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Betty White fans, your prayers have been answered. The former Golden Girl will appear on “Saturday Night Live” in the near future, she confirmed to PEOPLE at Elton John’s annual Oscars viewing party on Sunday night.

Fans have been clamoring for White, 88, to do “SNL” — an idea she called “ridiculous” just a few weeks ago — ever since her comic turn in a Snickers ad during the Super Bowl. One Facebook page devoted to the cause has attracted half a million fans.

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(EW.com) — When a grassroots campaign involves both Facebook and a beloved “Golden Girl,” the scope of its influence cannot be underestimated.

To wit: Sources confirm to me exclusively that “Saturday Night Live” is thisclose to signing TV legend Betty White to host the show for the very first time.

But there’s a catch — and a pretty cool one at that.

White would not be hosting alone. Rather, I hear “SNL” is putting together a “Women of Comedy” episode that would team the former Rose Nylund with several of her younger contemporaries. Ex-”SNL” MVP Molly Shannon is on board, I hear, and feelers have also been put out to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

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It’s getting down to the wire for “Smallville,” “Community” and a slew of other network series stuck in Nielsen purgatory — with just weeks left to go before final verdicts on their fates are handed down.

For shows “on the bubble,” these are the times that try showrunners’ souls. Every week of ratings data between now and May, when fall schedules are revealed, brings glimmers of hope or new evidence suggesting damnation is near.

“Being on the bubble is incredibly stressful,” says “Chuck” co-creator Josh Schwartz, whose NBC series rallied back from the brink after fans rallied behind it.

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We once again have a Lambert on “American Idol.”

The remaining top 24 were revealed on Wednesday night and Alex Lambert (apparently no relation to Adam) made it through along with Lacey Brown, Crystal Bowersox, Janell Wheeler, Katie Stevens, Michelle Delamore, Siobhan Magnus, Lilly Scott, John Park, Joe Munoz, Ashley Rodriguez, Haeley Vaughn, Paige Miles, Tyler Grady, Jermaine Sellers, and Andrew Garcia.

And since “Idol” wouldn’t be “Idol” without some controversy, contestant Chris Golightly, who made it into the Top 24, was replaced at the last minute by contestant Tim Urban (who I’m going to go out on a limb here and say is not related to Keith). According to a press release from Fox, it was determined that Golightly was ineligible to continue in the competition.

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Sources close to “American Idol” continue to dispel rumors that Howard Stern will be joining the show, and some have gone so far as to say no formal offer was ever made to the radio host.

“Could he have talked to someone at 19 Entertainment (the production company behind ‘Idol’)? Sure. Did he get an offer? No. No way,” said one source.

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Kara DioGuardi, you are a sly one!

I participated in a conference call on Wednesday with the “American Idol” judge and she was pretty guarded about the stuff I most wanted to know.

She declined to comment on the show without Paula saying, “I really don’t want to speak about Paula’s absence because you can’t really compare Paula and Ellen, they’re completely different and I think they both bring something valuable to the table.”

And forget getting some scoop from her about rumors that Howard Stern is in the running to fill Simon Cowell’s seat next season when the Brit departs.

“Right now that’s a rumor and I don’t really know if I can even speak on it,” she said.

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Her ad for Snickers, which debuted during the Super Bowl, was one of the most popular to air. (It’s also gone viral.) She often pops up as a late-night talk show guest. There’s also a movement afoot to have her host “Saturday Night Live.”

White’s mix of grandmotherly sweetness and comic brazenness (note her turn as a foul-mouthed widow who likes to feed the alligators in the 1999 horror film “Lake Placid”) has made her a beloved figure to fans of all ages.

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Changing of the guard: Derek took over as Chief of Surgery, while Richard was given a choice between entering treatment for alcoholism and surrendering his medical license. Derek wanted him to choose treatment, but Richard was much too angry at him to listen. It was Bailey who got Richard to admit that he simply feared not being able to drink. Bailey told him to “be the chief” she knows he is, and he eventually signed off on the treatment option.

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Fox devoted eight days to the “American Idol” audition round, but there were only seven cities on this year’s cross-country vacation for host Ryan Seacrest and the judges. That gave the show an extra hour to fill, which made Wednesday a clip show that focused mainly on singers who did well enough to make it to Hollywood.

Sixty more minutes of heartwarming tales and nervous-sounding voices … who could ask for anything more?

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(CNN) — James Mitchell, the stage actor and dancer who was best known for portraying wealthy patriarch Palmer Cortlandt on the soap opera “All My Children” for nearly 30 years, died Friday at age 89.

Mitchell died of pneumonia contracted after a years-long battle with pulmonary disease, according to a statement released by ABC.

His final appearance was January 5 for the show’s 40th anniversary episode.