If You Ask Me - Betty White [4]
GLOBE PHOTOS
HOLLYWOOD STORIES
At the 2011 Screen Actors Guild Awards with the girls from Hot in Cleveland—Valerie Bertinelli, me, Jane Leeves, and Wendie Malick.
LESTER COHEN/WIREIMAGE
HOT IN CLEVELAND
Sixty-three years in this business and I still find it difficult to refuse a job offer. That could be a hangover from the early days when jobs were hard to come by and I always thought each one might be my last.
I do manage to utter the “NO” word if the schedule is on overload or if the script doesn’t appeal to me—the latter being the real issue.
Not long ago, I agreed to do a guest stint on a new pilot, and I insisted on the proviso that I would not be involved if it got picked as a series. It was to be a one-shot only, because my schedule was packed.
The pilot was called Hot in Cleveland, starring Valerie Bertinelli, Wendie Malick, and Jane Leeves. Now, it can often take months to learn the fate of a pilot, but after only three weeks the show got an order for ten more episodes from TV Land network. It was the first original scripted show TV Land had ever done—they were best known for rebroadcasting many of the old classics.
When the producers asked me if I would do a couple of additional episodes, I reminded them of our agreement and reluctantly explained that my calendar was just too full, but thank you so much.
Of course, I wound up doing all ten shows! Actually, the pilot had been a delightful experience. The girls were a joy, the writing was fun, and it had been a very happy set. What’s to walk away from?
The TV Land folk were very pleased at the warm public response to the show. So pleased that as we finished the tenth show, I got a call from my agent, Jeff Witjas.
“Betty,” he said. “Great news! They’ve picked up Hot in Cleveland for twenty more shows!”
I remember holding the phone for a moment. Then I said, “No, Jeff, that wasn’t the agreement. My schedule hasn’t let up. I don’t know how I could possibly do it!” Here I should mention that the taping schedule for a television series is four or five days a week, requiring me to be on set sometimes for ten hours a day! “Much as I love the show and the company, I’m still on overload,” I told Jeff. “There’s no room whatsoever to work in a series!”
P.S. Guess who signed on for all twenty episodes?
I have the backbone of a jellyfish.
I’d say I was a pushover if I wasn’t so delighted.
And that was before the show received two SAG nominations and was rated the number-one television show on cable. [Editor’s Note: Sorry to be a ratings-dropper.]
What absolutely boggles my mind is that I find myself in yet another hit series, having a ball with a wonderful cast and crew. One of those in a lifetime is a blessing, two of them is a privilege, but three out of three?
I owe Someone, big time.
With Larry Jones, president of TV Land.
D DIPASUPIL/FILMMAGIC.COM
Hosting Saturday Night Live.
NBCU PHOTO BANK
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
Between doing a Snickers commercial to be run during the Super Bowl, hosting Saturday Night Live, and starting a new series, Hot in Cleveland, 2010 turned out to be, as they say, a very good year. As a result, people keep congratulating me on my big “comeback” or “resurgence.” Thanks, guys, but I haven’t really been away—I’ve been working steadily for the past sixty-three years. Granted, since those gigs, some folks may feel they’ve gotten something of a Betty White overdose.
It was a huge and wonderful surprise when the Snickers commercial turned up as the first spot on the Super Bowl. We didn’t expect that when we filmed it one early, cold California morning. The idea was, I was playing football with a group of nice young men. (Tough duty!) It wound up with me being tackled into a pool of icy, muddy water. A great stuntwoman took the actual tackle, and I just lay down in the puddle in the same position where she had landed. She took the dive, but I got the laugh. Sure doesn’t seem fair, does it?
At nearly the same time that the Snickers ad was making waves, I was hit with another surprise. Years ago, I had