The Ropers

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. ==Characters==

Main characters • Stanley Roper (Norman Fell) —A lower-middle-class, frugal, and often embarrassing retiree, who moved to Cheviot Hills after he is duped into buying a townhouse • Helen Roper (Audra Lindley) —A sexually frustrated, social-climbing middle-aged woman who tries to fit into the community despite her husband Stanley's constant boorishness. Despite her attempts to fit in, she often proves herself to be as bumbling as her husband. • Jeffrey P. Brookes III (Jeffrey Tambor) —The snobbish realtor who is also the Ropers' next-door neighbor. • 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' 7-year-old son who is always tempted to bother Mr. Roper, which his father doesn't approve of. Recurring characters • Jenny Ballinger (Louise Vallance) (season 2)—A young woman who had been living in the Ropers' storeroom • Ethel Ambrewster (Dena Dietrich) —Helen's snobby elder sister; gives Helen an air kiss every time she sees her. • Hubert Ambrewster (Rod Colbin)—Ethel's husband and Helen's brother-in-law • Debbie Hopper (Lois Areno) —The girl Stanley sees at the hot tub in the neighborhood • Joey (Richard B. Shull) —Stanley's best friend and one of Helen's enemies • Hilda (Lucy Lee Flippin/Darcy Pulliam) (season 2)—Helen's sister who has five children and one on the way with her husband, "Fertile" Freddy • Mother (Lucille Benson) —The mother of Helen, Hilda, and Ethel. ==Creation==

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 10pm. 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. == Cancellation ==

At the beginning of the 1979–80 season, ABC moved the show to Saturdays at 8pm, 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 8:30pm 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 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 9:30pm 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; In July 2002, TV Guide named The Ropers the 49th worst TV series of all time. == Proposed spin-off ==

In 1986, distributor D. L. Taffner revealed its plans for a spin-off of The Ropers called Three Apartments. The spin-off would again star Fell and Lindley, this time as landlords of a three-unit apartment building. The show was offered as either a two-year, 44-episode package in syndication starting April 1987, or as a 52-episode package on NBC-owned station checkerboards beginning in September 1987. Guest stars would include John Ritter, Joyce DeWitt, Richard Kline and Don Knotts from ''Three's Company; Robert Mandan from Three's a Crowd; and Jim J. Bullock and Nancy Dussault from Too Close for Comfort/The Ted Knight Show. Three Apartments was to replace The Ted Knight Show'', a fellow Taffner-distributed show that ended production after the death of show namesake Ted Knight in August 1986. The spin-off was withdrawn in January 1987 because of a glut of syndicated sitcom offerings, a lack of time slots, and a difficult advertising market. ==Episodes==

Season 1 (1979) Season 2 (1979–80) Home media On December 22, 2023, VEI released a special 40th anniversary box set of ''Three's Company that also includes all episodes of The Ropers and Three's a Crowd''. In September 2024, VEI reissued the complete series in a separate standalone set entitled: The Ropers: The Complete Series. ==Syndication==

The Ropers was aired in syndication on local channels 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 are not enough episodes to strip 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 in September 2006, and four episodes were aired on WGN America in October 2008. Beginning in January 2011, Antenna TV, a television network designed for digital television subchannels and owned by Tribune Broadcasting, aired the sitcom. The series started on Tuesday, February 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 Company''. But when the cycle comes to the point of the Ropers' 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. Beginning in 2015, Antenna TV began airing the series on weekends back to back with the other ''Three's Company spin-off series Three's a Crowd''. The Ropers can currently be seen on Pluto TV channel Classic TV Comedy, Tubi, and Peacock. ==Legacy==

The International Order of Mrs. Ropers is a nationwide group of local clubs whose members dress as Mrs. Roper or other characters from the series. These "Mrs. Roper Romps" likely began with the Southern Decadence event in New Orleans in 2013. A Tulsa, Oklahoma “Mrs. Roper Romp” on April 25, 2025 held to benefit the homeless following a similar event in Yorba Linda, California. It prominently featured women wearing carrot-red frizzy hairstyles, big glasses, and caftans, similar to the Mrs. Roper character. The theme is said to be based on Mrs. Roper’s warmth, humor and style, embodying bringing people together for a worthy cause. ==References==