Betty White ‘punkin’ the young’uns as host of hidden-camera TV show
PASADENA, CALIF.
Betty White may be about to turn 90 — Jan. 17 is the official anniversary — but that doesn’t mean she’s ready to play the shrinking violet just yet. In a raucous, at times racy, tete-a-tete over scrambled eggs and old coffee one recent morning, White sounded off on everything from sex on TV today to the way TV has changed over the years.
White will host a new hiddencamera program, Betty White’s Off Their Rockers, starting Jan. 16 on CTV and NBC. The program is a kind of reverse spin on Punk’d, in which Ashton Kutcher played pranks on his celebrity colleagues. In this version, senior citizens, goaded by White, play pranks on the younger generation.
White appeared Friday to promote the show, but it wasn’t long before the conversation turned to something much more interesting and entertaining: Betty White herself.
“I’m not only blessed with good health, but good energy,” she said, in her bright, irrepressible morning voice. “I can credit my folks for my genes. That said, I can’t get over that at this age, I don’t feel this age. I’m not trying to be any younger. I’m not lying about my age. If I were lying about my age, I would say I was 89.
“I’m just at one of those good times in one’s life. There’ve been so many of those through those 90 years but, even so, I’m at one of the high spots. I’m healthy enough to enjoy it. I’m surrounded by friends I adore. Isn’t that kind of the best way to sign off?”
If one doesn’t enjoy life, what’s life worth living for, she feels.
“I mean, I’m in the acting busi- ness,” White said. “That’s the ego business. When you get offers, the way things are going right now, you’ve gotta enjoy it. You’ve gotta take the time to taste it and appreciate it and make the most of it. Those offers aren’t going to come around all the time, and not much longer at 90. By the time I’m 100. . . .
“I’m thrilled to be able to say yes to as many things as I have, and it’s not work when you love what you do.”
White noted that, just recently, Tony Bennett performed before the same audience. Bennett is 85, she was told, “and they made a big thing about that.” White scoffed. “He’s a kid,” she said. Doing what you love, no matter your age, keeps one energized, White insisted.
Betty White’s Off Their Rockers premieres Jan. 16 on CTV and NBC at 6 p.m., where it will be followed on CTV by White’s TV Land sitcom, Hot in Cleveland.