# Poll: Your opinion of Betty White's career renaissance **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 8, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523 "2010-10-08T18:22:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/21 "2010-10-09T20:50:22Z")
Back in my day, we had the concept of “Funny once.” Having BW do the sassy old lady thing is a funny once. After that it’s just sad. So over it and then some? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/22 "2010-10-09T21:26:15Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Unless you watch a lot of TV and movies, where’s the overload? I’ve seen her on SNL and the Snickers commercial and that’s it. She was a regular on _Hot in Cleveland_, has been on two eps of _Community_ this season, is in the movie _You Again_, is a frequent guest on Jimmy Fallon and other talk shows (Leno, _Daily Show_ and several morning shows), had a guest shot on _The Middle_ and the above, and all that’s been in 2010. Last year was busy as well. I love the old lady and I’m glad she’s doing well but she’s fast becoming overexposed and something of a cliche. At this point playing somebody’s sweet conservative old grandma would be playing against type- in the past year she’s played sex obsessed eccentric seniors and, wonderfully, a psychopath on _My Name is Earl_, and twisted versions of herself on _30 Rock_ and \* Ugly Betty\* (now[that I must say was hysterical](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLuIv_4nkZM&feature=related)), but at no point has she played an octogenarian version of June Cleaver and increasingly some writers seem to think it’s intrinsically funny to have a very old woman talk about sex. > [@ftg](#): > > Back in my day, we had the concept of “Funny once.” Having BW do the sassy old lady thing is a funny once. After that it’s just sad. So over it and then some? How about back in St. Olaf? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/23 "2010-10-09T21:34:43Z")
Betty White has talent, and still does, the thing this really proves is there are a lot of older actors and actresses that could play roles and do them well but aren’t given the chance. That certainly doesn’t take anything away from White, it just re-enforces the truth of it ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/24 "2010-10-09T22:53:19Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > …I love the old lady and I’m glad she’s doing well but she’s fast becoming overexposed and something of a cliche… That’s all true. I doubt White gives a flying fuck about being overexposed an/or cliched. 🆒 This is a woman who’s been in the entertainment industy since 1939. She loves doing this and is fully aware of how fleating fame can be (& at 88 how fleating _life_ can be). Anybody else ever wonder what kind of restrictions the insurance companies impose on productions she’s in? Her recent film appearances have all been supporting roles with comparatively little actual screentime; easy to film those scenes first or reshot if the need arises. Even on **Hot in Cleveland** she was originally only supposed to be a recurring guest star; she turned out to be a breakout character. In theory it’d be easy to write her character out (in practice it’d be hard to salvage the show after her loss). ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/25 "2010-10-09T23:33:48Z")
I’m more “meh” than anything about it, but my girlfriend is a big fan. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/26 "2010-10-09T23:35:40Z")
Big fan, here. Not a stalker fan but a fan nonetheless. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/27 "2010-10-10T00:43:30Z")
Her new career is the character she played in the underrated “Lake Placid”. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/28 "2010-10-10T02:20:33Z")
Yep, she’s becoming overexposed, but that’s the nature of the media of the times. I’d expect at her age she’s saying," Yep, Whatever, Ha Ha", without caring about the current trends. At this point, it’s all just good gravy to her, and after a long career, why not go with that? Hopefully, she can also push for better Old Lady bits from the writers as she’s in more demand. Don’t understimate her smarts. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/29 "2010-10-10T02:52:29Z")
I just wanted to point out I was [ahead](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=575435) of the curve on this. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/30 "2010-10-10T03:22:39Z")
I like it and hope it lasts a while, for her sake, not mine. It doesn’t bother me one bit, and I like to see someone like her, a veteran, get some recognition, some due, rather than someone like Justin Bieber. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/31 "2010-10-10T03:47:13Z")
she was and is witty on the ad lib and have been given roles with that type of character. she is talented. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/32 "2010-10-10T04:07:18Z")
> [@xenophon41](#): > > > [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > > > Now? She’s been doing it since at least 1998 (in Hard Rain) and her un-Betty White antics stole the movie of Lake Placid (in 1999). > > Long before that, in the MTM show as Sue Anne Nivens, the “Happy Homemaker” character was anything but her snow-white image when not taping her show. But the riffs on “old lady” didn’t happen until she got, well, old, and had been reestablished as the sweet but ditzy old lady she portrayed as _Golden Girls_’ Rose Nylund. _GG_ ended in 1992 and she got to play against _that_ type for a while. > > I guess those roles in the late 90’s were what established her latest (and last) type. That’s the thing. Those of a certain generation, say under the age of 40, remember her primarily as the sweet, conservative, little old lady who was naive in the ways of the world from Golden Girls. And a lot of the roles she’s doing are in projects aimed toward that demographic, so they’re playing up the shock value of her cursing and talking about sex. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/33 "2010-10-11T13:05:13Z")
I just find her jokes predictable, at least until I saw her on Community. I did not expect the bow and arrow thing. I take it she’s in episode 3, which I have yet to see. She must have done a pretty good job, since they seemingly wrote her out in the first episode. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/34 "2010-10-11T14:04:29Z")
She’s a classic, and I’m a big fan of _her_ … but the hammering-it-into-your-head-hype on the part of others is starting to get to me, as exemplified by **fusoya’s** anecdote about her being the topic of conversation on Jay Leno. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/35 "2010-10-11T14:32:21Z")
I honestly have no idea how she got famous in the first place. To me she is just an old woman that is suddenly appearing everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/36 "2010-10-11T14:41:50Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > But as soon as there’s a _Betty White’s House of Love_ reality show on VH1, I’m done with it. :eek: I am so going to steal that to pitch to them or FOX! Maybe I can combine it with Flava Flav! ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/37 "2010-10-11T17:05:28Z")
I am indifferent to her. I neither love nor hate her, but all the love she and the rest of the cast of Golden Girls get/got is a bit baffling to me. I watched the show when I was a kid because I had no other option and that’s what my step mom watched, but she also watched Walker Texas Ranger and a bunch of other televised flotsam that I always assumed Golden Girls was a part of. ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/38 "2010-10-11T17:28:28Z")
I liked her in the Mary Tyler Moore show and the movie Lake Placid. That’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/39 "2010-10-11T18:26:38Z")
To quote Spagetti, “Yeah, um… I’m kinda… done with that.” ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523/40 "2010-10-11T20:01:44Z")
> [@Hades](#): > > I am indifferent to her. I neither love nor hate her, but all the love she and the rest of the cast of Golden Girls get/got is a bit baffling to me. I watched the show when I was a kid because I had no other option and that’s what my step mom watched, but she also watched Walker Texas Ranger and a bunch of other televised flotsam that I always assumed Golden Girls was a part of. If you handpicked the best 40 or so of their 180+ episodes you’d have a comedy classic, but the majority were mediocre with more than a handfull of flat-out awful. The characters got so cartoonish: Sophia was the old lady that most people who love old people would still think was the one excusable exception to elderabuse laws, Blanche was the self absorbed bimbette and Rose could never possibly or conceivably have held down a job that didn’t involve darning socks. Dorothy was slightly more believable but even there you had the “always money challenged public school teacher who always wears designer clothes and complains about lack of dates yet she goes out all the time”- she has more dates through the series than most teenagers. Also, while I have no problem believing that 60 year old women still have sex drives I find it hard to believe that they’re as obsessed with sex as these broads. One of my pet peeves about the show- and I’m sure there’s a relevant TV Trope- is that they were terrible in continuity: \*The number and ages of their kids: Several times it was said that Dorothy married Stan because she was pregnant and in high school, which given Stan and Dorothy’s age (late 50s at the beginning of the show) would make their oldest child somewhere in his/her 40s during the run of the show, yet whenever one or the other of their kids were seen they were much younger than this. In a first season episode we met Blanche’s 14 year old “Yankee” grandson; even assuming that Blanche became a grandmother in her late 30s this would make her at the youngest in her early 50s by the time the show airs, and the implication is she’s older (at least mid 50s), yet a later episode deals with her unexpected (false) pregnancy that turns out to be menopause- HIGHLY unlikely. Rose made numerous references to her children but when her daughter comes to visit she’s apparently the only child (it’s a meeting about Rose’s dead husband’s estate). Blanche also mentions having sons (I don’t remember if they’re ever shown) yet later a single daughter visits and is having an artificial insemination procedure, which means Blanche has to have at least 4 children (the sons, the grandson’s mother and the younger daughter) yet she in some eps says she had two children. Likewise in some episodes she grew up in Louisiana, in some she grew up in Atlanta, in some episodes her parents are dead and later her father is in a couple of episodes and when she recalls visiting her mother in a flashback episode her mother was ancient and they refer to the father- years past- as being dead. In one episode Rose’s boyfriend Niles has a daughter who grew up in Miami and in another his colleagues at the college where he teaches have known him and his late wife for years. Later we learn he’s in the witness protection program under an assumed name because he’d been a bookkeeper for a mafia don until a few years before, which makes no sense as to how he had decades long friends and professional acquaintances and an academic career in Miami. I know they shouldn’t, but things like this irk me: I think writers on sitcoms should keep up with the backstory. There are also many silly plots- the gameshow episode comes to mind. The girls going to LA on the redeye to be on a gameshow and having to sleep in a hotel lobby because the clerk (who charges them $75 to let them) tells them there are no other rooms available in town- lots and lots of problems here including the infeasibility L.A. would sell out to begin with or that they’d just take a clerk’s word for it, but then they get to the gameshow and immediately switch sides and compete against each other- also not bloody likely. They seem to forget meanwhile that Dorothy has a sister/Sophia a daughter who lives in a mansion in L.A.. But then there were several episodes that were truly funny. They just made wayyyyyy too many. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-your-opinion-of-betty-whites-career-renaissance/556523.md?page=3)