White Night: Off Their Rockers

Perhaps the only thing funnier than Betty White's newish NBC show "Off Their Rockers" is the recent "Saturday Night Live" parody of it in which Maya Rudolph impersonates Maya Angelou (a laugh in itself) and pranks "Morgan Freeman" by putting a banana cream pie on his chair.  Charging into the coveted Wednesday 8:00 pm time slot to save us from the horror that was "Whitney" and reruns of ABC's "The Middle" (my favorite show, by the way.  When will it be new again?), "Off Their Rockers" borrows from the tradition of "Candid Camera" and "Punk'd," putting a new spin on practical jokes by placing senior citizens in the role of the pranksters.  Their prey?  Unsuspecting and often sullen twentysomethings loitering around southern California hotspots and beaches.  Interspersed with blurbs of Betty herself zinging one-liners from her gorgeous estate (or maybe it's just a set; who can tell?), the effect is charming and zany and showcases the go-for-the-gusto-before-it's-gone spirit that illuminates the eldery set.  Betty, after all, is ninety!  Sometimes, when I feel tired or put upon or even just plain old discouraged, I remind myself that Ms. White appears in a weekly sitcom ("Hot in Cleveland"), makes movies (the latest of which is The Lorax), and guest stars on a host of other shows in addition to this fresh venture, all with unbeatable humor and grace.   Who knew that The Golden Girls's ditsiest dame had all that fabulousness tucked under her blond bouffant?  Well, I did.  But that's only because I have a soft spot for kooks and watch too much TV.