The Ropers
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sitcom that ran from March 13, 1979 to May 22, 1980 on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. The series is a spinoff
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
of Three's Company
Three's Company
Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....
and based on the British sitcom George and Mildred
George and Mildred
George and Mildred is a British sitcom produced by Thames Television that aired from 1976 to 1979. It was a spin-off from Man About the House and starred Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce as an ill-matched married couple, George and Mildred Roper...
. The series focused on middle-aged couple Stanley
Stanley Roper
Stanley Roper is the name of a fictional character from the sitcom Three's Company and its spinoff The Ropers.-Background:In Three's Company, Stanley Roper owns and manages the apartment building in Santa Monica that is home to Jack Tripper, Janet Wood and Chrissy Snow. He has a love-hate...
and Helen Roper
Helen Roper
Helen Roper is a character on the situation comedy series, Three's Company and its later spin-off series The Ropers. In both shows, she is played by Audra Lindley....
(played by Norman Fell
Norman Fell
Norman Fell , born Norman Noah Feld, was an American actor of film and television, most famous for his role as landlord Mr. Roper on the sitcom Three's Company and its spin-off, The Ropers.-Early life:...
and Audra Lindley
Audra Lindley
Audra Marie Lindley was an American actress, most famous for her role as landlady Helen Roper on the sitcom Three's Company and its spin-off, The Ropers.-Career:...
) who were landlords to Jack
Jack Tripper
Jack Tripper is a fictional character on the sitcoms Three's Company and Three's a Crowd, based upon the character, Robin Tripp, of Man About the House and Robin's Nest. Jack was played by the late John Ritter.-Introduction:...
, Janet
Janet Wood
Janet Wood is a fictional character on the television sitcom Three's Company played by Joyce DeWitt.-Fictional character biography:Janet and Chrissy shared an apartment in Santa Monica, California, and needed a third roommate to pay the rent after their old roommate, Eleanor, got married and moved...
, Chrissy
Chrissy Snow
Christmas "Chrissy" Noelle Snow was a fictional character on the sitcom Three's Company. Chrissy was played by Suzanne Somers.In the original unaired pilot to Three's Company, the character that became Chrissy was portrayed by Susanne Zenor. Zenor was not picked for the second filming, so actress...
, and Larry
Larry Dallas
Larry Dallas is a fictional character on the 1977 - 1984 ABC sitcom Three's Company, portrayed by Richard Kline. He lives upstairs from Jack, Janet, and Chrissy/Cindy/Terri, and is Jack's best friend. He is a womanizer and often lies about his job to impress girls, from being "Playboy's best...
on Three's Company.
As was the case during their time on Three's Company, opening credits for The Ropers exist with either Audra Lindley or Norman Fell credited first.
Main characters
- Stanley Roper (Norman FellNorman FellNorman Fell , born Norman Noah Feld, was an American actor of film and television, most famous for his role as landlord Mr. Roper on the sitcom Three's Company and its spin-off, The Ropers.-Early life:...
) - A middle-class, frugal, and often embarrassing retiree. Has moved into Cheviot Hills after he is duped into making a promise to his wife Helen that he would buy the condo she wants if it wasn't already sold. His realtor's son suddenly reveals that the condo is in fact not sold. - Helen Roper (Audra LindleyAudra LindleyAudra Marie Lindley was an American actress, most famous for her role as landlady Helen Roper on the sitcom Three's Company and its spin-off, The Ropers.-Career:...
) - A sexually frustrated, social-climbing middle-aged woman who tries to fit in the community despite her husband Stanley's constant boorishness. Despite her attempts to fit in, she often proves herself as bumbling as her husband. - Jeffrey P. Brookes III (Jeffrey TamborJeffrey TamborJeffrey Michael Tambor is an American actor, perhaps best known for his roles as George Bluth Sr. and Oscar Bluth on Arrested Development and Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show.-Early life:...
) - The snobbish realtor who is also the Ropers' next-door neighbor. As revealed in the show's pilot (later syndicated as a Three's CompanyThree's CompanyThree's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....
episode), he is not a third-generation namesake, when his wife Ann chides him for the "III" in his name when his father's name is actually Al. He is forced to sell them the condo after his son David innocently reveals the condo isn't sold to someone else...an obvious effort by Brookes to keep the Ropers out. - Anne Brookes (Patricia McCormack) - Brookes' long-suffering, down-to-earth homemaker wife, who looks after the house and their young son David. She and Helen become friendly, despite their husbands' frequently adversarial relationship with one-another.
- David Brookes (Evan Cohen) - Jeffrey and Anne Brookes' little 7 year-old son that is always tempted to bother Mr. Roper which Brookes doesn't approve. Loves to get candy from people.
Recurring Characters
- Jenny Ballinger (Stevie Vallance) - a young woman who had been living in the Ropers' storeroom.
- Ethel Ambrewster (Dena DietrichDena DietrichDena Dietrich is an American actress.Born in Pittsburgh, her television credits include recurring roles on The Practice , The Ropers, and Philly. She made guest appearances on Life Goes On, NYPD Blue, Murphy Brown, and The Golden Girls...
) - Helen's snobby elder sister. Gives her an air kiss everytime she sees Helen. - Huebert Ambrewster (Rod Colbin) - Ethel's husband and Helen's brother-in-law.
- Debbie Hopper (Lois HamiltonLois HamiltonLois Hamilton was a United States model, author, actress, artist and aviatrix.-Early life and career:Hamilton was born Lois Aurino in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
(as Lois Areno)) - Joey (unknown) - Stanley's best friend and one of Helen's enemies.
Setting
In this spinoff, the Ropers have sold their apartment building in Three's Company to live in the upmarket community of Cheviot HillsCheviot Hills, Los Angeles, California
Cheviot Hills is a small residential district on the West Side of Los Angeles, California. It served as the location for the Three's Company spin-off The Ropers.-Geography:...
, where the social-climbing Helen struggled to fit in with her neighbors. Stanley made little attempt to fit in with the standards of the community, thereby causing Helen much embarrassment. The address of their new home was 46 Peacock Drive. Their phone number was 555-3099.
Creation
After the enormous success of Three's Company in its short first season in 1977, ABC head Fred SilvermanFred Silverman
Fred Silverman is an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at the CBS, ABC and NBC networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as the series Scooby-Doo , All in the Family , The Waltons , and Charlie's Angels , as well as the...
was anxious to capitalize on the show's success. In early 1977, Silverman approached Fell and Lindley with the subject of doing a spin-off from the show after its first full season wrapped in the spring of 1978. Both actors as well as the Three's Company producers begged off as the show had yet to prove itself for an entire season. However, with the show's continued success in its second season, the idea was brought up again in 1978, this time by Three's Companys own producers as well as new ABC head Tony Thomopolous (Silverman went to NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
). The idea intrigued Lindley, but Fell was extremely reluctant, as he was satisfied with his role on a show that was already a proven hit. Fell feared that a spin-off would be unsuccessful and thus put him out of a good role and job. To alleviate his fears, Three's Company producers contractually promised Fell that they would give the new series a year to prove itself. If unsuccessful, then he and Lindley would return to Three's Company. A reluctant Fell agreed to the new terms.
Like Three's Company, The Ropers was introduced as an experimental series in the spring of 1979 premiering the same night as Three's Company on ABC's successful Tuesday night lineup, airing at 10pm. In its first season, the ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
for the show were very high (the show finished at #8 for the 1978-79 season), and had the second-highest series premiere rating at the time. After the season premiere, Three's Company went on hiatus, but The Ropers still did well. ABC reran the episodes over the summer of 1979 (in August on Sundays) where they continued to achieve high ratings leading many to believe that the show would have a long run.
Cancellation
At the beginning of the 1979-80 season, however, ABC moved the show to Saturday nights at 8pm, resulting in an audience drop which put it near the bottom of the ratings. Being placed on Saturday nights, rather than on the ABC Tuesday night lineup, caused an immediate fall into the bottom ten (#52 out of 61 shows for the week of September 17–23, its second week of the season) as the show was in direct competition with the NBC show CHiPsCHiPs
CHiPs is an American television drama series produced by MGM Studios that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to July 17, 1983. CHiPs followed the lives of two motorcycle police officers of the California Highway Patrol...
. The show later moved to 8:30pm on Saturdays by January 1980. The move upset Fell to the point that he actually went to ABC headquarters in New York to plead with the network to move the show to a better time slot. His effort was in vain, however, and the show continued to pull in low ratings. The drop in ratings and the fact that the show wasn't pulling in the key young demographic audience, led to announcement of the show's cancellation by ABC in May 1980. The last three episodes aired Thursdays at 9:30pm after Barney Miller
Barney Miller
Barney Miller is a situation comedy television series set in a New York City police station in Greenwich Village. The series originally was broadcast from January 23, 1975 to May 20, 1982 on ABC. It was created by Danny Arnold and Theodore J. Flicker...
in May 1980. Audra Lindley stated in Chris Mann's 1997 book about the Threes Company, that she was surprised that The Ropers had been canceled after a late season surge in the series ratings that allowed it to finish the 1979-80 season at number 25, however, the Nielson list for that year list the series Soap at number 25.
With the series canceled Fell approached Three's Company producers about returning to the show. During the time that The Ropers was on the air, the characters had been replaced on Three's Company by Ralph Furley (Don Knotts
Don Knotts
Jesse Donald "Don" Knotts was an American comedic actor best known for his portrayal of Barney Fife on the 1960s television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, a role which earned him five Emmy Awards...
). The addition had worked well and Three's Company had retained its popularity. The idea of returning Fell and Lindley to their original Three's Company roles was undesirable to producers, mainly because they had one character playing the landlord role now as opposed to two, which would require more money to be paid out per episode, (the cancellation of The Ropers came just as Suzanne Somers began to renegotiate her contract, which would lead to her very public contract dispute during the 1980-81 television season), something that was undesirable to the show's producers and ABC. The cancellation of The Ropers came just one month after the one-year contractual deadline had passed. Fell would later state that he always believed the decision to pull the plug on the show had been made much earlier, but that the network deliberately postponed making the cancellation official until after the one-year mark specifically to be relieved of the obligation to allow Fell and Lindley to return to Three's Company. There was an attempt by producers to sell the show to Silverman over at NBC; however, Silverman passed on it too.
Despite the hard feelings, in March 1981 both Fell and Lindley made one final guest appearance on Three's Company (in season 5, episode # 96) nearly a year after the end of their own series before the characters were retired for good. For audiences, it was a chance to see all of the three landlord characters — played by Fell, Lindley, and Knotts — on the same stage.
Tambor appeared on the show that same season playing a different character, a wealthy but unwelcome suitor of Chrissy's cousin Cindy (#5.13).
The show was ranked number two on Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine's "Top 10 Worst TV Spin-Offs".
In July 2002 TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
named The Ropers the 49th worst TV series of all time.
Season 1: 1979
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Season 2: 1979–80
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Syndication
The Ropers has been aired in syndicationTelevision syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
on local channels
Network affiliate
In the broadcasting industry , a network affiliate is a local broadcaster which carries some or all of the television program or radio program line-up of a television or radio network, but is owned by a company other than the owner of the network...
in the 1980s and early 1990s, but has had limited airings in recent years, likely because, due to its relatively short network run—roughly a season and a half—there aren't enough episodes to strip
Stripping (television)
In broadcast programming, stripping is the practice of running a television series at the same time daily , so that it appears as a strip straight across the weekly schedule...
the show. Two episodes of the series, however, play in the syndication package of Three's Company. When initially offered in syndication, the series ran under the title Three's Company's Friends, The Ropers. That version used an instrumental version of the original series' theme song. Six episodes of the series were aired on TV Land
TV Land
TV Land is an American cable television network launched on April 29, 1996. It is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, and networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon...
in September 2006, and four episodes were aired on WGN America in October 2008.
The Ropers aired in Canada beginning September 15, 2007, on CanWest Global's digital specialty channel, DejaView
DejaView
DejaView is a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel owned by Shaw Media. It airs television shows from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.-History:In November 2000, Global Television Network Inc...
.
Beginning in January 2011 Antenna TV
Antenna TV
Antenna TV is an American digital broadcast television network, primarily featuring classic television series from the 1950s to the 1990s, along with some feature films. It is owned by Tribune Broadcasting, a division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...
, a television network designed for digital television subchannels and owned by Tribune Broadcasting
Tribune Broadcasting
The Tribune Broadcasting Company is a group of radio and television stations located throughout the United States which are owned and operated by the Tribune Company, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois and named for the flagship Chicago Tribune newspaper.- History :Tribune Broadcasting...
, aired the sitcom. The series started on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011, and went through one entire rotation of all episodes before being removed from the lineup. On August 29, 2011, the show returned to the lineup as the Three's Company cycle again came to the point of the series where the Ropers left.
Antenna TV usually shows back-to-back episodes of Three's Comapny. But when the cycle comes to the point of the Roper's departure, the network then airs The Ropers following a single episode of Three's Company until the end of the Ropers cycle, then resumes the back-to-back Three's Company airings.