When Betty White first hosted “Saturday Night Live” in 2010 there was still a TV audience and a culture. She has also had 1 million people who’d signed a petition to get her on the late night classic. the result was 12 million viewers.
Those days are long ago. Since then, the culture has been eaten by dozens of other distractions including streaming platforms. So we didn’t expect a huge number for the Betty White redux re-showing of that episode on New Year’s Day night. Actually, the number wasn’t bad.
The 12 year old episode managed to find 3.1 million viewers, about a quarter of the original. The show was much raunchier and less political than the current version. Actually it was very raunchy. I was surprised looking at it now. But we’re in a timid period in comedy thanks to everyone being “woke” and politically correct.
It was instructive looking back. Jay Z seemed mystified about why he was there, and in awe of White. Whatever happened to Jay Z? And whatever happened to the guy he performed with, named Mr. Hudson? Did he fall into the Hudson?
