Facebook Powers Betty White onto SNL

When I think of the possibilities of what large groups of otherwise unrelated people can do when properly organized through methods that have only come about since the creation of the various protocols that make up the Internet, many things come to mind. One thing us Anonymous — a group dedicated to liberating people from any perceived oppression — whether it comes from Scientology or the Australian Government. I certainly would have never thought that masses of people would get together to want comedienne Betty White to host the late night comedy show “Saturday Night Live.”

Here’s the roots of how it happened:  Last month, a group of people decided that, knowing the rules of the dead zone, it was high time Betty White host “Saturday Night Live.” They formed a group on Facebook called “Betty White to Host SNL (please?)!” that went from a few fans to (at this moment) over four hundred and twenty thousand fans.

The mainstream media finally seemed to catch wind of this movement after the Super Bowl, with the funny commercial featuring both White and always seemingly old yet not that old actor Abe Vigoda.

The funny part of this all to me is how “Saturday Night Live” generally picks its hosts, and how this campaign contradicts that process. Generally speaking, hosts for Saturday Night Live are there to promote their new film whereas musical guests have new albums to promote. This has long irked me as there are plenty of talented actors and actresses out there who would be hilarious on the show who just happen not to have anything to promote. Similarly, there are many musicians who would be great as musical guests who have not put out an album in a couple of years.

This movement has therefore been inspiring to me. I was not expecting it to go as well as it has been based on the short term failure of the Coco campaign — I say short term because I fully expect Conan to succeed in the long term thanks to the efforts of the fans involved in the campaign. Rather, the Betty White campaign has been going well enough that Michael Ausiello has reported that the show is close to signing Ms. White to host the show — along with other women — in a special episode about women in comedy.

Naturally, there are some people on the Facebook group discussion groups that are already angry about this compromise, but I say that it is significantly better than not having Ms. White as a host at all. Indeed, the power of the Internet is incredible when used for the good — because nothing would make me happier than seeing Betty White host “Saturday Night Live.”