Are you kidding me, I thought I was the only one who remembered this show and that line. It might be the only thing memorable about the show, but has a more memorable line every been penned? You bet!
14 Reviews
Football, you bet
keiths2921 January 2018
It Was Fun While It Lasted
hillari11 December 2000
The plotline of this show was weak, but it was goofy fun for the short period it was on. It was about the adventures of five neer do wells who lived on a houseboat. They were always in trouble for one reason or another.
Football --- you bet!
ebayistheway12 May 2006
A memorable line from a short lived show. After viewing the episode where that line was introduced my fraternity intramural flag football team started using the line to break our huddles on offense. Instead of Ready / Break, our quarter back said FOOTBALL and the rest of the squad responded YOU BET! A fun way to break the huddle that had our opponents scratching their heads as very few of them had watched the show. Using this line added a unique element to our season that I'll never forget. We had our best season during my time in college that year and in a small way it was due to the fun that we had using this line. The show was pretty much a stinker but it lives on in the memories of the 1977 Pi Kappa Phi intramural flag football squad at West Virginia Tech.
funny at the time
valleyvoice7 May 2010
I remember the show well. I was 13 at the time, and just like a couple of people recounted, the line "football you bet" was being repeated by a number of us the next day at school. Heck, the catch phrase may have even last a few days.
In that episode, the bums got a football team together, and as things went along they needed a kicker, who ended up being some foreign fellow who could only say the English words "Football, you bet." He had a permanent smile on his face -people would ask him questions and he'd say "football, you bet." He goes in the huddle, he's told what to do, and all he can say is "Football, you bet." I guess you had to be there - when you added in the accent he used, which we all mimicked the next day, it made for some pretty good TV hilarity for an adolescent in the mid 1970's.
Alas the show was cancelled a few weeks later - they never recaptured the magic again. I wouldn't mind seeing that episode again.- if I'm not mistaken it may have been the debut episode.
In that episode, the bums got a football team together, and as things went along they needed a kicker, who ended up being some foreign fellow who could only say the English words "Football, you bet." He had a permanent smile on his face -people would ask him questions and he'd say "football, you bet." He goes in the huddle, he's told what to do, and all he can say is "Football, you bet." I guess you had to be there - when you added in the accent he used, which we all mimicked the next day, it made for some pretty good TV hilarity for an adolescent in the mid 1970's.
Alas the show was cancelled a few weeks later - they never recaptured the magic again. I wouldn't mind seeing that episode again.- if I'm not mistaken it may have been the debut episode.
Gilligan comparison
rthowey6 April 2018
I vaguely remember this show
ericbatchelder2 July 2013
I don't remember much about it, but I do remember that I liked it. It was on when I was in junior high school. The only thing I remember was a quote from one of the football players. I forget the situation. I think he may have not been able to speak English. Perhaps the storyline was importing players to fix a game or something like that. The player was interviewed and all he could say was, "Football been berry berry good to me." We said that on our football team for the whole year. Haha. I wouldn't mind a show like that coming back on the air. It was simple and about kids having fun. I guess the reason we liked it so much was because it was a lot like The Archies, which was extremely popular in our childhood years.
Another 40ish dude who remembers "The Line"
hank_saiia15 December 2012
OK, over the years I've sporadically used "The Line", including this morning when I used the line with my stepmother, who loves football but had no idea what the heck I was talking about. And of course I couldn't remember the show. I don't even think the writer remembers the show.
But through the magic of Google you can find anything, even this one-line wonder. So I figured I'd write down my homage to "The Line" here as well. And like the rest of you, I'm not even sure why it was funny at the time. Or why at age 11 I was even watching the show in the first place, especially with my 8 year old brother. I am grateful he watched it with me though, since he is the only other person I can mention it to that will understand the reference.
Hey, who knows why things stick with you. But one of the quirkiest, most fun things about life is that they do, and are sure to bring a knowing smile to your face, even if that makes the rest of the world question your sanity.
But through the magic of Google you can find anything, even this one-line wonder. So I figured I'd write down my homage to "The Line" here as well. And like the rest of you, I'm not even sure why it was funny at the time. Or why at age 11 I was even watching the show in the first place, especially with my 8 year old brother. I am grateful he watched it with me though, since he is the only other person I can mention it to that will understand the reference.
Hey, who knows why things stick with you. But one of the quirkiest, most fun things about life is that they do, and are sure to bring a knowing smile to your face, even if that makes the rest of the world question your sanity.
Football --- you bet!
marvelous-marv9 November 2003
Yeah, I remember that one line and I don't know how it became such a big thing as the show itself was no big deal. I think it was just the fact that it was a sitcom with the word beach in the title that people actually checked it out, and when it stiffed, the only thing to come out of it was the famous line. Why it stuck I have no idea, but do a Yahoo search and you'll find numerous mentions of the line and the fact that it came from this show; it is indeed a famous line if not infamous considering the dubious fate of the show. It's the only thing I or anybody else remembers about it. I wonder if the guy who said it is still saying it somewhere in some bar and nobody except the rare 40-ish guy with a good memory has a clue what he's talking about.
I am a woman, but I still say, Football..You Bet!
wiccan33318 July 2013
The odd thing is, I had forgotten where that line came from until I looked up Stuart Pankin and saw this show and "The Line". I thought "OMG! THAT is where it comes from!"
1977-78 was my senior year in high school and I was so busy making sure I had my civic/scholastic ducks in a row for college resumes and a scholarship. I only watched a few of the episodes from the show, but I use the line a lot. Like every time my hubby and I get out of the car to go into Costco or Walmart, one of us says, "Football" and the other says "You Bet!"
It is always in the looking back, comparing shows of then to shows of today we think of the old ones as lame or boring or whatever the description. But truthfully, it is today's shows that are boring. All cookie cutter, all ridiculous angles and quick cuts. I stopped watching television in 2003. We have a TV to play DVD's, but television programming stinks anymore. Maybe if television programming had more "lame" programs like this I'd buy cable again...but I'm not holding my breath.
1977-78 was my senior year in high school and I was so busy making sure I had my civic/scholastic ducks in a row for college resumes and a scholarship. I only watched a few of the episodes from the show, but I use the line a lot. Like every time my hubby and I get out of the car to go into Costco or Walmart, one of us says, "Football" and the other says "You Bet!"
It is always in the looking back, comparing shows of then to shows of today we think of the old ones as lame or boring or whatever the description. But truthfully, it is today's shows that are boring. All cookie cutter, all ridiculous angles and quick cuts. I stopped watching television in 2003. We have a TV to play DVD's, but television programming stinks anymore. Maybe if television programming had more "lame" programs like this I'd buy cable again...but I'm not holding my breath.
A Fun Show
budg21210 February 2008
Okay, I barely remember this show but I remember liking it.
ABC really hyped this one when it came out. I was maybe eleven years old at the time. Being a young kid in Delaware, the idea of living with my pals on a beach in California seemed like a really cool way to live.
Come to think of it, it still doesn't seem like such a bad idea.
The main two things I remember about the show are Stuart Pankin and that there was a womanizing character named Boychick. Pankin's a great actor and this is probably one of the first things I saw him in. I'm glad he went on to a successful career in movies and television.
It'd be fun to see an episode of this show again. I doubt I'll ever have a chance, but they don't make shows like this anymore - and that's kind of a shame. There's something to be said for the kind of light, fun kind of shows they made back in the Seventies.
Bud Gott
ABC really hyped this one when it came out. I was maybe eleven years old at the time. Being a young kid in Delaware, the idea of living with my pals on a beach in California seemed like a really cool way to live.
Come to think of it, it still doesn't seem like such a bad idea.
The main two things I remember about the show are Stuart Pankin and that there was a womanizing character named Boychick. Pankin's a great actor and this is probably one of the first things I saw him in. I'm glad he went on to a successful career in movies and television.
It'd be fun to see an episode of this show again. I doubt I'll ever have a chance, but they don't make shows like this anymore - and that's kind of a shame. There's something to be said for the kind of light, fun kind of shows they made back in the Seventies.
Bud Gott
Football..You Bet!
donbail8 March 2010
This line has been repeated by myself and my brothers (and most every guy I know) since it came out in 1977. I never thought about it too much and actually forgot where it originated from.
I said the line to my wife the other day and she had no clue as to what I was referring to.
I remembered it was from a sitcom and I do remember being in school the next day and everyone was saying it all day. I think I was in 7th grade. After Googleing it, now I know the origin. As a twelve year old, I vaguely remember liking the show, even though I'm sure it was pretty bad.
I said the line to my wife the other day and she had no clue as to what I was referring to.
I remembered it was from a sitcom and I do remember being in school the next day and everyone was saying it all day. I think I was in 7th grade. After Googleing it, now I know the origin. As a twelve year old, I vaguely remember liking the show, even though I'm sure it was pretty bad.
One Big Line
Phinster24 October 2001
Sure, nobody watched this crapfest, but it must have been big with 12-year-olds. For some reason, my whole seventh grade class repeated the insipid line "Football, you bet" for one entire day. I later learned that it was used the night before on this miserable program. Sure, it was yanked after a very short run, but the producers can take comfort in knowing that one line had a huge impact on a bunch of pre-pubescent punks. Must have been a hell of a funny line - sorry I missed it!
excellent show!
jill-brewer19 December 2005
i remember this show - and it was great!!!!
if i were a Hollywood producer, i would do a re-make immediately.
and then there would be the film, parts 1, 2 & 3, and of course, the action figures, and the comic book, and the reruns, and ....
well, you get the idea.
but seriously, what could be better than bums on the beach? in constant sunshine? never working? now that i think of it, watching this show was probably a formative experience, setting the template for my future dating life which, converted to a sitcom, would be called "LA Slacker Musicians".
i should have been watching Marcus Welby, MD.
if i were a Hollywood producer, i would do a re-make immediately.
and then there would be the film, parts 1, 2 & 3, and of course, the action figures, and the comic book, and the reruns, and ....
well, you get the idea.
but seriously, what could be better than bums on the beach? in constant sunshine? never working? now that i think of it, watching this show was probably a formative experience, setting the template for my future dating life which, converted to a sitcom, would be called "LA Slacker Musicians".
i should have been watching Marcus Welby, MD.
These "Bums" Were Gone In 90 Days!
Axiom-229 September 1999
This lousy show of the late 70s was off the air in 90 days! If I was the producer of ABC,I would have axed it the same night it started! It was about 5 young "beach bums" who lived on a houseboat. It was a pretty lame plot to begin with & this cast of nobodies ended up going nowhere in there acting careers.These "BUMS" are a forgotten memory!!!!! This is one show that "Aaron Spelling" would love to forget about...
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