DOES BETTY WHITE’S SHOW STEREOTYPE OLD FOLKS?

Betty White is perpetuating the stereotype of old people and doing them no favors with her Off Their Rockers television show, said Barbara Morris, the 84-year-old author of Put Old on Hold and other books about growing old vigorously, in a statement on Thursday.. Morris, who says that she admires White’s energy and creativity, maintained […]

STEWART MOCKS EASTWOOD’S “OLD MAN AND THE SEAT”

With late-night TV comedians virtually ignoring Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention and focusing instead on mocking Clint Eastwood’s “empty chair” performance earlier in the evening, President Obama undoubtedly must have felt that the actor made his day. In an interview with USA Today, the president said that he was a “huge […]

AT 90, BETTY WHITE TRIUMPHS IN NBC SPECIAL

A two-hour NBC special celebrating Betty White’s 90th birthday managed to beat everything else on television Monday night, including a highly touted episode of Two and a Half Men in which star Ashton Kutcher shaved his beard and trimmed his hair. Betty White’s 90th Birthday: A Tribute to America’s Golden Girl averaged 13.6 million viewers […]

SAG CROWNS THE KING’S SPEECH

The King’s Speech increased its lengthy lead in the Oscar race Sunday night as the Screen Actors Guild awarded the movie trophies for best ensemble acting (equivalent to Oscar’s best picture award) and bestowed its best male actor award on the film’s star, Colin Firth. Natalie Portman received the best female actor award for her […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: YOU AGAIN

You Again is one of those films that people in the industry like to say was not so much released but allowed to escape. It is arriving with little promotion, suggesting that the studio was not about to throw good money after bad. Among critics in the major cities, there’s not a single positive review. […]

BETTY WHITE WINS EMMY FOR SNL HOSTING

This continues to be quite a year in “life with Elizabeth,” as one of Betty White’s early TV series was titled. On Saturday, the 88-year-old actress received a creative arts Emmy Award for best guest actress in a comedy series for her recent appearance as host of Saturday Night Live. She did not appear at […]

RUE MCCLANAHAN, “BLANCHE” ON “GOLDEN GIRLS,” DEAD AT 76

Rue McClanahan, who won an Emmy for her performance as the character Blanche Devereaux on the long-running (1985-92) Golden Girls. has died in New York of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 76. In Golden Girls she played a middle-aged man-hungry woman living with three other women in New York. The others were played […]

DELETED BETTY WHITE “SNL” SKITS RESTORED

Ordinarily sketches and other performances that are dropped from variety shows and specials because of time constraints never see the light of day. But that was before networks owned stakes in video websites. On Monday, NBC, a partner in Hulu.com, posted three deleted skits from last weekend’s Saturday Night Live that didn’t make in onto […]

BETTY WHITE SHINES AS “SNL” TURNS GOLDEN WITH GIRLS

Betty White brought Saturday Night Live its highest ratings since last year’s pesidential election as she co-hosted the late-night show and appeared in virtually all of its satirical sketches. The episode scored an 8.8 rating and a 21 share in preliminary Nielsen ratings. (Final figures, including the estimated number of viewers, is due on Thursday). […]

WILL VIEWERS WATCH AN 88-YEAR-OLD’S APPEARANCE ON “SNL”?

Analysts will be keeping an eye on ratings for this weekend’s Saturday Night Live, which is being co-hosted (with singer Jay Z) by 88-year-old Betty White, who likely holds the record for the longest continuous career on U.S. television. (She started out as disk jockey Al Jarvis’s sidekick on a Los Angeles TV talk show […]