Cynthia Littleton On The Air

This and that: 11 bil vids served; "Hannah Montana" pic on Dis Channel; Three Stooges do the Hulu; "Soul Train" changes hands; Betty White alert!

Wonder why the Internet seems to be moving slower and slower these days? Maybe it's because of all the  18-34-year-olds out there hogging all the bandwidth.

Internet ratings provider has comScore let loose some eye-opening stats about Internet vid consumption. For starters, comScore estimates that U.S. consumers watched 11 billion Internet vids in April, running an average of 2.8 minutes a pop. The average Web surfer watched 228 minutes of video online during the month, with 18-34-year-olds being the heaviest-viewing demo at an average of 287 minutes. More than 70% of U.S. online users watched some online vid during the month. YouTube alone accounted for 4.1 billion, or 38%, of those 11 billion vids viewed, which breaks down to 49.8 vids for each of its 82.1 million viewers. MySpace ranked No. 2 with 481 million vids served up to 46 million viewers...

... The Disney Channel may help pull some of those people away from their computer screens next month with the smallscreen debut of its 3-D theatrical sensation "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds" concert pic. Mouse House will hand out free 3-D glasses at Wal-Mart Stores (while supplies last, which probably won't be long) starting July 5 in preparation for the pic's July 26 premiere on Disney Channel. There's also a brand-new "Hannah Montana" seg set to bow July 20 to whip up more enthusiasm for the concert pic. I'm thinking the "Best of Both Worlds" telecast is gonna be huge for Disney Channel -- maybe not "High School Musical 2" 17 million-plus viewers big, but I wouldn't be surprised if it comes close. Ask anyone who's done a blog post on "Hannah Montana" -- it's the gift that keeps on giving, traffic-wise....

Betty White alert! "Golden Girls" honored by TV Land

"The Golden Girls" was among the honorees at this year's TV Land Awards, held Sunday at Santa Monica's Barker Hangar. Betty is all smiles with her former costars Bea Arthur and Rue McClanahan.

This and that: KCET salutes Sydney Pollack; Gordon Ramsay feeds us well; Moczulski to KTLA; Betty White alert!

L.A. pubcaster KCET-TV will pay tribute to multihyphenate Sydney Pollack on Monday by running Pollack's 2005 docu "Sketches of Frank Gehry," followed by a 1994 interview Pollack did for PBS' "Life & Times" with anchor Hugh Hewitt. Pollack, who died May 26 at age 73, was a board member of KCET for the past seven years. KCET prexy Al Jerome will offer host the on-air tribute and offer his own remembrances of the prolific Pollack...

...I've been remiss in posting something on the fab time had by a bunch of us at Variety at Wednesday's party to toast the opening of Gordon Ramsay at the London West Hollywood. (No, the cameras were not rolling behind the scenes in the kitchen, though I think by all rights they should have been.) The delicacies up for grabs around the party were yummy indeed -- I particularly liked the split pea soup, and there were mouth-watering little cubes of Kobe beef and the tastiest shrimp I've had in some time. The atmosphere of the place was user-friendly, with lots of space and rooms to roam through. On hand to raise a glass to Gordon on his L.A. debut were Fox's Peter Liguori, Kevin Reilly and Mike Darnell and his always-charming wife Carolyn; Sean Perry, Ramsay's rep at Endeavor; producer Thom Beers; and thesps Eric McCormack and Melina Kanakaredes. The guest who generated the most celeb-buzz was Ramsay's fellow countryman David Beckham, and his bow tie....

...I've also been tardy in noting the welcome news that John Moczulski has joined KTLA-TV as veep of programming and marketing. Moczulski's a seasoned industry vet and all-around good guy, having served stints in marketing and programming at Columbia TriStar TV Distribution, the CBS O&Os, KNBC-TV and KABC-TV. Most recently, Moczulski's been running a local TV sales ad sales firm TV 10s....

...Betty White alert! Betty was doing her part for the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn. on Thursday, taking part in a photo op at the zoo in an effort to tubthump for GLAZA's annual Beastly Ball fundraiser on June 14. GLAZA had a bunch of the eateries who are providing food for the ball prepare a veggie feast for the gorillas. The unparalleled Pink's Hot Dogs is on that list, and the Pink's people brought a raft of veggie dogs for the gorillas to inhale (isn't that how everyone eats a Pink's dog?) on Thursday. Betty, of course, is a longtime champion of our local animal kingdom and trustee of the GLAZA Foundation (interesting that in connection with GLAZA she uses Betty White Ludden). I'll take any opportunity to beautify this blog with the sweet smiling face of the first lady of television.

Betty White graces "Million Dollar Password"

Betty White alert! The first lady of television will grace CBS' air as a contestant on the June 12 edition of "Million Dollar Password."

White, of course, was married to Mr. Password, Allen Ludden, for many years and logged plenty of appearances on the show in its 1960s and '70s, Goodson-Todman heyday. Ludden had such a graceful way of handing the cards to contestants on the original show, with its pop-up toaster clues.

In this Regis Philbin-hosted primetime incarnation of the show, White will be paired with "Curb Your Enthusiasm's" Susie Essman. Oughta be fun -- but be forewarned, contestants: White is a heck of a "Password" player.

(From years of watching vintage "Password" reruns, my husband and I have determined that the all-time greatest "Password" player was Peter Lawford. He put so much into it. Carol Burnett runs a close second.)

Betty White on "Ugly Betty": What could be better?

Whoo-hoo, it's a collision of two things I love: Betty White and "Ugly Betty."

The indefatigable Ms. White has booked a guest shot on the ABC dramedy, playing herself. Seg that begins filming next week finds Vanessa Williams' Wilhelmina (or Wilhel-MEAN-a, more accurately) trying to change her image as a nasty you-know-what, but she's dealt a setback when she's caught on a cellphone vid manhandling an older woman to snare a cab. The victim happens to be none other than America's Beloved Betty White...and really, what else do you need for a set up?

I've said it before, I'm sure I'll say it again: I adore Betty White. She stands for all that is good and fun in our business, and we know she's kind to animals. She can't be on the smallscreen too much for my liking. Go Betty, and "Betty"!

(Pictured above: Betty White gets into the spirit of shopping for free stuff at the Daytime Emmys gifting suite in June. Pic by Jesse Grant/WireImage.)

Betty White, the first lady of television

Can't pass up an opportunity to post a great pic of Betty White. She's the subject of one of PBS' "Pioneers of Television" docus set to air in the winter and spring '08 on the pubcaster. I did a lengthy sit-down with Betty in 2000 when she was marking her 50th year in television, and I can confirm that she is as lovely, gracious, funny and sharp as you'd hope Betty White would be. She's only piled up about 25 credits since then, from voice-over work on "King of the Hill" to semi-regular stints on "That '70s Show" and "Boston Legal" and now the CBS soap "The Bold and the Beautiful." Once her career got going in the early-early 1950s, when she was on the air live for five hours on weekday mornings, spinning records, riffing on the day's news and generally shooting the breeze on KLAC-TV (better known today as KCOP-TV Los Angeles), Betty has never stopped. She's an inspiration; we should all be in such good shape if we're fortunate enough to see our 85th birthdays (as Betty did on Jan. 22). To me she's not just a pioneer of television, she's the reigning first lady of television.