The Ropers

Starring: Audra Lindley, Norman Fell, Patty McCormack, Jeffrey Tambor, Evan Cohen
First Aired: March 13, 1979
Number of Seasons: 2
Estimated Production Cost: $30,000 per episode*

The Ropers is a comedy that aired on ABC from 1979 to 1980. It was a spin-off of the very popular sitcom Three’s Company, and it was a spin-off of that show. Besides that, Three’s Company was largely based on a British television comedy called George and Mildred, which was a spinoff of the show from which Three’s Company took its inspiration. The show was filmed entirely in Los Angeles. It was the characters of Norman Fell and Audra Linley, a middle-aged couple who were the landlords to Janet, Chrissy, and Jack on Three’s Company, that provided the plot of the show. A high-class enclave called Cheviot Hills is the setting for the drama, which portrays the landlords as an “odd pair.”

The Ropers

Bearcats

Starring: Dennis Cole, Rod Taylor, Roy Jenson, Edward Faulkner
First Aired: September 16, 1971
Number of Seasons: 1
Estimated Production Cost: $8,000 for the cars on the show*

Bearcats was produced by Filmways, Inc., a New York-based production company. Filmways was also the big-name production company behind hit television shows such as The Beverly Hillbillies, The Addams Family, and Green Acres, so it was on a winning streak. Dennis Cole and Rod Taylor were two of the Bearcats’ most prominent players. It was a historical show that took place just before World War I. Cole and Taylor took on the role of troubleshooters. Because it was extremely expensive, the concert was unique in that respect. It had elements of a Western feel to it, yet it made use of props that you wouldn’t generally see in such films, such as M1911 handguns, airplanes, machine guns, a World War I-era tank, and a variety of vintage automobiles that were popular in the early twentieth century.

Bearcats