26 Weeks or Less - Just Men

[@calebwashingtonproductions]

Betty White is undeniably the queen of game shows. Best game show panelist and a great host. The show itself is very nice too, its neatly put together. Plus, It's nice to see where many of the elements like the logo jackets and the car bonus game came from when Rosner was rebooting Hollywood Squares in 1986. Betty, you're loved dearly and you are missed every day. Life well-lived. RIP 🙏

[@dtmusclefan]

If the episodes are available, it should be on Buzzr.

[@jamesbonnen]

I remember this show especially when they asked do you believe in ghosts and Mr. T said yes. But he clarified the Holy Ghost

[@666Brago]

Betty White is a pop culture icon, not just because of her many appearances on various game shows, but she was an all around sweetheart in front of and behind the camera. Part of the reason that December 31, 2021 will always be a dark day in Hollywood as that's the day the world lost her.

[@bmhedgehog2]

And interestingly enough that Hit Man host Peter Tomarken appears as a panelist on this show then went on to host Press Your Luck in September of that year.

[@JMFabiano]

Ooooh....maybe New Battlestars next to complete the NBC gauntlet of 26-or-less shows from '83?

[@JMFabiano]

(there is one more short lived NBC show from that year. But it got a full blown GSG induction. Since we saw most of it on Buzzr returns, I wonder if your opinion changed?)

[@johnnyballenatl]

Even better suggestion for 26 Weeks or Less: Every Second Counts; though it got decent ratings, what killed the show was the lack of clearances in several major markets - Dallas, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Miami, etc. - especially the #1 market: *New York City* (it did air in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, and Detroit among others)! But the show would have a far more successful run over on the BBC in England.

[@AdamJ617]

Two suggestions for 26 weeks or Less, Trivia Trap and Bruce Forsyth’s Hot Streak, both airing on abc.

[@rhd1974]

I must add this date (Jan. 3, 1983) was the debut of the iconic Plinko on "The Price is Right"

[@JayTemple]

The show and your video make me wish that you'd do best/worst/blandest for 1983.

[@pannoni8449]

In addition to those squares variants, it certainly has those Mindreaders (also a 26 Weeks or Less feature) elements. About six episodes of the 65 circulate, but given that it's not owned by Freemantle, it will be a long shot to see it back on the air anytime soon.

[@azumanga111]

Just Men was practically a revamped version of the 1964-1965 game show, "The Celebrity Game", which also featured contestants figuring out if a celebrity would say yes or no to a question. And just as Just Men has a connection with The Hollywood Squares, so does The Celebrity Game, as the latter's mechanics in deciding which way the celeb's answers would go was also instrumental in the creation of Squares.

[@pannoni8449]

And interestingly, before the Davidson Squares came along, two more HS connections would come along: The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour, followed by All-Star Blitz. It surely was an interesting time in game show land, especially with the rise of cable.

[@MichaelPundyk78]

I would like to see "10 Seconds" from the former Nashville Network on a future episode of 26 weeks or less. Hopefully "The Games of '90" will be making a comeback sometime soon.

[@donaldpaluga]

Of course, if only for The Best Game of 90, THE CHALLENGERS!

[@imal25]

BETTY WHITE WAS A TRUE LEGEND AND THE MEMORIES WILL LAST A LEGACY.

[@JMFabiano]

Plug: Betty hosting Password is an extra on the Betty White Pet Set DVD set

[@JMFabiano]

Another link to JM! and Davidson HS: same losing horns when you don't win the car.

[@willmack5909]

If Bill Cullen was the Dean of game shows, Betty White is most assuredly the Deanness.

[@germanname1990]

I'm sure you'd count this as 26 weeks or less, but I remember Wheel 2000 like it was yesterday. This kids' version of Wheel of Fortune started in September 1997 (Saturdays starting with the 13th in some markets although other markets such as Chicago started with Sunday the 14th) and aired every weekend until its final episode in February 1998. Reruns aired every weekend until the late summer of 1998, and this, along with the show airing weekly, makes me a little uncertain about whether or not this would count.

[@Musicradio77Network]

And then, came “Jep” hosted by Bob Bergman who would later became the voice of Porky Pig in “Looney Tunes”, and it was alongside “Wheel 2000”, and it was a kids version of “Jeopardy”.

[@jamesmoss3424]

R.I.P. Betty White.

[@JMFabiano]

When DID Lifetime become Television for Women? In the mid 80s it was still health related, yes? As per Wiki, it was 1988 when elements seeped in making it more TVfW. That's 5 years after JM!

[@azumanga111]

As of 1983, Lifetime didn't even exist -- it was still the Cable Health Network. It became Lifetime in 1984 after merging with another network, Daytime. It would remain health oriented until 1985, when it began inserting talk programming to its schedule. (It won't start becoming "Television for Women" until 1993, though it was already slanted towards women by then.)

[@pannoni8449]

@@azumanga111 I would have placed reruns of defunct soaps like Dark Shadows, The Doctors (duh), and eventually Search For Tomorrow/Ryan's Hope on Lifetime if there was an alternate universe if it were the late '80s/'90s, since the genre was still fairly popular. I believe when they changed their logo in 1988/89, that was their starting point. Now it's just the "Christmas movie channel" from Halloween to around New Year's.

[@Kepley100]

The first four episodes of this show ended with the car won. And I agree that this would be great for Lifetime, especially now if the channel ever wants to get back in the game. Also, I think that PLAY THE PERCENTAGES would be great for "26 Weeks or Less," given its many format changes; one major change, from couples to solo contestants in the main game, happened on the day that I was born.

[@newstarcadefan]

Also this is the rare Peanut Butter/Chocolate situation with Betty White as host.

[@Quartzquiz333]

Do hybrid game shows EVER work?!

[@trekadam30]

I liked Just Men; I always thought it was a cute show. I agree, that only Betty White could have hosted that show; if it had been anybody else, the show would have laid there like a lox.

[@brycelandon6387]

Does "The $50,000 Pyramid" from 1981 qualify for 26 Weeks Or Less? That's one I'd love to see you cover sometime in the future!

[@pannoni8449]

The 2012 Mike Richards version certainly does. I'd give it a qualified yes since the last three months were just summer reruns.

[@Musicradio77Network]

Maybe I would like to see then CBS daytime version of “Tic Tac Dough” which lasted from July through September 1978 before it went into syndication and it became a big success.

[@jeffreystreger2026]

Another great video. I watched this show when it first aired but I agree that I may not have been in its target audience. Betty finally got to host a game show and she did a fine job as hostess but the show was destined to fail.

[@andrewbarton2590]

Just Men! was doomed by a few other factors. It replaced the soap opera The Doctors, a soap which had been on air for almost 20 years, and which had broadcast their final episode 3 days earlier. So the fanbase of The Doctors would be put off watching Just Men, even if Betty White was so talented. Most NBC affiliates would preempt the show for local newscasts, and those who did clear it at noon meant it had to face Family Feud (with Richard Dawson) and The Young And The Restless. In NYC and LA, it was against Family Feud and Tattletales.

[@matthewbaduria]

This game show,which is on up against abc's family feud and cbs's tattletales,and it was doomed in the ratings,it never caught on.betty white has hosting game shows prior to that,she subsituted for gene rayburn on match game,in first run syndication,in the 80's,and password on abc,while her late husband allen ludden played the game.in the 70's.

[@Musicradio77Network]

I guess “Just Men” was the first game show to be produced by Orion Television which would later produced the 1986 revival of “Hollywood Squares” with John Davidson. Both of these were distributed by MGM Television. Rick Rosner, the guy who produced “CHiP’s” did this short lived game show. He later went on to produced “Caesar’s Challenge” which was the last game show ever produced for NBC in 1993.

[@AlexSpalex1]

Would "Brain Rush" qualify for a 26 weeks or less?

[@thomasmartel1739]

I just find out and i know it has no connection with the video, your top five worst moments in Hell’s Kitchen season 2 got blocked out in my country. It's a shame that Walt Disney bought Fox television network.

[@JMFabiano]

Fox TV has nothing to do with Disney's purchase. It was 20th Century Fox/TCF Television they got.