 This is the SF Productions podcast network She's the longest working woman in Television from the pop culture bunker. I'm Indy and I'm Mark You can check out our audio podcast how I got my wife to read comics on iTunes or on our website SF podcast network comm so who is the longest working woman on television that would be Betty white Most people know her career from the 70s and beyond like Mary Tyler Moore You know you have to go back to before the dawn of television to see where she started She made her first appearance in 1930 at age eight in an early radio drama called Empire Builders playing an orphan in 1939 three months out of high school She and a classmate sang on an experimental LA television channel Regular TV broadcasting wouldn't begin until after World War two after having no luck getting film work She was turned down for being unphotogenic She worked in radio during shows such as Blondie the Great Gilder Sleeve and this is your FBI In many cases doing the live commercials. She was given the Gilder Sleeve gig to do parquet commercials parquet in 1948 she returned to TV doing a panel show called Grab your phone a simple concept because the TV industry was still trying to figure out what it actually was a Question would be asked to the audience watching their TVs and then she and three other women would answer phones to get the answer Oh dear. She was paid more than the other three women because she could add lip on air. Okay in 1949 she was hired as co-host of a local LA variety show called Hollywood on television The show was live. This was long before videotape and ran six days a week Five and a half hours a day with no script just guests songs and more ad-libbing in 1952 the original star Al Jarvis was exhausted by the whole thing. So he was replaced by Eddie Albert Also a TV pioneer later to go on to Green Acres He didn't stay long leaving white as the sole host at the same time She was doing an eponymous TV series where she answered viewers letters and sang songs The piano player on Hollywood on television was George Tibbles who out of boredom Started writing scripts for the show including sketches about a young married couple The local station manager was Don Feddersen who wanted to move up in the industry and saw those sketches as a possible series He and Tibbles along with white Created life with Elizabeth which started as a regional series Keep in mind that coast-to-coast TV wasn't around yet And then took it to first-run syndication, which was also a very new idea And the show is kind of a proto sitcom Three unrelated sketches with white and Del Moore as her husband Alvin with domestic wackiness and suing They were constantly needling each other and the Alvin character was rather rude to Elizabeth But I guess that was acceptable in the early 50s announcer Jack Nars would introduce each sketch what they called incidents and Directly interact with the Elizabeth character before the sketch started I saw a large number of a life with Elizabeth episodes on the decades channel one of those digital sub channels Attached to local stations, and it is very basic Feddersen then made a deal for white to host yet another eponymous series this time at NBC as a daily daytime series One of the first shows for women that still permeate the airwaves During all of these shows white was in her early 30s and still living with her parents Life with Elizabeth ended not due to ratings, but based on economics The show had enough episodes to run in syndication in perpetuity and keep bringing in the money So another show was developed again with Feddersen called date with the angels for ABC Again white plays a young wife, but with a twist She has elaborate daydreams which turn into dream sequences some of which would take up half the episode The sponsor Plymouth wasn't a fan of the dream sequences So they were dropped which turned the show into a standard sitcom which didn't last Actually turned into a variety show to finish out its one-season run Now keep mentioning Don Feddersen He did move up in the industry creating my three sons and family affair George Tibbles the piano player had a long career as a TV writer Co-creating my three sons and working into the 1980s, but back to Betty She appeared as a senator in the film Advising Consent in 1962 But despite good reviews of her performance, she wouldn't be seen on the big screen again for decades By the 1960s white was hosting events such as the Tournament of Roses Parade on NBC Which she did for 19 years and appearing on many game shows This is where she met the love of her life in passwords Alan Ludden She was actually married twice before that in the 40s But white and Ludden wed in 1963 and were married until his death in 1981 She continued primarily doing game shows into the 70s, but had fallen out of prime time Until the Mary Tyler Moore show asked her to join the cast as passive-aggressive sickly sweet daytime cooking star Sue Ann Niven essentially a parody of the role she had for years More and white were friends and more personally asked her to do the show She became a recurring character through the show's run winning two Emmys in the process This was not her first Emmy. She got one in 1951 as best actress Emmy She then got yet another eponymous series this time a sitcom with John Hillerman and former Mary Tyler Moore co-star George Engel Aka. Georgeette it only lasted 14 episodes by the 1980s She returned to game shows hosting just men and getting another Emmy in the process White had appeared multiple times as a guest on the Carol Burnett show and white got a recurring role on the quasi spin-off Mama's family from 1983 to 1985 She wasn't off the air long as she moved on to what may be her best known role as Rose Nylond on the Golden Girls a huge success running from 85 to 92 and netting white yet another another Emmy She was originally offered the role of Blanche Which she considered to be too similar to a previous roles so the casting was changed She and the other cast members apart from B Arthur tried to stretch out the show's success and a spin-off called the Golden Palace Which only lasted one season white spent the rest of the 90s guest during on TV shows Including a role as herself on the John Larraket show winning yet another Emmy She was also a regular on the second and last season of Bob Newhart's third sitcom Bob as well as a regular on the single season Marie Osmond sitcom maybe this time and the two season Alfred Molina sitcom ladies man with a young Kaley Cuoco By the 2000s white moved into soap operas with a recurring role on the bold and the beautiful She also had a recurring role on Boston legal from 2005 to 2008 in a role She originated in its predecessor the practice of course she continued to appear on game shows She would eventually have the distinction of being on a game show in every decade from the 1950s to the 2010s And she's only got three years to go before she can add another decade to that And by this point you would think that would be enough for any career But in 2010 she joined the cast of TV lands hot in Cleveland in what was supposed to be a single appearance in the pilot But was then asked to stay on for the whole series from 2010 to 2015 Joining other tv sitcom vets such as Valerie Bertinelli from one day at a time Jane leaves from Frasier and Wendy Malek from just shoot me She also after a huge letter writing campaign became the oldest host of SNL at 88 Winning yet another Emmy And to return to movies in the films The Proposal and You Again She apparently wasn't busy enough so she did voice work on the cartoon Pound Puppies White is a longtime animal activist And she exec produced a reality series about old people called Betty whites off their rockers Did I mention the Grammy for her reading of her book if you ask me and of course you won't Three tv land awards three actors gill awards Three american comedy awards two daytime Emmys a people's choice award a tv Critics association award all going beside her five Emmys at age 95 She has two IMDP credits from this year for an episode of bones and an episode of young and hungry That's out of 117 acting credits 311 credits as herself 9 soundtrack credits and 2 producer credits She has recurring or regular credits on 19 tv series so far I would not count her out yet Oh, it will be interesting to see what Betty white does next And while you're waiting for that you can check out our audio podcast How I got my wife to read comics on itunes or on our website sfpodcastnetwork.com From the pop culture bunker i'm indy and i'm mark. Thanks for watching Betty. We salute you