Two months ago, for seemingly the first time in Facebook history, the site’s users united behind one reasonable, non-stupid goal: to land 88-year-old comedienne Betty White a gig hosting Saturday Night Live. And it worked: She’ll split hosting duties with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on a special May 8 “Women of Comedy†episode, sending into overdrive a late-career revival that last week saw her promoted from guest star to series regular on TV Land’s upcoming Hot in Cleveland, the network’s first-ever original sitcom. On Cleveland, she’ll play the caretaker of a house rented by Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, and Wendie Malick. And now there’s a clip!
What makes White’s comeback so deserving of all the attention it’s getting isn’t isn’t just that her legendary 65-year résumé (from 1954’s The Betty White Show to The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls, all the way up through her appearance in last year’s The Proposal); it’s also that she’s the rare Internet sensation whose canon can be appreciated in earnest and across multiple generations. This isn’t like that time when we cruelly sent Snakes on a Plane to die at the summer box office, or Ron Paul to the presidential primaries. Even if the half-million members of her Facebook group forget to Tivo her episode of SNL, on which she’ll kill, maybe their parents or grandparents will watch.
And even if Cleveland is as otherwise lame as this clip suggests, her parts will still be hilarious — watch here, as she calls her co-stars prostitutes, then makes a Nazi joke. For once, the Internet can feel good about itself.