National Celebration of Betty White’s Life

By Lori Perkins

Last night, NBC offered an hour-long televised celebration of Betty White’s amazing life, starting with excerpts from her self-produced sit com Life with Elizabeth (which was not in syndication when I was growing up, so I never saw it before) through The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Golden Girls and Hot in Cleveland right up until her SNL hosting gig. Because she was such an integral part of American TV pop culture for eight decades, the special was chock full of celebrity appearances that would rival royalty, and even included an appearance from President Joe Biden.

For me, the highlights of the special where the overall impact of professionalism, kindness and good humor that she seemed to have throughout her career. I loved seeing Vicki Lawrence from The Carol Burnett Show talk about what a joy it was to work with her, as well as John McHale from Community tell the story of how she was the one celebrity on the show that his wife and kids wanted to meet (so much so that they sent a group photo shoot with her out as their Christmas card that year).

But the best moments were from the TV game show Password where they showed snippets of banter between Betty and her future husband Allen Lunden. We actually saw two people falling in love on camera.

I binged a few episodes of Golden Girls when Betty White passed, but now I really want to watch old episodes of Password and Life with Elizabeth.

I have to say that I am awed by her life of accomplishment, love and friendship.