillip either. Three's Company was coming to an end and these characters did nothing to enhance the show. I have always loved the Ropers and would like to see the spin off, not just in bits and pieces.
@@mainecoon6514 I absolutely could not stand the syrupy and dull Vicky or the actress who played her. Her father was a jerk. Phillip was a dud. LOVED the Ropers. BIG mistake to get rid of them. Altho Don Knots' first year with Ann Wedgeworth for half a season was great. Then they made him stupider than Barney Fife ever was. And getting rid of Lana? Why? She was hilarious!
I was just going to say the same thing. The last two seasons of Three's Company sucked, especially the finale. I saw every episode about 7-8 years ago (one of the digital channels aired it).
Alright gang here's the pitch see.... its friday 4:58pm, and it's a long weekend.. we have to shoot this opening sequence.. we have 60 seconds of tape left on this spool, and I don't want to open a new one unless we know this shows gone a be a hit!. Just stand in front of the screen and give it the hutzpah! Annnnnnnnnd ACTION! *awkwardness ensues*
Pluto TV started to air Three's Company 24/7 about a year ago. Then just about a week ago they finally started to air both The Ropers and Three's a Crowd. from what I've seen so far is they air the first seasons of Three's Company (with the Ropers). After the Ropers leave, they start airing all the Ropers episodes back to back. When that ends they go back to where they left off with the rest of Three's Company. then after the final episode they continue with Three's a Crowd and then start all over again.
i love everything about this. yes - i even love how this intro is unapologetically _janky as hell_ too bad 'the ropers' didn't gain traction; i remember my mind being blown (as a kid), in the late 1980s, when i learned of this spinoff's existence
@horrorflickguy (yeah bruv... ...nothing but love for donnie¹ himself, over here, but.. ..the writers of the show, in my opinion, didn't make mr. furley a _terribly_ appealing character audra and norman were much better utilized) from what i understand, they basically doomed the ropers and three's company both to fail? though, technically, i suppose everything _really_ started falling apart when the execs' misogyny (and backstabbing) forced suzanne's hand and eventually forced her off production dammit man, i really wish things hadn't turned out as they had it was really sad too, how the Big Ups even turned joyce and john against suzanne i suppose though, in general.. ..because of how things played out, quite a few people ended up getting screwed over i loved three's company, as a kid - but joyce (especially) and suzanne never did become household _staples,_ and while john ~rest his soul~ did do a little better for himself than the ladies, he didn't become a household name either audra and norman's potential were squandered, as were the potentials of their spinoff's castmates alas if there is a heaven, maybe we can all meet them there some day ¹ with his perpetual ascot
@horrorflickguy yeah I would have loved to see the ropers come to threes company after their show hot canceled.i would have loved to see their interplay and reactions to and with Cindy and teri.
Our local station showed The Ropers during the summer of '86 to give the Three's Company reruns a break. They even called it "Three's Company's Friends: The Ropers" and used an instrumental version of the later Three's Company theme. I thought it was "meh".
Those first 6 seconds make me laugh my ass off every time I hear it. Thanks a lot, Jimmy; it's been 3 years and I cannot get this out of my fucking head! It really is doofus music.
I loved this show! It's too bad it wasn't given more time to gain an audience, and it's a shame that it was shuffled around in the schedule to the point that they lost what ever audience they gained because they couldn't find the show.
The network changed the timeslot of the show, and it lost a lot of audience. Even Norman went to complain about this, but to no avail. It was as if they set the show up to fail...very sad.
This screams 1979. The kids bowl cut, the cheesy theme song, low budget credits, Patty with her tennis racket (Tennis was the popular sport of the 70's and 80's along with racquetball). Jeffrey Tambor etc...
The late 70s and early 80s is almost like it's own decade. It's kinda bipolar like a 4 year old kid. One minute they are acting like they are 10 years old and the next they are acting like a baby. In 1979 at times it felt very 70s and other times it felt very 80s. The tennis look was totally 80s and Tambor's suit was totally 70s.
I agree. Fell had a dryer, subtler approach to humor than Knotts. You can tell the spin off was going to suck just based on this pathetic intro. The other two mistakes of Three's Company was turning Chrissy into a complete, unfunny idiot. I liked the sassier Chrissy of Seasons 1 and 2. And then of course there was Lana...
misplacednewyawker According to her, she asked to leave the show. She got some good comic material on the camping episode and, as she saw it, Joyce and Suzanne felt threatened by a third woman, and after that she was reduced to small bit interludes until she asked to be let go.
Three's Company is on a TV where I live and just over the past couple of days I saw the first two episodes of this show because they are included as part of the original series in syndication. I thought they were hysterical and much better than anything in the final season of Three's Company! Granted I haven't seen anything else but if the first two were any indication, I can't understand why they only lasted two seasons. I think this could have been among the most successful spin off's ever had they been able to keep up that level.
This was actually a funny show and certainly better than anything on today. The pilot was absolutely hilarious and so was the one where the three's company trio guest starred. And it did very well in the ratings for the first few episodes.
From what norman said he agreed to do it with the term that the show would run for 1 year as a trial, and if it did poorly they where guaranteed to return back to "threes company", as long as it bombed in under 1 year. Season 1 did great. Then season 2 bombed most of the season so they where cancelled. I think ABC felt mr Farley worked better and didn't wanna have 3 landlords so they just let the 1 year finish so they where no longer under contract. I wish this had done better
I don't know if anybody else has caught this...the Pluto Streaming App runs Ropers randomly on the Three's Company 24/7 channel now which is nice..I watched the opening on Pluto and realized something was off as I didn't notice the side of the set being visible anymore on the right. Well as it turns out the opening has been chopped in half!!! You only get about 30 seconds of the opening theme...what they did was cut each character's little activity out severely so you don't get what you used to. I think the shows themselves are edited too as we probably are seeing syndicated versions with some chops to add more commercials...it may also be sped up also by a few percent to get in an additional ad.
I just remember that they were trying to make this condo complex out to be so ritzy and posh. And it wasn’t. They had this cheezy hot tub which was tiny and shared by the neighbors.
what's so sad about this show, Norman Fell had a deal in place with the producers that if the spin-off lasted one year or less he could come back to three's company. and the show lasted 1 1/2 years just enough to screw him over. (although he and Audra Lindley did make at least one guest star appearance after)
that's true, but a deal's a deal. maybe they could have worked him in as a recurring character but honestly, it worked out for the better IMO, I liked the Furley episodes more than the ones with the Ropers.
The Ropers were great! I miss them even now. I guess it was a matter of taste but to me the Ropers were hilarious! They should've stayed with Three's Company.
As I understand it, Norman didn’t really want a spinoff but Audra wanted to jump at the chance at it. There was a claus in their contract that allowed them to return to Three’s Company if a certain condition was met. Not sure what it was, but that condition was not met and they were sent packing, except for the one guest star appearance they made.
Steve Garza The clause was that if the show only lasted a season, they could return. The show lasted two seasons. Even though one of those seasons was short and only was six-episodes long, the Rogers didn’t return to TC aside from a single guest appearance. Don Knotts had transitioned into the show without negatively affecting the ratings and they were paying him less than Fell and Lindsey put together, so it didn’t make financial sense to bring them back either.
You watch the Three's Company intro and it's charming, delightful and fun. You watch The Ropers intro and it's drab, goofy and devoid of joy. They really didn't even bother with this show.
The problem with this show was there was no arc to it. The Ropers were a couple that were past their middle age, had no kids, no relatives, siblings..etc. How can they give them their own show based on that. So once you take away Jack and the girls, this show had no chance. Their condo neighbors added nothing to help this show’s problem.
I had no idea Charlie Brown's teacher was so musically talented.
ROFL! 😂
“We need a theme song for our show”
*stomps on ketchup packets while farting*
seriously. this is super lame.
lmaooooooooooooo
Comment sounds very Peter Griffinish to me.
I like how they pulled back too far on Tambor's shot and revealed the edge of the backdrop, but apparently just said 'screw it' and didn't bother re-shooting it.
I'd be surprised if more than one pot of coffee was consumed in making this
That's following the Ed Wood filmmaking manual for you.
"Ah, it's outside the edge of those tiny round tubes those poor saps in Alda, Oklahoma will be watching this trainwreck on..." is probably an exaggerated version of what their mindset was.
Hahahahahahaha. I saw that too! Lmao
@@kz1000psI presume it wasn't coffee. But pot laced with something lo
There’s just something really cute and wholesome about the tennis lady. That “Ohhh! I didn’t actually throw the ball!” smile.
WHOLESOME... 😑😑😑😑
WHOLESOME... 😑😑😑😑
That "cute and wholesome" lady is Patty McCormack and she played a sweet murderous psychopathic 8 year old named Rhoda Penmark in "The Bad Seed"--she was awesome 😋
Definitely one for the wank bank.
She is a cutie.so enticing.
The first 5 seconds sound like Charlie Brown's teacher speaking while a burner on a gas stove was on.
Trombone sound effects never get old.
TnseWlms hahaha
That's is Funny. I laughed at this comment while listening to this...😂😂😂
ruclips.net/video/63WmKc3CnX0/видео.html
This comment is gold!
It's so hard to not feel sorry for Norman Fell. Many secondary characters would have jumped at the chance to have their own series. But Norman was smart enough to know that a spinoff could fail miserably, and he was happy with the part he had. I did like Don Knotts on "Three's Company." And I even think DK made some improvements. But I still feel sorry for Norman Fell.
He even asked them that if the show were to be cancelled after I think either a year or two if he could come back to Three's Company. The execs kept the show on life support just to fulfill a contractual obligation so Fell couldn't come back.
@@Savoots This is what I would have liked to have seen. Maybe Norman Fell could have been rehired as a bartender at the REGAL BEAGLE. He could have softened towards Jack and been almost fatherly. Maybe every week wouldn't have worked. But certainly 6-8 episodes a season would have been nice.
Three’s Company went on for 4 more years. Norman and Audra would have made likely a couple of million each had they continued. Instead this show got cancelled after 1 year. That had to hurt.
@@richardandre866 They did re-appear on one more episode of Three's Company after this got the boot in 1980; they guest-starred on the season 5 episode "Night of the Ropers," which aired on March 17, 1981.
Your comment made me go to Wikipedia, I always thought Don Knotts played Mr. Roper.
Mrs. Roper was the most iconic character in classic tv history. She sticks out more than any other character ever invented.
@Schrodinger's Snuffleupagus Alice Kramden.
Except for Mr. Roper!
Mrs roper is one of my favorites.but that stuck up sister of hers I favor better.i love those grand dame characters they Crack me up.
She was a low key version of Peggy Bundy
What about Ted Baxter's son from the Mary Tyler Moore show? Now there was a star.
Opie and Anthony brought me here.
Same tsss more like string or sumthing
"Stay tuned, shithead, the Ropers are comin' on!"
This is DOOFUS MUSIC!
"WA! WA! WA! WA! WA!"
“This song ruins lives”.
I watch this over and over again with the morbid fascination of one seeing a car crash.
agreed.
The toilet plunger is amazing
Audra Lindley seems like she would’ve been a pretty cool lady to hang around with.
I love how at :31 they throw in the “come and knock on our door motif”. What a great and catchy tune!
😂😂😂😂
I hadn't noticed that, that's so cool!
This theme song gets stuck in my head and keeps me awake at night whenever I hear it!
Same, and I’ve never seen a single episode
I work in housekeeping, and Norman Fell dancing with that plunger goes through my mind every time I'm cleaning a bathroom somewhere.
Thinking about it (especially that creepy smile) makes me want to burst out laughing, but I hold it in because I don't feel like having to explain that laughter to my co-workers and supervisor. 🤣
Boy do I remember this show, and I wish I could forget it.
you could tell the network really didn't give a crap about the success of the show based on this intro, horrible
Yeah, that's perceptive of you. The intro is beyond lame.
@@toddcraig9035roper dancing like a little girl with a plunger. DAFUQ man it's like they wanted it as bad as it could be
Exactly!
It was the 70s. There was no frame of reference. Everything was lame.
@@pontifixmax there were only 3 networks most people could not afford cable and there was no streaming. Oh and I think they did not drug test in workplaces. So the networks had a LOT of leeway---and this!!
I can clearly tell that this theme song has that Sesame Street vibe to it, and it comes as no surprise that The Ropers theme song is composed by Joe Raposo; the same guy who composed music for other shows such as Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and Three's Company.
so, isn't this great?
No, it most certainly is not. It sucks a bunch of peckas or sumthin'.
Fawk yeah!
This ruins peoples lives or sumtin tssssssss
This is going greeeeaaat.
What the hell were they thinking?
One of my favorite shows i like at 30 they play a small part of there's company theme Very funny show thanks.
"Stay tuned shithead the Ropers are coming on!"
Lol
SO, ISN'T THIS GREAT?
😂😂
This one line is funnier then anything ever said on this awful sitcom lol
What was crazy was on some of these episodes, Mrs. Roper was seriously talking about trying to have a baby with Stanley. The woman was over 60 years old. Who wrote this stuff?
0:06 "Money" shot.
Norman Fell and that smile, as a kid I use to laugh and laugh and laugh when he would look a the camera smiling after busting on Helen.
Damn they have nice moves
ikr
Haha
I can hear the producers/ writers saying Okay we don't really have a into so dance while we play some crappy music.
It's funny if you play it in 2x
I'd always make my mother watch Mr. Roper dancing with the plunger.
We only have $20 to spend, can we make a theme song?
The theme music just screams: This show is going to bomb!!!
Yeah, I was pretty much thinking the same thing. Funny but my memory of this from when I was 12 yrs old, I thought the theme music was a bit more "substantial" than that. Sometimes opening the time vault and going back as an adult is a real let down, compared to what I thought I remembered.
This tv intro just reeked of suckiness
Sure...what should we do with the remaining $19?
Use it to get a ball for the kid. That should only set us back $2.
This is the music that plays when you shit your pants
And you do the waddle of shame to the terlet
Poor Norman Fell. His look at 0:18 is truly a look of "what the fuck am I doing?"
+TheZoidberg312 Interestingly, the show actually did well for a short while. The problems came when they started moving the show to different times.
How fuckin old is Jeffery tambor?! He looked middle aged back then!
He was an old geezer back then.
He was 35 at the time of filming.
He was born in 1944 (according to imbd and wikipedia). A number pre-Boomers (back then) looked like that (or old, but with dark/greying hair). Really weird how men (even that young) looked in those days. It was silly to look like that, at 35, even back then.
Imagine Mr. Furley with his own spinoff
Now that would have worked Don Knotts would have been hilarious
I'll concede that the Ropers was flawed, but I still enjoyed it. I think Norman Fell and Audra Lindley were good actors, and I thought the chemistry between the two was great. They didn't play as well against Anne and Jeffrey Brooks as they did with Janet, Chrissy, and Jack, but they were still fun to watch. I also love how some of the stuff they did at the time probably wouldn't pass muster today, like when Mr. Roper gave little David a beer! I also love Mr. Roper's response when Helen says "Cheviot Hills! Doesn't that sound lovely?" and he responds "So does dysentery, until you know what it means"...
The show did good in the ratings for the first while, until the idiotic network 'switched' it to a different time slot. Then the ratings took a nosedive after that -- unless that's what the network wanted to happen maybe because they didn't like the show themselves after all. Who knows. But leave it to studio execs to screw things up. Numbers of good shows ended up being canceled because of the shifts to different time slots they didn't belong in. That could be a network's loop-hole to get rid of a program they don't like. IDK.
I remember watching this as a kid and thinking "Where the heck is Jack!?"
Without a doubt the cheesiest theme ever.
David Sukenick Haha ikr
Norman Fell's fixed shit eating grin in his intro shot screams both "I do not want to be doing this" and "Thank Christ I have steady work for six months" at once. The UK version ended in 1980 with a cinema film so bad it killed the lead actress.
Well that and the booze.
@@jakebond2294 "You bin on da BOOZE again!"
He didn't want to do the Ropers spin off. He thought they had a good thing on Three's Company and didn't want to risk that for their own show. So they told him that if The Ropers didn't last a season they could come back to Three's Company, so he agreed. When The Ropers got cancelled he asked when they could come back to Three's Company and they said "oh we said if it didn't last a season. It made one season so you're sol".
George and Mildred was pretty decent, poor Yootha Joyce drank herself to death
@@Logan_Baron that’s so fucked up.
My most prominent nightmare is that I'm stuck on an elevator for an extended amount of time, and this music is playing on an endless loop.
Those two should NEVER of left Three’s Company. When this spin-off flopped, those two were screwed.
of left?
Norman Fell was concerned about leaving a top rated series for a spinoff and had it in his contract that if this show flopped in the first season, he could return to Three's Company. Unfortunately, this show went on for a season and a half, and they wouldn't let him (them) come back to the original show. I think the strongest Three's Company ever was was before The Ropers left. And then after Suzanne Somers left, it was the beginning of the end.
@@jimmyk5769 As I remember I think the Ropers did come back as I remember they had scenes with Furley and Suzanne Somers was already gone.
@@willisapril That was a single episode..."Night of the Ropers."
@@jimmyk5769 Actually after Suzanne left, the show's ratings continued doing great.
This is going to be my wrestling entrance theme song 🤗🙃😳😬
Hmmm, are you going up against Snuffleupagus? 😁😁😁😁😁
At 0:28 you can see on the right that the camera zoomed out too far and caught the edge of the paper backdrop, and then tries to coolly zoom back in-but it's too late! Wipe to the next slide.
My father used to watch this for Norman Fell. I know why now. He had an unrealistic expectation that the Rat Pack were going to guest star on an episode!
I lived through the 80s never knowing this existed
And you're better off for that lol
Me too.
I want this as my ringtone
you can make it so if you haven't already!
i was just thinking the same thing myself actually
I just love these spin-offs!!
This was not a bad show. Fell and Lindley are always a joy.This show was far better than the last episodes of Three's Company from like late 1982-1984
I didn't care for the Vicky Bradford character or her dad. Didn't care for Phillip either. Three's Company was coming to an end and these characters did nothing to enhance the show. I have always loved the Ropers and would like to see the spin off, not just in bits and pieces.
@@mainecoon6514 I absolutely could not stand the syrupy and dull Vicky or the actress who played her. Her father was a jerk. Phillip was a dud. LOVED the Ropers. BIG mistake to get rid of them. Altho Don Knots' first year with Ann Wedgeworth for half a season was great. Then they made him stupider than Barney Fife ever was. And getting rid of Lana? Why? She was hilarious!
Tambor was quite funny in it.
Three's company wouldnt have ended if the ropers had been there
I was just going to say the same thing. The last two seasons of Three's Company sucked, especially the finale. I saw every episode about 7-8 years ago (one of the digital channels aired it).
Alright gang here's the pitch see.... its friday 4:58pm, and it's a long weekend.. we have to shoot this opening sequence.. we have 60 seconds of tape left on this spool, and I don't want to open a new one unless we know this shows gone a be a hit!. Just stand in front of the screen and give it the hutzpah!
Annnnnnnnnd ACTION!
*awkwardness ensues*
much better with lil yimmys laugh behind it
WHEEZE
Pluto TV started to air Three's Company 24/7 about a year ago. Then just about a week ago they finally started to air both The Ropers and Three's a Crowd. from what I've seen so far is they air the first seasons of Three's Company (with the Ropers). After the Ropers leave, they start airing all the Ropers episodes back to back. When that ends they go back to where they left off with the rest of Three's Company. then after the final episode they continue with Three's a Crowd and then start all over again.
Whoa it's Patty McCormack, the original Bad Girl. LOL
That’s why I checked out this video . I found out “Rhoda Penmark” was on The Ropers lol
@@shane802
Oh really.
i love everything about this.
yes - i even love how this intro is unapologetically _janky as hell_
too bad 'the ropers' didn't gain traction; i remember my mind being blown (as a kid), in the late 1980s, when i learned of this spinoff's existence
@horrorflickguy (yeah bruv...
...nothing but love for donnie¹ himself, over here, but..
..the writers of the show, in my opinion, didn't make mr. furley a _terribly_ appealing character
audra and norman were much better utilized)
from what i understand, they basically doomed the ropers and three's company both to fail?
though, technically, i suppose everything _really_ started falling apart when the execs' misogyny (and backstabbing) forced suzanne's hand and eventually forced her off production
dammit man, i really wish things hadn't turned out as they had
it was really sad too, how the Big Ups even turned joyce and john against suzanne
i suppose though, in general..
..because of how things played out, quite a few people ended up getting screwed over
i loved three's company, as a kid - but joyce (especially) and suzanne never did become household _staples,_ and while john ~rest his soul~ did do a little better for himself than the ladies, he didn't become a household name either
audra and norman's potential were squandered, as were the potentials of their spinoff's castmates
alas
if there is a heaven, maybe we can all meet them there some day
¹ with his perpetual ascot
@horrorflickguy yeah I would have loved to see the ropers come to threes company after their show hot canceled.i would have loved to see their interplay and reactions to and with Cindy and teri.
I love when Norman Fell opened the show, Audra would dance after that and she'd hit him as he tried to pull her away.
They were really saving money on that intro 😂
I still enjoy watching the Ropers....love all of them amazing actors and actresses they are very funny!
I bought the whole series on ioffer for $6.
WOW....only $6 how lucky!
I thought so too!
Our local station showed The Ropers during the summer of '86 to give the Three's Company reruns a break. They even called it "Three's Company's Friends: The Ropers" and used an instrumental version of the later Three's Company theme. I thought it was "meh".
Ours did the same. They also threw Three’s a Crowd in there, retitled “Three’s Company Too” and also using the Three’s Company instrumental theme.
Those first 6 seconds make me laugh my ass off every time I hear it. Thanks a lot, Jimmy; it's been 3 years and I cannot get this out of my fucking head! It really is doofus music.
Lol same here it's so zany and it sounds like something from the Muppets
It was written by Joe Raposo, who also wrote music for Sesame Street.
I love fun music.
Doofus, as in, the bucktoothed nerdy guy with the beanie hat with the propeller on top, etc. 😁😁😁🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓
“Stay tuned, SH**HEAD, the ROPERS are coming up!”
- Lil Yimmy Norton
Jim Norton is still the GOAT
Jim Norton is a legend.
I've been Ropered
Tsssssssssss fawk yeah
Yeah at 0:30 u can her that Three's Company theme. I loved the show and it was HILARIOUS!
I loved this show! It's too bad it wasn't given more time to gain an audience, and it's a shame that it was shuffled around in the schedule to the point that they lost what ever audience they gained because they couldn't find the show.
I don't see what's so wrong with this lol.. I loved the ropers....
Same...
The network changed the timeslot of the show, and it lost a lot of audience. Even Norman went to complain about this, but to no avail. It was as if they set the show up to fail...very sad.
I also love this show and I watch it
They must have hired Hollywood's top choreographer to put this together.
This screams 1979. The kids bowl cut, the cheesy theme song, low budget credits, Patty with her tennis racket (Tennis was the popular sport of the 70's and 80's along with racquetball). Jeffrey Tambor etc...
Yes, this series aired on ABC from March 13, 1979 until May 15, 1980.
The late 70s and early 80s is almost like it's own decade. It's kinda bipolar like a 4 year old kid. One minute they are acting like they are 10 years old and the next they are acting like a baby. In 1979 at times it felt very 70s and other times it felt very 80s. The tennis look was totally 80s and Tambor's suit was totally 70s.
She's still lovely. As ever inspite of her age ..
... I love how people just judge the intro when in fact I bet this tv Show was great.
Narrator: It was not great.
Spoiler Alert
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It was poopy
We played this theme song at LewisFest ‘08! xoxo The Clarences
They should of never left Three's Company.
Show just never was the same without them.
.
Norman Fell didn't want to leave. He got a pretty raw deal in the whole thing.
I agree. Fell had a dryer, subtler approach to humor than Knotts. You can tell the spin off was going to suck just based on this pathetic intro. The other two mistakes of Three's Company was turning Chrissy into a complete, unfunny idiot. I liked the sassier Chrissy of Seasons 1 and 2. And then of course there was Lana...
Dan Michaels
Lana was the most forgotten character in the whole series.
I forgot about her myself before you mention her.
Dan Michaels
Lana was only on 11 episodes. I read where they said she was an experiment and they ran out of storylines with her infatuation with Jack.
misplacednewyawker According to her, she asked to leave the show. She got some good comic material on the camping episode and, as she saw it, Joyce and Suzanne felt threatened by a third woman, and after that she was reduced to small bit interludes until she asked to be let go.
Three's Company is on a TV where I live and just over the past couple of days I saw the first two episodes of this show because they are included as part of the original series in syndication. I thought they were hysterical and much better than anything in the final season of Three's Company! Granted I haven't seen anything else but if the first two were any indication, I can't understand why they only lasted two seasons. I think this could have been among the most successful spin off's ever had they been able to keep up that level.
This is me mums favorite song
Wow I completely forgot about this.
I heard the Three's company theme play at :30
Me too
What's with the white splat next to the Ropers? 😆
The 4bidden1 Bird shit
This was actually a funny show and certainly better than anything on today. The pilot was absolutely hilarious and so was the one where the three's company trio guest starred. And it did very well in the ratings for the first few episodes.
Well, compared to the sitcoms that are on today, a test pattern would be funny.
Nope. Not even a little. This show was terrible. Norman Fell himself even said so.
womp womp womp
I've never heard so many Wah Wah's in my life!
From what norman said he agreed to do it with the term that the show would run for 1 year as a trial, and if it did poorly they where guaranteed to return back to "threes company", as long as it bombed in under 1 year. Season 1 did great. Then season 2 bombed most of the season so they where cancelled. I think ABC felt mr Farley worked better and didn't wanna have 3 landlords so they just let the 1 year finish so they where no longer under contract. I wish this had done better
Maybe if the show stayed on the Tuesday night lineup at 8 PM, as it had for its short first season run of six episodes.
I remember when The Clarences played this song at LewisFest '08 in San Francisco.
Maybe if they had a catchy opening theme, it may have been a hit!
Jeffrey Tambor apparently weathered this disaster well.
Pause at 0:19. Norman Fell realizing his long career has come to a horrific end.
Patty McCormack's spot was the most dignified and maybe the kid's!!
It’s like someone in band had a tuba stuck up their ass all day and a group of people followed him recording
Happy Birthday Jimmy!!!
Happy Birthday Norm
I don't know if anybody else has caught this...the Pluto Streaming App runs Ropers randomly on the Three's Company 24/7 channel now which is nice..I watched the opening on Pluto and realized something was off as I didn't notice the side of the set being visible anymore on the right. Well as it turns out the opening has been chopped in half!!! You only get about 30 seconds of the opening theme...what they did was cut each character's little activity out severely so you don't get what you used to. I think the shows themselves are edited too as we probably are seeing syndicated versions with some chops to add more commercials...it may also be sped up also by a few percent to get in an additional ad.
0:28 notice that the upper-right background moves. Talk about a low-budget intro?
Imagine if the Mertzes spinoff from I Love Lucy.
+DarthSidious63 They were offered a spinoff but Vivian Vance refused to work with William Frawley anymore.
this theme sounds like something from sesame street
Ryan Lake That's not an accident. The guy that wrote this music also wrote music for Sesame Street.
Joe Raposo who unfortunately passed awaty in 1989 at the young age of 51.
Ryan Lake actually the composer of this theme did do sesame street too
He did the Three's Company theme too
I just remember that they were trying to make this condo complex out to be so ritzy and posh. And it wasn’t. They had this cheezy hot tub which was tiny and shared by the neighbors.
The most subtle TV theme I've ever heard
Has Jeffrey Tambor always been an old man?
Some people have gray hair starting in their teens.
Patty McCormack!!!!
0:30....
Whoops.
"QUICK! Zoom in before anyone notices!"
Too late.
what's so sad about this show, Norman Fell had a deal in place with the producers that if the spin-off lasted one year or less he could come back to three's company. and the show lasted 1 1/2 years just enough to screw him over. (although he and Audra Lindley did make at least one guest star appearance after)
What's worse is that I've read that Norman Fell didn't want to leave Three's Company and that Audra Lindley pressured him to do The Ropers.
yea but the producers had already fell in love with furley and they didn't want to let him go.
that's true, but a deal's a deal. maybe they could have worked him in as a recurring character but honestly, it worked out for the better IMO, I liked the Furley episodes more than the ones with the Ropers.
The Ropers were great! I miss them even now. I guess it was a matter of taste but to me the Ropers were hilarious! They should've stayed with Three's Company.
Marshall Street true
As I understand it, Norman didn’t really want a spinoff but Audra wanted to jump at the chance at it. There was a claus in their contract that allowed them to return to Three’s Company if a certain condition was met. Not sure what it was, but that condition was not met and they were sent packing, except for the one guest star appearance they made.
Steve Garza The clause was that if the show only lasted a season, they could return. The show lasted two seasons. Even though one of those seasons was short and only was six-episodes long, the Rogers didn’t return to TC aside from a single guest appearance. Don Knotts had transitioned into the show without negatively affecting the ratings and they were paying him less than Fell and Lindsey put together, so it didn’t make financial sense to bring them back either.
It's so goofy. I love this.
Would like to tell Mr. Roper just exactly where he can stick that plunger.
You watch the Three's Company intro and it's charming, delightful and fun. You watch The Ropers intro and it's drab, goofy and devoid of joy. They really didn't even bother with this show.
The US George and Mildred
Such a great show
Put the bottle down and go sleep it off boozer.. this show stunk big time
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
I remember this horrible spin off!
And that theme music sounds like a fart gone horribly wrong!
The Cosby Show intro ripped off The Ropers
Not really, but Cosby did dance with a plunger in 1 episode.
@@dignityshmignity I don't think Norman Fell was a convicted rapist...
The Cosby show was a way better show. It last way more seasons!
With an opening like that the show never had a chance.
I'm trying to figure out the instrumentation of this musical masterpiece...Soprano sax, muted trumbone, glockenspiel and drums am I missing anything?
I've never heard a more endearing tribute to Italian Americans.
"WOP WOP WOP"
The problem with this show was there was no arc to it. The Ropers were a couple that were past their middle age, had no kids, no relatives, siblings..etc. How can they give them their own show based on that. So once you take away Jack and the girls, this show had no chance. Their condo neighbors added nothing to help this show’s problem.
This is me on date night walking into the room. My theme music.