February 18, 2010
“My mother always used to say, the older you get, the better you get, unless you're a banana." - Betty White playing Rose Nylund in 80s hit 'The Golden Girls'
From 1985-1992 and for 180 episodes, Betty White played the coy Minnesota farm girl, Rose Nylund, on the hit television show The Golden Girls.
But today and still a 'golden girl', Betty White, 88, is the focus of a massive Facebook fan page effort on her behalf that has gone 'viral', as they say in Internet vernacular.
'The Betty White to Host SNL (please?)' Facebook fan page idea originated as a whim, a fun attempt to pressure Saturday Night Live producers to draft Betty as a guest host. No one expected what followed--thousands joined.
In fact and according to the page itself, on Feb. 13 at 1:43 p.m. CST, Betty's 'SNL Please' Facebook fan page surpassed the official fan page for 'Saturday Night Live' in total number of fans!
The originators started the fan page after Betty White's hilarious performance in a Super Bowl Snickers candy bar ad in which the spot garnered first place in USA Today's Ad Meter contest.
On Super Bowl Sunday, Betty White became a star to millions of old and new fans alike in one 30-second sensational commercial.
The Betty White fan page originators describe their effort this way on their page: "Betty White has been doing television since before 'I Love Lucy'! What a way to honor her career, her comedic timing, and her life than by inviting her to host Saturday Night Live!!!"
And what a career, more than 65 years of performing on stage and screen.
Arguably, The Golden Girls was her most memorable show. Betty's character, shy and clueless Rose, encountered all kinds of predicaments in her retirement years with roommates Blanche, Dorothy, and Sophia as they lived together in Miami.
According to one critic, Betty played Rose more as "terminally naïve, a person who always believes the first explanation of something" rather than a girl just off the farm.
But Rose's famous line about her farm in Minnesota became a catch phrase of the 80s, "Back in St. Olaf..." When Rose told a story about her life back on the farm, she would preface it with "now, back in St. Olaf."
That was big in the 80s; maybe, it will catch on again. I can just see Betty White opening her SNL skit with "Now, back in St. Olaf."
However, NBC is not commenting on "the draft Betty" campaign, telling Entertainment Weekly, "Sorry. We never comment on this sort of thing."
I am betting on Betty to pull it off with or without a fan page. This girl is no rotten banana.
(By the way, if you want to join her Facebook page with me and become a fan, search for "Betty White to Host SNL (please?)".
