TV Land’s first original sitcom Hot in Cleveland is quick to make a splash on several media outlets thanks to 88-year-old Betty White, who has managed to become the new bacon and turn almost everything she touches into gold. So far, reviews from the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times about the breezy comedy have been respectable, describing it as “fun, solid and professional” though “not the most daring or avant-garde comedy on television.” But there are also TV critics who think that the show has fallen short of its hype and viewers’ expectations.
The premise of Hot in Cleveland doesn’t break new ground but it’s familiar and very much relatable especially to women of a certain age. Jane Leeves plays Joy Scroggs, a stylist who considers herself the “Eyebrow Queen of Hollywood,” Wendie Malick plays Victoria Chase, an unemployed soap star whose current opportunities include auditioning to play Megan Fox’s grandmother in Transformers 3, and Valerie Bertinelli portrays Melanie Moretti, an author who is divorcing her husband. These three best friends from Los Angeles embark on a trip to Paris where Melanie hopes to find love but instead find themselves in Cleveland after a flight turbulence forces them to take a detour.
Cleveland appears to be the perfect place for Joy, Victoria and Melanie, who discover that men suddenly find them attractive. Joy says it best when she said, “We appear to have landed in a dimension where men hit on women their own age. We owe it to science to investigate.” And so the adventure begins.
Betty White enters the scene as a cranky yet hilarious caretaker named Elka, who comes with the house that Melanie rents after deciding to stay in the Midwest following a one-night stand. She mostly provides comic relief with her observational pitches that reminds you of some of punches on Golden Girls.
All in all, the pilot is tolerable though you’re bound to expect something more considering the show stars Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick, Valerie Bertinelli and of course Betty White.
So what’s your take on Hot in Cleveland? Will you give this show another chance after watching the pilot episode? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
(Image courtesy of TV Land)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
