After years of managing a Santa Monica apartment building with a rambunctious trio, landlords Stanley and Helen Roper decide to sell and move to the upscale neighborhood of Cheviot Hills. They struggle to fit in with their new class of neighbors. The Ropers was based on a British sitcom George and Mildred, which was a spin-off of Man About The House, which is the series Three's Company (1977-1984) is based of.
Due to the success of Three's Company, a spin-off seemed inevitable. Norman Fell and Audra Lindley were initially approached shortly after the series debuted about appearing in their own show, but plans were held off until after the second season. They were promised that if the spin-off failed within a year, they could return to Three's Company. Ratings were high when it debuted, despite the horrendous opening credits, and The Ropers seemed to be on the same track as its predecessor, though a new timeslot would change all that.
The show landed in the bottom ten for the season and was canceled in May 1980, just over a year from its debut. Since Mr. Furley had taken over landlord duties and was well-received, there was little desire to bring The Ropers back and ABC was no longer obliged to. Norman Fell believed the cancellation decision was deliberately made after the one year mark. I was team Roper and would've liked to have seen the bickering couple return to Three's Company, but Hollywood is a business and there's no need to pay two actors for a role one actor could do. In 1986, there were plans to spin-off The Ropers, managing another building with three apartments, which were later scrapped.
Thanks to Robert Patterson at Set-Jetter.com for finding this location.
Location: The Ropers' Townhouse
Address: 650 Wilcox Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
Location Visited: June 2021
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