The Betty White Show
 Another CBS spin off from The Mary Tyler Moore Show,
although here the lead character had a new name.
In that earlier series Betty White had played Sue Ann Nivens,
host of the Happy Homemaker Show at WJM, the TV station
where Mary worked. Manipulative and catty, Nivens was determined
to climb the ladder of success any which way she could.
Here, in her own series, White played Joyce Whitman, a witty
and sharp-tongued film actress who, although not admitting so, has
perhaps realised that she's a mite beyond her prime and so bows to
the inevitable and consents to work on television.
That she is cast in a typical mid-1970s downmarket all-action
cop show, Undercover Woman, is only the start of her
problems, however, for behind the scenes lies the real trouble
(and humour): the director turns out to be her sarcastic
ex-husband John Elliot.
Tracy Garrett, her supporting actress, is ruthlessly ambitious
and prepared to sleep her way to star billing, Fletcher Huff, who
plays the police chief, is timid, her brawny stunt double Hugo
Muncy is a pain in the proverbial, and Doug Porterfield, the
series' network executive (like this sitcom, Undercover Woman
was said to be a CBS show), is a feeble, interfering busybody.
Also appearing in The Betty White Show was another face
familiar from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, that of Georgia
Engel, who had been Ted Baxter's girlfriend, Georgette. There she
had been a bit of a dumbbell (and so perfectly suited to Ted);
here she was similarly cast, as Joyce Whitman's best pal and
flat-sharer Mitzi.
EPISODES
Undercover Police Woman | John's Mother | Mitzi's Cousin |
Make Yourself at Home - Steal Something | Doug Gets Fired |
Mitzi's Jealousy | Joyce, the Matchmaker | Joyce's Wedding | Play
Misty for John | Fletcher's Decision | The Stunt Woman | We're Not
Divorced (Part 1) | We're Not Divorced (Part 2) | Good Night,
Sweet Fletch
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