EW.com reports that the fan campaign to get Saturday Night Live’s Lorne Michaels to extend an invitation to the legend – no, the national treasure – that is Betty White, to host SNL, is close to becoming a success.

The catch? White wouldn’t host an episode an alone, because of concern that the 88-year-old Emmy winner shouldn’t have to “shoulder the burden” of hosting a whole 90-minute show by herself.

Fair enough, though, instead of bringing back a slew of former SNL-ers to co-star with White in a “Women of Comedy” episode, as EW.com reports is likely to happen, why not take the opportunity to make something truly awesome happen and reunite Betty White with fellow Golden Girls star Rue McClanahan (who turned 75 earlier this week) and Mary Tyler Moore Show cohorts Mary Tyler Moore, Cloris Leachman, Valerie Harper and Georgia Engel to host SNL?

THAT’S a Women of Comedy line-up! Among them, Engel is the only one who hasn’t won an Emmy (though she’s been nominated five times, most recently for her stint as Robert’s mother-in-law on Everybody Loves Raymond).

And lest anyone complain that the Emmy-winning sitcom legends might not draw an audience to the show – a ridiculous statement, obviously, when nearly half a million people have signed on to the Betty-for-SNL Facebook campaign – consider that both White and Leachman are still active in primetime. White will star in TV Land’s fall sitcom Hot in Cleveland (with Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick), while Leachman is attached to the sitcom pilot Keep Hope Alive, My Name Is Earl creator Greg Garcia’s quirky comedy about a twentysomething guy who becomes a single dad when his one-night-stand babymama ends up on death row.

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Mad Men star Jon Hamm returns this weekend (Saturday, 11:30PM ET, NBC) for his second stint as Saturday Night Live host, and here’s the first promo, in which Hamm and cast member Fred Armisen discuss the correct pronunciation of musical guest Michael Bublé’s name:

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Best line from last night’s Mark Wahlberg Talks to Christmas Animals skit on the last new SNL of the year (and the decade): “Hey partridge, how’s it hanging? Where’s your pear tree? Oh, there it is. So, you were in that song, ‘The 12 Days of Christmas.’ I was in The Happening … did you see that movie?” Aside from his digital videos, his Mark Wahlberg impersonation is Andy Samberg’s best Saturday Night Live bit:

Host James Franco’s monologue was also funny – he poked fun at his college career and his new General Hospital gig – but the second best holiday-themed skit of the night came late in the episode: Vincent Price’s 1954 Christmas Special. Bill Hader continues to prove himself to be one of the most talented, versatile SNL stars ever, and it was fun to see Franco, who starred in TNT’s 2001 biopic of James Dean, reprise the role:

By the way, NBC has announced the host/musical guest line-up for the first two new episodes of 2010: On January 9, Charles Barkley returns as host for the second time, with musical guest Alicia Keys, and on Jan. 16, Ugly Betty star America Ferrera hosts for the first time, with musical guest Green Day. Can’t wait to see if Kenan Thompson busts out his Barkley impersonation in a Barkley vs. Barkley showdown …

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All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

- An early reviewer of the MacGruber movie, based on the Saturday Night Live skit, says the flick is the best SNL-inspired movie since Wayne’s World. Party on, Garth, indeed.

- History Channel is launching its first reality competition series, Top Shot, in 2010, and in keeping with the network’s theme, the show will feature shooting contests, using various weaponry from the past.

- Musician-turned-horror filmmaker Rob Zombie may be directing an episode of CSI.

- The whole blackmail scandal involving pics of Full House and ER star John Stamos? The pics allegedly were just him posing with fans … hmmm, those were some pretty lame blackmailers, no?

- Showtime is launching a weekly news show about racing, called Inside NASCAR. The series premieres in February.

- TNT has greenlit a second season of the Dylan McDermott cop drama Dark Blue.

- Advertisers are pulling their commercials and one ethnic group is calling for a boycott, but it’s hard to believe anyone’s in such a tizzy about MTV’s new reality series Jersey Shore that they’d make death threats to people at the network.

- Four seasons in, and Dexter just earned the best ratings in the show’s history for last Sunday’s penultimate season four ep. The much-anticipated season finale airs Dec. 13 (9PM ET) on Showtime.

- TLC is airing a Cake Boss marathon on Dec. 28, and viewers get to pick the eps that will air. Vote here.

- And tonight on a very busy primetime schedule: Brick is having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit on The Middle (8:30PM, ABC); It’s the Glee fall finale (9PM, Fox), the last ep of the show ’til April(!); A scene from Speed is tested on MythBusters (9PM, Discovery); Jay wigs about Gloria and Manny’s Christmas plans on Modern Family (9PM, ABC); Felicity and The Unit cutie Scott Foley guest stars on Cougar Town (9:30PM, ABC); Babs Walters unveils her list of the Most Fascinating People of 2009 (10PM, ABC); Top Chef names a season six winner (10PM, Bravo); Christian finds himself deeply in debt on Nip/Tuck (10PM, FX); Adam tries to scarf down five huge sandwiches in five minutes on Man vs. Food (10PM, Travel); Steven Seagal: Lawman is back on the case on A&E (10PM); Guy Fieri guests on Dinner: Impossible (10PM, Food Network); Spectacle: Elvis Costello With … debuts season two as Elvis chats with Bono and The Edge (10PM, Sundance); Which team will win the Real World/Road Rules Challenge (10PM, MTV)?; and G4 premieres Campus PD (11PM), a reality series that follows the unique (read: lots o’ sloppy drunk students) challenges of being a college campus cop.

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Mad Men Emmy nominee Jon Hamm, one of the funniest Saturday Night Live hosts in the last couple of years, is returning to host the show in January.

It’s an especially welcome return since many of this season’s SNL eps have been pretty lackluster. It’s certainly time for an Alec Baldwin or Justin Timberlake return, but it would also be nice to see some new celebs take a shot at hosting. Glee star Jane Lynch’s name has been mentioned again and again as a host fans would most like to see, and I would throw out one or all of the cast members of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia as nominees, too.

Other suggestions for SNL hosts:

- Big Bang Theory Emmy nominee Jim Parsons. The show is more popular than ever, and Parsons is a major reason. It would be fun to see what he’d do in a live, sketch comedy venue

- Dexter’s Michael C. Hall. Right? We know him for playing such intense dramatic characters, but there’s always been a lot of dark, clever humor mixed in to both Six Feet Under and especially Dexter, so I’d love to see Hall host the show. Plus, there are so many silly things the SNL cast and writing staff could do with the Dexter character. Here’s a freebie: Have Dexter kill off the worst SNL characters of all time, starting with Kristen Wiig’s Gilly, one of the most annoying, unfunniest SNL creations ever.

- George Clooney. I know, not likely, but he has a great sense of humor, and it would be interesting to see how far he’d go in poking fun at himself and his fellow A-listers. Plus, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon cameos?

Which of the following would you most like to see as a Saturday Night Live host in 2010?
- Glee’s Jane Lynch
- The cast of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
- Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons
- Dexter’s Michael C. Hall
- George Clooney

PS – The Saturday Night Live Christmas special airs on Dec. 17 (8PM ET) and will be hosted by Kristen Wiig … as Gilly. But it’s still promising, as Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin are making guest appearances, and the two-hour special will also include clips of some of the best holiday-themed skits from years past, including clips with Justin Timberlake, Adam Sandler and Eddie Murphy.

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