The Betty White Show
Tile #38 on the Studio City Walk of Fame
MTM Enterprises
14 episodes aired on CBS from September 12, 1977 to January 2, 1978
CAST: Betty White, John Hillerman, Georgia Engel, Caren Kaye, Alex Henteloff, Barney Phillips, Charles Cyphers
Fresh from her great success as the outrageous “Happy Homemaker” hostess Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, MTM offered Betty White her own series.
In The Betty White Show, White stars as Joyce Whitman, a veteran movie actress whose film career is fading. Joyce finds a new opportunity in television when she lands the lead in a TV series called "Undercover Woman" (a parody of Angie Dickinson's "Police Woman"). Joyce is thrilled with the show, but less than pleased to learn that the director is her ex-husband John Elliot (John Hillerman), whom she often trades barbs with. He provides his star with an oversized stunt double named Hugo Muncy (Charles Cyphers) and a sexy, much younger sidekick (Caren Kaye).
Georgia Engel plays Joyce's best friend Mitzi Maloney who recently became unemployed when she was laid off from her job at the unemployment office. Joyce's co-star in "Undercover Woman" is Fletcher Huff played by Barney Phillips and Alex Henteloff plays penny-pincher, network executive Doug Porterfield.
The sitcom aired on CBS Monday nights at 9:00pm followed by Maude but the show faced formidable competition—the NBC Monday Night Movie and ABC’s Monday Night Football with little chance to develop a following.
The Betty White Show was the fourth series to carry that title. Critics loved Betty White and the situation comedy got some favorable reviews. The Washington Post’s Tom Shales described “The Betty White Show” as “a tart, bright, cheering comedy with characters and performances firmly in the ‘Mary Tyler Moore’ tradition,” adding that the new series “deserves to be a hit and will be.”
“It would be understandable if quite a lot of people wound up loving ‘The Betty White Show,’” wrote the New York Times’ John J. O’Connor.
The Betty White Show premiered to strong ratings and although the ratings remained solid throughout the fall season CBS canceled the series after fourteen episodes.
Filmed at , 4024 Radford Avenue in Studio City, CA.
For more information, please visit the SCIA website Walk of Fame pages.
Award winning John Hillerman has had a long distinguished career in film, television and Broadway. He will most likely be remembered for his portrayal of the much loved character 'Sergeant Major Jonathan Quale Higgins' the estate major-domo on the CBS hit series Magnum P.I. Currently Betty White stars as Elka Ostrovsky the quick-witted, sassy home caretaker on Hot in Cleveland in its third season airing on TV Land.
Celebrate Betty White’s 90th Birthday on January 16, 2012!
NBC has scheduled a sneak-peek preview of the new comedic hidden-camera series Betty White's Off Their Rockers for Monday, January 16 (9:30-10 p.m. ET) that will be immediately preceded that same night by the 90-minute special Betty White's 90th Birthday: A Tribute to America's Golden Girl from 8-9:30 p.m. (ET).
The special will celebrate White's 90th birthday and will honor one of the world's most beloved entertainers. The star-studded event will tape live at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Some of Hollywood's biggest stars, including Hugh Jackman, Amy Poehler, Joel McHale, William Shatner, Carol Burnett, Jay Leno and White's Hot in Cleveland co-stars Valerie Bertinelli, Wendy Mallick and Jane Leeves are among the celebs who will take the stage at the Biltmore Hotel to salute the Emmy winner, who actually turns 90 on January 17, 2012.
A mini-reunion of The Mary Tyler Moore Show is scheduled with Mary Tyler Moore, Ed Asner, Valerie Harper and Gavin McLeod offering their birthday wishes to the Golden Girl. The evening will include special musical performances, surprise appearances and comedy, featuring the irreverent tone, spirit and energy that are the hallmark of White's six-decade career in show business. The special is produced by Brad Lachman Productions and Universal Television.
The birthday celebration will be followed by a preview of White's upcoming hidden camera reality series, Betty White's Off Their Rockers. America's favorite comedy sweetheart sends a fearless band of senior citizens to the streets to pull shockingly hilarious pranks on the younger generation in this outrageously funny "hidden-camera" show. As star of the series, the inimitable and charming White will be featured in brazenly funny sketches, providing saucy commentary between the pranks and sharing her engaging, comical pearls of wisdom. White, a seven-time Emmy Award winner, will executive-produce the series. "People have been telling me that I'm "Off My Rockers" for years," says White. "Now I can prove it!"
Source material from The Paley Center for Media, TV Time Capsule, Here We Go Again: My Life in Television written by Betty White, MTM press releases and media kit for The Betty White Show, NBC press materials for Betty White's Off Their Rockers.
