Hot in Cleveland

Synopsis

The series centers on three aging entertainment industry veterans from Los Angeles, Melanie (Valerie Bertinelli), Joy (Jane Leeves), and Victoria (Wendie Malick). The three women find a more welcoming and less shallow and youth-obsessed community in Cleveland, Ohio, where, as seen in the pilot episode, their Paris-bound plane makes an emergency landing. They decide to stay and lease a home where a sassy caretaker Elka (Betty White) still lives in the guest house.

Main cast

Recurring cast

Season 1

Guest stars during the first season included Shirley Knight as Melanie's overprotective mother, Loretta; Hal Linden as Victoria's womanizing actor father, Alex; singer Joe Jonas as Melanie's son, Will; Carl Reiner as Max, Elka's boyfriend; Bil Dwyer as Melanie's ex-husband Anders; and Juliet Mills as Joy's critical mother, Philippa. Other first season guest stars include John Schneider, Wayne Knight, Robert Gant, Huey Lewis, Amy Yasbeck, Tim Conway, Mark Indelicato, David Starzyk, Gary Anthony Williams, Dave Foley and Susan Lucci.

Season 2

For the second season, Mary Tyler Moore guest starred in the season premiere as Elka's jail cellmate, in the wake of the latter's arrest in the first season finale. This marked the first time since 1977, when The Mary Tyler Moore Show ended, that White and Moore had worked together. Sherri Shepherd appeared in two episodes as the judge in Elka's competency case. David Starzyk, John Schneider, Huey Lewis, Wayne Knight and Carl Reiner all reprised their roles from season 1. Bonnie Franklin also guest starred as Melanie's ex-boyfriend's mother, Franklin reuniting with One Day at a Time co-star Valerie Bertinelli. On July 20, 2011, Doris Roberts appeared as Lydia Dombrosky, Elka's nemesis. Jennifer Love Hewitt guest starred as Victoria's daughter Emmy, while Michael McMillian appeared as Joy's son, Owen. Buck Henry appeared in multiple episodes as Elka's love interest and eventual fiancé. Jimmy Kimmel, Susan Lucci, and Melanie Griffith made guest appearances as themselves. Michael E. Knight, Jon Lovitz, Isaiah Mustafa, Monica Horan, Frank Caliendo, Cedric the Entertainer, Darnell Williams and Jane Leeves' Frasier co-stars Peri Gilpin and John Mahoney also appeared on the show as guest stars. Don Rickles made a surprise appearance as Elka's dead husband in the Season 2 finale, "Elka's Wedding".

Season 3

Season three features guest stars such as series producer Sean Hayes as a hand model boyfriend of Victoria's, Gilles Marini as Captain Lebeau, Kathie Lee Gifford, Sandra Bernhard, Don Rickles as Elka's late husband Bob, who faked his death, John Mahoney (Leeves' former Frasier costar) as Roy, Elka's boyfriend, and Laura San Giacomo as Melanie's estranged sister, and Baron Davis and Josh Cribbs as themselves. In addition to Mary Tyler Moore guest starring in the second season premiere, the third season saw Betty White reunite with Ed Asner and Georgia Engel in two different episodes. The season includes the return of guests Jennifer Love Hewitt, Susan Lucci, Huey Lewis, Joe Jonas and Jon Lovitz. Cybill Shepherd, Curtis Armstrong, Doug Savant, Kristin Chenoweth, Barry Bostwick, Dan Cortese, Lee Corso, Regis Philbin, Joan Rivers, and David Spade --who had co-starred with Malick in Just Shoot Me, as had San Giacomo -- also make guest appearances in the third season.

Season 4

Season four recurring guests include Heather Locklear as Chloe, Jay Harrington as Alec, and Alan Dale as Emmett. Other guest stars include Craig Ferguson, who plays the ex-boyfriend that left Joy when she became pregnant, Eddie Cibrian as Sean, Fred Willard as Dr. Hill, and Gary Anthony Sturgis as Officer Davenport, while Ed Begley, Jr., Nicholas Bishop, Heather Dubrow, Dave Foley, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and George Hamilton also make guest appearances. Georgia Engel and Regis Philbin reprise their roles from the previous season, while Michael McMillian returns as Owen, Joy's son and Juliet Mills returns for one episode as Joy's mother. In the live episode for the mid-season premiere, Academy Award winner Shirley Jones makes a guest appearance, as does William Shatner as "Sally from Cincinnati". Carol Burnett guest-starred as Victoria's mother and Jean Smart guest-starred as Victoria's sister in the second episode of the summer season. Tim Conway also reprised his role as Elka's ex-boyfriend, Nick.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show cast reunited on screen for the first time in 36 years, in an episode where Mary Tyler Moore, Valerie Harper, Cloris Leachman, Betty White and Georgia Engel were all members of a 1960s bowling team reuniting for the first time in 50 years.

In the season finale, Melanie announces she is pregnant, Joy rekindles her love for her son's father, and Victoria's husband, Emmett, who is in jail, has escaped on the night of their jailhouse honeymoon.

Season 5

Season 5 premiered with The Soul Man with two back-to-back live episodes on March 26, 2014 (10:00PM EDT and 10:30PM EDT). Guest stars in the premiere episode included Dave Foley and Georgia Engel reprising their roles from the previous seasons, and Ken Jeong making a guest appearance, with Alex Trebek appearing as himself. Cedric the Entertainer made a special guest appearance reprising his role from the Hot in Cleveland spin-off The Soul Man, while Betty White reprised her role as Elka on The Soul Man. Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jay Harrington, Craig Ferguson, Michael McMillian, Susan Lucci and Juliet Mills reprised their roles from the previous seasons. Tim Daly was added as recurring character Mitch, Joy's new boss and love interest. Additional guest appearances were made by Thomas Lennon, Jaime Pressley, Angela Kinsey, Chris Elliott, Jason Priestly, Sarah Hyland, Max Greenfield, Cheri Oteri, Chevy Chase, Rob Schneider, Nora Dunn, Morgan Fairchild, Coby Bell, Chris Colfer, Will Sasso, Steven Tyler (in the special animated episode), Queen Latifah, Perez Hilton and Debra Monk.

Season 6

The sixth season was announced by TV Land as the final season for the series. Guest stars for this season include: Ernie Hudson as one of Victoria's ex-husbands who helps her come to terms with their once embarrassing legacy, Andrew J. West as a man who hits on Melanie, Timm Sharp as the producer of Victoria's new TV show, and Robert Wagner as Jim, a new man in Elka's life. Mario Lopez appears as himself, with newly appointed Councilwoman Elka trying to lure him into taping his TV show in Cleveland. Will Sasso reprises his role as Franky, Melanie's co-host on the "He Said/She Said" radio program. Bob Newhart, Thomas Gibson and Huey Lewis all appear in the season and series finale. Stacy Keach plays Victoria's father Alex in two episodes.

Development and production

Hot in Cleveland is TV Land's first attempt at a first-run scripted comedy (the channel has rerun other sitcoms since its debut) and is produced by Sean Hayes's Hazy Mills Productions and written by Suzanne Martin, who also serves as the showrunner. It is shot with a multicamera setup in front of a live studio audience at the CBS Studio Center production studios.

TV Land announced that the show was renewed for a second season on July 7, 2010. The 20-episode second season began production on November 1, 2010, and premiered January 19, 2011. On February 28, 2011, TV Land renewed the show for a third season to consist of 22 episodes. On March 21, 2011, TV Land announced that the third season order was increased to 24 episodes. On January 12, 2012, TV Land renewed the series for a fourth season.

Betty White was only meant to appear in the pilot of the show but was asked to stay on for the entire series. She reportedly earned $75,000 per episode for the series.

Spin-off series and crossovers

On April 18, 2011, It was announced that Cedric the Entertainer would guest star in a season 2 episode as a minister that gets caught up in the girls' problems. The episode served as a backdoor pilot for a spin-off series to star Cedric. The episode entitled "Bridezelka" was written by Hot in Cleveland creator Suzanne Martin and aired on August 24, 2011.

The spin-off series centers on Reverend Boyce (Cedric) as he moves from Cleveland to St. Louis and has to balance his wild past as an R&B singer with the expectations of his congregation and his family. On January 12, 2012, TV Land officially picked up the pilot to series, under the title Have Faith; with the first season set to have 12 episodes. On March 11, 2012, it was announced that the series' title was changed from Have Faith to The Soul Man. The series premiered on June 20, 2012. In the March 27, 2014 premiere of Hot in Cleveland, Cedric the Entertainer reprises his role as Reverend Boyce; however, he doesn't appear to recognize the characters from his appearance in Season 2 of Hot in Cleveland. Betty White also reprises her role as Elka on The Soul Man.

In the second season of Hot in Cleveland, the show crossed over with daytime soap opera All My Children, in the two-part episode 'I Love Lucci'. Wendie Malick appeared on All My Children, where she was credited as Victoria Chase, while Susan Lucci appears as herself on Hot in Cleveland.

The fifth season of Hot in Cleveland featured a crossover with the television show Kirstie, which also aired on TV Land in 2013–14.

Critical reception

The show has received positive reviews from critics. Wendie Malick and Betty White have both received extensive praise for their performances. The first season scored a 65 out of 100 on Metacritic.

Comparisons with The Golden Girls

Hot in Cleveland has been referred to as a modern spin on the classic 1980s television series The Golden Girls which also featured actress Betty White in a starring role. Craig Berman of Today stated that the show is "as close as we're likely to get to a repeat of White's 1980s ensemble comedy hit, The Golden Girls ... [TV Land] the network known as the refuge for people looking to fall asleep to reruns of shows from their childhood has made its first scripted program a modern version of the classic sitcom premise." Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times commented: "This is the first original scripted comedy on TV Land, a network that was founded on reruns. So not surprisingly, Hot in Cleveland is a pastiche of classics – a little bit Cheers and Frasier, a little bit The Golden Girls." Michael Musto of The Village Voice wrote: "Wendy [sic] Malick is basically the modern-day Bea Arthur. Sweet-faced Valerie Bertinelli is the new Betty White. Been-around Jane Leeves is the nouveau Rue McClanahan. And witheringly sarcastic Golden Girl Betty White has turned into Estelle Getty."

Awards and nominations

Betty White received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for her role as Elka Ostrovsky, and went on to win the award. The cast received a nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.

On May 17, 2011, TV Land entered the show in the race for the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards. The show submitted for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for all four leading women, to reinforce the idea of an ensemble cast. The show also submitted in technical categories.

On July 14, 2011, the show received two Primetime Emmy nominations, including Betty White getting nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series.

In December 2011, Betty White received her second consecutive SAG nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series. She went on to win it. In 2012 Hot in Cleveland received 2 more Emmy nominations.

Ratings

The series premiere of Hot in Cleveland was a ratings success for TV Land. It earned a 1.9 rating and averaged 2 million viewers among the network's target adults 25–54 audience and also averaged 1.3 million among women 25–54. It drew a total of 4.75 million viewers making it the most watched show in TV Land history.

DVD releases

Paramount Home Media Distribution has released the first five seasons on DVD in Region 1. Season 6 will be released on April 26, 2016.

Syndication

On March 20, 2013, TV Land announced that Hot in Cleveland was renewed for a 24-episode fifth season, to begin in late fall of 2013. With the fifth season bringing the total episodes in the series to 104, TV Land also announced it has made deals in 92% of the U.S. television markets for a syndication package to begin in 2015.

International

On June 22, 2010, it was announced that Endemol will distribute Hot in Cleveland internationally, while CBS Television Distribution will own the US rights, with syndication to start in 2013. The show began broadcasting on July 5, 2010, in Canada on CTV and on July 9 on The Comedy Network but only Season 1 and Part 1 of Season 2 have aired. It currently airs in strip on M3.

It began broadcasting on July 26, 2010, in Australia on the Nine Network. In the UK and Ireland, the series began airing on Sky Living on February 15, 2011. For season 3, the show switched to Sony Entertainment Television (UK & Ireland).

In South Africa, it began broadcasting on M-Net on July 8, 2011. In India, Hot in Cleveland started airing from June 2012 on Comedy Central.