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The Ropers
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The Ropers
The Ropers is an American sitcom television series that aired on ABC from March 13, 1979, to May 15, 1980. It is a spin-off of Three's Company and loosely based on the British sitcom George and Mildred, which was itself a spin-off of Man About the House, on which Three's Company was based.
It was taped at CBS Television City in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, where its parent series, Three's Company, was taping at the time, from February to April 1979 (Season 1) and from July 1979 to February 1980 (Season 2).
The series focused on couple Stanley (Norman Fell) and Helen Roper (Audra Lindley), who were landlords to Jack, Janet and Chrissy on Three's Company.
In this spin-off, the Ropers have sold their apartment building (in the Three's Company episode "An Anniversary Surprise" [season 3, episode 20]) to live in the upmarket community of Cheviot Hills, where the social-climbing Helen struggles to fit in with her neighbors. Stanley makes little attempt to fit in with the standards of the community, thereby causing Helen much embarrassment.
As was the case during their time on Three's Company, the opening credits for The Ropers alternate between Audra Lindley and Norman Fell being credited first.
After the enormous success of Three's Company in its short first season in 1977, ABC head Fred Silverman 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 backed off as the show had yet to prove itself for an entire season. With the show's continued success in its second season, however, the idea was brought up again in 1978, this time by Three's Company's own producers as well as new ABC head Tony Thomopolous (Silverman had gone to NBC). 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 a 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 the show were to be canceled prior to that time, then he would return to Three's Company. A reluctant Fell agreed to the new terms. Unlike her on-screen husband, Audra Lindley did not request such a clause.
Like Three's Company, The Ropers was introduced as a late season replacement series in the spring of 1979 premiering the same night as Three's Company on ABC's successful Tuesday night lineup, airing at 10 pm. In its first season, the ratings for the show were very high (the show finished at number 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 series would enjoy a long run.
At the beginning of the 1979–80 season, ABC moved the show to Saturdays at 8 pm, resulting in an audience drop that 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 (number 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 CHiPs. The show later moved to 8:30 pm 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 was not 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 9:30 pm after Barney Miller in May 1980. Audra Lindley stated in Chris Mann's 1997 book about Three's Company that she was surprised that The Ropers had been cancelled after a late-season surge in the series ratings had allowed it to finish the 1979–80 season at number 25; the Nielsen ratings for that year, however, list the series Soap at number 25.
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The Ropers
The Ropers is an American sitcom television series that aired on ABC from March 13, 1979, to May 15, 1980. It is a spin-off of Three's Company and loosely based on the British sitcom George and Mildred, which was itself a spin-off of Man About the House, on which Three's Company was based.
It was taped at CBS Television City in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, where its parent series, Three's Company, was taping at the time, from February to April 1979 (Season 1) and from July 1979 to February 1980 (Season 2).
The series focused on couple Stanley (Norman Fell) and Helen Roper (Audra Lindley), who were landlords to Jack, Janet and Chrissy on Three's Company.
In this spin-off, the Ropers have sold their apartment building (in the Three's Company episode "An Anniversary Surprise" [season 3, episode 20]) to live in the upmarket community of Cheviot Hills, where the social-climbing Helen struggles to fit in with her neighbors. Stanley makes little attempt to fit in with the standards of the community, thereby causing Helen much embarrassment.
As was the case during their time on Three's Company, the opening credits for The Ropers alternate between Audra Lindley and Norman Fell being credited first.
After the enormous success of Three's Company in its short first season in 1977, ABC head Fred Silverman 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 backed off as the show had yet to prove itself for an entire season. With the show's continued success in its second season, however, the idea was brought up again in 1978, this time by Three's Company's own producers as well as new ABC head Tony Thomopolous (Silverman had gone to NBC). 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 a 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 the show were to be canceled prior to that time, then he would return to Three's Company. A reluctant Fell agreed to the new terms. Unlike her on-screen husband, Audra Lindley did not request such a clause.
Like Three's Company, The Ropers was introduced as a late season replacement series in the spring of 1979 premiering the same night as Three's Company on ABC's successful Tuesday night lineup, airing at 10 pm. In its first season, the ratings for the show were very high (the show finished at number 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 series would enjoy a long run.
At the beginning of the 1979–80 season, ABC moved the show to Saturdays at 8 pm, resulting in an audience drop that 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 (number 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 CHiPs. The show later moved to 8:30 pm 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 was not 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 9:30 pm after Barney Miller in May 1980. Audra Lindley stated in Chris Mann's 1997 book about Three's Company that she was surprised that The Ropers had been cancelled after a late-season surge in the series ratings had allowed it to finish the 1979–80 season at number 25; the Nielsen ratings for that year, however, list the series Soap at number 25.
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