Country of origin United States Original network TV Land | No. of episodes 22 | |
Original release January 19 (2011-01-19) – August 31, 2011 (2011-08-31) | ||
The second season of the TV Land original sitcom Hot in Cleveland premiered on January 19 and ended on August 31, 2011. Twenty episodes were initially ordered, but the order was later extended to 22 episodes. The series stars Valerie Bertinelli, Wendie Malick, Jane Leeves, and Betty White.
Contents
After being on hiatus since March 23, 2011, Hot in Cleveland returned on June 15, 2011 to air the remaining 12 episodes of season 2 ending on August 31, 2011.
Plot
The second season picks up 24 hours after the storm and Elka's arrest on hiding stolen property. While in jail, Elka reveals that her late husband was involved with a crime family after she recognizes a fellow inmate named Diane. But that wasn't the only revelation coming from Elka, for it turned out that she also had a tryst with Rick, the neighbor and The Plain Dealer columnist who tried to seduce Melanie in the first season. Because of these events, Elka could face more legal problems, prompting her lawyer to suggest that she be declared incompetent so she won't stand trial, which proved to be a disaster because her lawyer became a chick magnet for Melanie, Joy and Victoria. After her fiancé Max broke up with her, he decided to date and marry another woman, but Elka fought back and both Elka and Max became a couple again. However, Max's son is running for political office and Elka mentioned that dating Max could affect his chances because he doesn't want the publicity. Elka has also started drinking as well. Elka was later cleared of all charges, but her romantic problems would take on a lot more problems when Max decided to leave for Florida, resulting in her dating another guy named Fred, who then asked her to marry him. But on the day of the wedding, Elka learned that her dead husband was alive.
Melanie, on the other hand, can't forgive her cop-boyfriend Pete for arresting Elka, but the two do kiss and make up, although his mother has made it known that she does not like Melanie. To add insult to injury, Melanie also found out that Hank, the married plumber she met back in the first season, is Pete's older brother and still has feelings for her. Elka blurts out information on Melanie's past exploits with Hank at a bar, which simultaneously ends Melanie's relationship with Pete while costing Hank his marriage after his wife witnessed it all. She later found another guy, a doctor named Andrew. In addition, Melanie visited her home in Los Angeles as it was locked up in legal limbo, and pined for the good days she and her family had in that residence. She is finally able to sell the home while realizing she must move on.
Meanwhile, Joy learns that her son has decided to not see her just yet, but that's the least of her problems: She just learned that the INS plans to deport her back to England, so she must find a way to get a green card... which is where Rick comes in. Although she does accept his offer of "marriage" (knowing that Rick still plans to be a "player"), this unusual relationship and Rick's plan to use this ruse to bed other women would be ruined when Rick tried to smooth talk their immigration lawyer. On top of that, she told Elka after being arrested by Pete for taking money in a rummage sale drug deal (she sold a guy Victoria's "chill pills") that she was a shoplifter as a teenager. Her love life also took a weird turn when she found out a guy she thought was into her really just wanted Joy to babysit his son while he dated a different woman, which gave Joy the idea of wanting to have another child. She also had a past relationship with actor Michael E. Knight, whom she despises because he never called after a one-night stand she had with him. This revelation and the fake wedding could mean more problems for the eyebrow specialist and her attempts to stay in the United States. But thanks to a last-minute deal from the governor's wife, oddly after she accused Joy of being a hooker, Joy was given a green card to stay in the country. She also realized that she had married Victoria in Canada on the night prior to Elka's wedding.
Financial problems are also taking a toll on Victoria. She just learned that her financial advisor was arrested on embezzlement charges and as a result, is now broke and has her assets frozen, leaving her trying to get herself out of debt and hopefully keep her sanity. An example of that came when she showed up at a bar with a very old, wheelchair-bound billionaire, but he dies during their first night out. In addition, she learned at a movie audition that she would be playing Melanie Griffith's mother, which resulted in the two having a cat fight (that was caught on tape), and later managed to land a job on All My Children alongside rival actress Susan Lucci in the wake of Victoria winning a Daytime Emmy award over Lucci in the first season. Unfortunately, Lucci sought revenge by screwing with Victoria during their scenes together, which would be thwarted by Joy threatening to sue the producers. She finally lands a regular job as a feature reporter at a local news station, despite the role initially being a bad fit for her. Thanks to an alcohol-induced stupor that took place prior to Elka's wedding, she ended up marrying Joy in Canada.
Production
On July 7, 2010, TV Land announced that the show was renewed for a second season, which began production of 20 episodes on November 1, 2010. The new season premiered on January 19, 2011 and had a mid-season finale on March 23, 2011. The second half of the season, consisting of 10 episodes began airing on June 22, 2011. On May 16, 2011, It was announced that two more episodes were then added to the season, bringing the season 2 episode order to 22 episodes.
Mary Tyler Moore guest starred in the season opener, in which her character is somewhat connected with Elka in the wake of the latter's arrest in the first season finale. This marked the first time since 1977 that both White and Moore worked together since The Mary Tyler Moore Show ended its run on CBS. Sherri Shepherd appeared as the judge in Elka's competency case. Melanie Griffith, Jack Wagner, Bonnie Franklin and Janet Varney also guest starred, Franklin reuniting with One Day at a Time co-star Valerie Bertinelli. John Schneider, David Starzyk, Carl Reiner and Wayne Knight also reprised their roles this season.
The guest stars for the second half of season two are: Buck Henry, Dick Van Patten, John Mahoney (reuniting with Frasier co-star Jane Leeves), Doris Roberts, Jennifer Love Hewitt, George Wendt, Mindy Cohn, Richard Burgi, Antonio Sabàto, Jr. and Michael McMillian. Amy Sedaris and Huey Lewis also reprised their roles from previous episodes.
Release
Region 2 released Part 1 of the second season on August 31, 2011, Part 1 features the first 10 episodes of the season. Part 2 which features the rest of the 12 episodes was scheduled to be released on DVD on November 19, 2012, along with a Complete Season 2 box-set with all episodes of Season 2 released on the same date, but got delayed to December 31, 2012, and then again to February 25, 2013.