Ever since Betty White’s gig hosting Saturday Night Live (for which she is now nominated for an Emmy), she has been experiencing a massive revival. The Betty White love-fest has graduated from Facebook gag to full-blown invasion of the proverbial airwaves. Somewhere the joke went too far, and now it’s funny just to cast Betty White in unorthodox roles or provide coverage to her most mundane appearances. What is fueling the Betty White phenomenon? Is it a desire to laugh at an old woman with a crude sense of humor, or are people who had otherwise forgotten about her acting ability truly remembering how entertaining she could be? (Or is it simply that she’s adorable?) After the jump, we round up some of the biggest Betty White news since her SNL appearance.
Remake of Carl Reiner’s Oh, God! Betty White has been tapped to play the God role in this remake, taking over for George Burns in the original. Considering the worship she has received lately, playing God is the most logical next step for White. So far, nothing is set in stone and no offers have been made, but news has spread so quickly we can’t imagine she’ll turn it down.
Betty White to Guest Star on Community Premiere Most recently, it has been reported that Betty White will star as “Professor June Bauer, an esteemed, albeit slightly unhinged, anthropology professor” on the season premiere of Community this upcoming season. The show is no stranger to cultural commentary and may prove to be an interesting role for White. Plus, her unwavering popularity may be just what the show needs when they go head to head with the critically lauded Big Bang Theory when it moves to Thursdays at eight.
The Betty White Pin-Up Calender This is where things start to get out of hand. The calendar features a collection of archival photos and poses with pets, as well as saucier photos of White with bare-chested male models. We wonder if people will still care about her by 2011 or if they’ll have moved on to the next cool octogenarian career revival.
Vampire Betty White? First God, now this. Recently, the main cast of Twilight has all expressed its desire for White to appear in the final chapter of the series, Breaking Dawn. Even Stephanie Meyer has come out to say she would “like to see White as an elderly vampire villain. ” She told E!, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if she was like just sitting there with a big group of the Volturi? That would be amazing.” Sounds like a photo shoot from Betty White’s pin-up calender to us.
Hot Dog-Eating Betty White The Huffington Post ran a story in April about White attending the opening of Pink’s in University City and included photos of her eating a rather large hot dog. Apparently her popularity has made even her eating habits newsworthy.
Bikini-Clad Betty White Riding Centaur John Ritter Quite possibly the single best thing to come out of this whole affair is the image that adorned a cover of The Portland Mercury. We applaud not only the magazine for letting its readers choose its cover but also those readers for having such weird, yet hilarious, imaginations. We can now die happy now that we know what Betty White looks like brandishing a flaming chainsaw.
Betty White Ringing the NYSE Bell Not only is Betty White queen of Main Street, she’s also the queen of Wall Street. Her show Hot in Cleveland recently visited the New York Stock Exchange, where White rung the opening bell. Check out the video below:
Betty White’s Sex Ed: How to Score With Older Women With such renewed popularity among a younger audience, it makes sense for White to educate us in the art of scoring older women. Don’t worry about coming on too strong, but don’t forget to be sweet.
Hot In Cleveland: Highest-Rated and Most Watched Telecast in TV Land History Not only did Betty White’s show earn the highest number of viewers, five million, in the 24-54 crowd, but it was also immediately picked up for a second season after just three episodes.
Betty White to Be Inducted Into the California Hall of Fame While we admit that Betty White deserves to be inducted into a California Hall of Fame, we wonder if she would have found herself among such esteemed company as James Cameron and Mark Zuckerberg if it weren’t for her new career boost.