Tag Archives: Betty White

Betty White and Allen Ludden return, of sorts. The passwords are: ‘Pet Set’.

And the password is . . .
Animals.
Every one knows that Betty White loves animals, especially dogs. Every one she still loves Allan Ludden, her husband of a mere 17 years, who died from complications of  stomach cancer on June 9, 1981, at age 63.
Fifty years ago, the Luddens came up with an idea that remains a a project still close to White’s heart:  The Pet Set, a TV series that she conceived, wrote and produced (and on which Ludden served as announcer).
The show, alas, lasted just one year, and 39 episodes.
According to her autobiography, White recalls that the show was cancelled when Carnation Company decided to put their advertising budget exclusively to commercials rather than having an amount aside for programming.
Finally, the show is back making its debut on digital platforms and DVD on February 23, 2021. Celebrating the show’s 50th anniversary and renamed for publicity push,  Betty White’s Pet Set will be released by MPI Media Group in partnership with Darren Wadyko Media and Albets Enterprises. The three entities have come together to make this series available to fans, marking the first time it will be seen in decades. “If I haven’t told you already, I will now. The Pet Set is one of my favorite shows. I’m thrilled it’s going to be seen again after all these years,” coos White.
The show featured Ludden and White welcoming their celebrity friends with their dogs, cats and horses, in addition to a wide range of wild animals including tigers, bears, elephants, lions, wolves, gorillas, chimps, cougars, cheetahs, seals, kangaroos, zebras, eagles, snakes and penguins––both in the studio and on location.
The 39 episodes of the series, unseen for decades, feature such guests as Carol Burnett, Doris Day, Eva Gabor, Paul Lynda, Agnes Moorehead, Jimmy Stewart, Mary Tyler Moore, Burt Reynolds, Shirley Jones, Michael Landon, Bob Crane, Amanda Blake, Vikki Carr, Barbara Eden, James Brolin, Della Reese, Vincent Price and Rod Serling.
Special features on the set includes a  look behind the scenes of the series, original promotional spots, the featurettes Betty White: Game Show Goddess and Daytime Hostess: The Betty White Show, Betty’s Photo Album and her public service ads.
Bet it becomes your pet set!

“American Masters” celebrates its 30th anniversary with the launch of “In Their Own Words: The American Masters Digital Archive”

Everything old is new again. And in the case of THIRTEEN’s American Masters, the old is very new and very special. The series made in debut in 1986 on PBS with Private Conversations: On the Set of “Death of a Salesman, a cinéma vérité documentary about the making of Arthur Miller’s masterpiece for network television, and its stars Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich.

Today, American Masters celebrates its 30th anniversary with the launch of In Their Own Words: The American Masters Digital Archive and the American Masters Podcast, featuring previously unreleased interviews filmed for the documentary series: 2,156 tapes, approximately 1,388 digitized hours, 800-plus interviews and counting.

A selection of short-form videos showcasing interviews with David Bowie, Gloria Steinem, Herbie Hancock, Bernadette Peters, Mike Nichols and other luminaries discussing America’s most enduring artistic and cultural giants are available now on the American Masters website (pbs.org/americanmasters). New videos will be released on an ongoing basis as the archive is digitized.

The American Masters Podcast, hosted by series executive producer Michael Kantor, will feature long-form interviews from In Their Own Words. The first season, “Women on Women,” presents interviews with influential women discussing women cultural icons. Episode one features Gloria Steinem in conversation with the late, multiple Emmy-winning filmmaker Gail Levin taking a critical look at the life and career of Marilyn Monroe from 2006’s American Masters Marilyn: Still Life. New episodes will be released biweekly on the American Masters website, iTunes, Soundcloud and Stitcher.

All full-length, digitized interviews will be archived by the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB), a collaboration between WGBH and the Library of Congress to preserve and make accessible significant historical content created by public media.
“I’m thrilled that the National Endowment for the Arts has provided major funding to get this project off the ground so we can finally share gems from the cutting room floor with the public,” says Michael Kantor, executive producer of American Masters. “Series creator Susan Lacy built a rich library of more than 200 documentary films, which is a treasure trove of American arts, culture and intellect, and the amazing interviews that informed these films are largely unseen. While we are still seeking funds to create a comprehensive, interactive digital archive website, we are confident that In Their Own Words and the American Masters Podcast will inspire and entertain a broad audience both today and in the future.”
Here, A gem of Betty White chatting about her (and my) pal Carol Burnett.