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Traditionally, the 'Queen of Television' title goes to Lucille Ball but since she's gone I believe the mantle has been passed to Betty White; no other TV star has enjoyed so much success over the last 60 years. Additionally, she's a true television pioneer. They threw Betty in front of the TV cameras in 1949 when very few people in the nation had a set that could receive the signal. She remained a fixture on the new medium during the 1950s. During the 1960s and early-1970s she was mostly relegated to appearing on game and talk shows where her impressive game play and sparkling wit made her a highly sought after guest.
But there was little or no interest in her for primetime fare until she was cast as caustic Sue Anne Niven the Happy Homemaker on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1973. Her character caught fire and before long she became a regular, one of the biggest laugh getters on the show. After The Mary Tyler Moore Show ended in 1977, and flush off the (initial) success of Rhoda and Phyllis, it was Betty's turn to star in her own series. The premise: Joyce Whitman (Betty) is the star of Undercover Woman, a send up of Angie Dickinson in Police Woman; the show is directed by her contentious ex-husband played by John Hillerman (Magnum P.I.), Georgia Engel plays her best friend.
Granted, this sitcom felt a bit diluted compared to the best of Mary's shows, the MTM team was stretched pretty thin by the fall of 1977, many of their best writers had gotten production deals elsewhere and the studio had the one hour drama, Lou Grant, debuting that fall as well as The Bob Newhart Show, Rhoda, and The Tony Randall Show on the air (only Lou Grant survived the season).
It didn't help that this was the first MTM sitcom shot on videotape. Film was getting too expensive for the networks, they wanted all of the new sitcoms shot on videotape to save money. The result was a cheaper looking product and some worthy shows went down because of it. (Newhart debuted in 1982 and was shot on videotape for the first season - after the show was a proven success, they moved over to film for the rest of the run.) At its best The Betty White Show was a worthy vehicle for a great comedy star that could have evolved into something wonderful, taking potshots at the entertainment industry always provides an endless stream of comedy potential, but the production never found its footing and went down after 14 episodes. Did you know: Betty White won an Emmy in 1996 playing 'herself' as ego maniacal star on The John Larroquette Show.
Hot In Cleveland First off the cast is impeccable - Jane Leeves (Frazier), Valerie Bertinelli (One Day at a Time), and Wendy Malick (Just Shoot Me!) make up the core ensemble. But when Betty White meanders into any scene the show is hers from that point on. And thank goodness otherwise this caustic comedy would mostly fall flat. The premise is flimsy but who cares, it's a sitcom, I come for the laughs - three LA airheads descend on the Cleveland bar scene once they realize the local guys there find them attractive. On a lark, they move into a home that comes with a cantankerous caretaker in the form of Betty White. Click here to read more about Hot In Cleveland on DVD!
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One of my favorite shows of the 1977 fall season - and there were some pretty decent shows that year that met their demise that year - was The Betty White Show.
For Betty's show the writers began to fall back on too familiar patterns as you'll see in this clip from the last (not the best) episode - Betty's character is obsessed with cancellation; "Where can we find a typical TV viewer?" while that person is trying to get their attention; transplanting the Georgette character from Mary's show to milk whatever laughs she had left. Watching this last episode it appears the network toned down the caustic nature of the two leads, thereby eliminating most of the humor.
