The Betty White Show is an American sitcom

Situation comedy

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 which aired on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 from September 12, 1977, to January 2, 1978. Fourteen episodes were transmitted. The series was produced by MTM Enterprises

MTM Enterprises

MTM Enterprises was an American independent production company established in 1969 by Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband Grant Tinker to produce The Mary Tyler Moore Show for CBS...

.

Synopsis

Joyce Whitman (Betty White

Betty White

Betty White Ludden , better known as Betty White, is an American actress, comedienne, singer, author, and former game show personality. With a career spanning seven decades since 1939, she is best known to modern audiences for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and...

), a middle-aged actress, lands the lead in a fictitious

Fictitious

For literary uses see FictionFor Legal uses see legal fiction*Fictitious defendants*Feigned action*Ejectment - an action to recover land*John Doe - commonly named as a fictitious defendant....

 police series, Undercover Woman (a parody of Angie Dickinson

Angie Dickinson

Angie Dickinson is an American actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films, including Rio Bravo, Ocean's Eleven, Dressed to Kill and Pay It Forward, and starred on television as Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson on the 1970s crime series Police Woman.-Early life:Dickinson, the second of...

's Police Woman

Police Woman (TV series)

Police Woman is an American television police drama starring Angie Dickinson that ran on NBC for four seasons, from September 13, 1974, to March 29, 1978.-Synopsis:...

). Joyce is thrilled with the show, but less pleased to learn that the director is her ex-husband, John Elliot (John Hillerman

John Hillerman

John Benedict Hillerman is an American actor, known for his starring role on the television show Magnum, P.I.-Early life:...

), whom she unfondly refers to as "old pickle puss". He responds in kind, supplying his star with an oversized male double named Hugo (Charles Cyphers

Charles Cyphers

Charles Cyphers is an American actor who has starred in many films and on television. He is known in the horror movie community for his work in the films of John Carpenter, especially his role as Sheriff Leigh Brackett in Carpenter's 1978 hit horror movie Halloween. He reprised this role in the...

), a sexy, much younger onscreen sidekick (Caren Kaye

Caren Kaye

Caren Kaye is an American television and film actress who is best known for her roles in the 1983 film My Tutor and the short-lived NBC sitcom It's Your Move.- Career :...

), and dialogue not nearly as sharp as her tongue. Also on hand are Joyce's best friend, Mitzi Maloney (Georgia Engel), co-star actor Fletcher Huff (Barney Phillips

Barney Phillips

Barney Phillips was an American film, radio and television actor.-Biography and career:He was born Bernard Philip Ofner in St. Louis, Missouri, to Harry Nathan Ofner, a commercial salesman for the leather industry, and Leona Frank Ofner, a naturalized citizen of German origin, who went by the...

) and network penny-pincher Doug Porterfield (Alex Henteloff

Alex Henteloff

Alex Henteloff is an American actor.Born in Los Angeles, California, he portrayed the attorney Arnold Drake Ripner in a recurring on the television series Barney Miller...

).

Reception

The series was scheduled opposite ABC's

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 Monday Night Football

Monday Night Football

Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...

and The NBC Monday Movie

The NBC Monday Movie

The NBC Monday Movie was a television anthology series of films scheduled every Monday night from 1963 to 1999 on NBC. It was referred to as NBC Monday Night at the Movies prior to the mid-1980s...

and failed to generate viewers. The show was quickly canceled after fourteen episodes.

Cast

Actor	Role
Betty White Betty White Betty White Ludden , better known as Betty White, is an American actress, comedienne, singer, author, and former game show personality. With a career spanning seven decades since 1939, she is best known to modern audiences for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and...	Joyce Whitman
John Hillerman John Hillerman John Benedict Hillerman is an American actor, known for his starring role on the television show Magnum, P.I.-Early life:...	John Elliot
Georgia Engel	Mitzi Maloney
Caren Kaye Caren Kaye Caren Kaye is an American television and film actress who is best known for her roles in the 1983 film My Tutor and the short-lived NBC sitcom It's Your Move.- Career :...	Tracy Garrett
Charles Cyphers Charles Cyphers Charles Cyphers is an American actor who has starred in many films and on television. He is known in the horror movie community for his work in the films of John Carpenter, especially his role as Sheriff Leigh Brackett in Carpenter's 1978 hit horror movie Halloween. He reprised this role in the...	Hugo Muncy
Alex Henteloff Alex Henteloff Alex Henteloff is an American actor.Born in Los Angeles, California, he portrayed the attorney Arnold Drake Ripner in a recurring on the television series Barney Miller...	Doug Porterfield
Barney Phillips Barney Phillips Barney Phillips was an American film, radio and television actor.-Biography and career:He was born Bernard Philip Ofner in St. Louis, Missouri, to Harry Nathan Ofner, a commercial salesman for the leather industry, and Leona Frank Ofner, a naturalized citizen of German origin, who went by the...	Fletcher Huff

Episodes

Ep #	Title	Airdate
1	"Undercover Police Woman"	September 12, 1977
2	"Mitzi's Cousin"	September 19, 1977
3	"Make Yourself at Home...Steal Something"	September 26, 1977
4	"Doug Gets Fired"	October 3, 1977
5	"We're Not Divorced: Part 1"	October 10, 1977
6	"We're Not Divorced: Part 2"	October 17, 1977
7	"Mitzi's Jealousy"	October 24, 1977
8	"Good Night, Sweet Fletch"	October 31, 1977
9	"John's Mother"	November 7, 1977
10	"Joyce, The Matchmaker"	November 14, 1977
11	"Joyce's Wedding"	December 12, 1977
12	"Play Misty for John"	December 19, 1977
13	"Fletcher's Decision"	December 26, 1977
14	"The Stunt Woman"	January 2, 1978

Syndication

The Betty White Show was briefly rerun on Nick at Nite

Nick at Nite

Nick at Nite is the nighttime Cable network that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon on Sundays from 8.p.m.-7.am., Monday through Fridays from 9 p.m.-7 a.m. and Saturdays from 10 p.m.-6 a.m. . Though it shares channel space with Nickelodeon, A.C. Nielsen Co...

 and TV Land

TV Land

TV Land is an American cable television network launched on April 29, 1996. It is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, and networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon...

in the 1990s.