Betty White delivers with CSI: Sarasota on SNL

Betty White appeared in every episode of SNL last night, including a sketch in which she and the cast sent up the CSI franchise – and Betty’s advanced age – with a sketch entitled “CSI: Sarasota” in which she investigated the deaths of the extremely elderly, oblivious to the possibility of natural causes. Portraying red headed detective Vivian Caruso, supposedly the aunt of CSI: Miami star David Caruso, Betty managed to deadpan lines like “since when does a 103 year old man simply drop dead” and “looks like he’s fallen and he’ll never get up” even as elderly patrons dropped dead around her. At the end of the sketch her partner asked her a question, and Betty responded with “it’s like my underwear: depends.”

The lines might have seemed patronizing or cold coming from an actress who wasn’t actually eighty eight years old – but coming from White, they were hilarious. As was the entire episode, one of SNL’s best in years – according to our own evaluation as well as a scan of immediate Twitter responses from viewers. One of Beatweek’s readers has posed the question of whether perhaps Betty might be in a position to host every SNL episode going forward.