Will Hot in Cleveland Sizzle or Melt?

If TV is a wasteland, sitcoms occupy the most run down neighborhoods-the Baltic and Mediterranean avenues of television, if you will. Exceptions to this highbrow generalization include some excellent sitcoms, such as the Bob Newhart Show, Seinfeld, Frasier, Everybody Loves Raymond and, more recently, The Office and Parks and Recreation-all of which provide semi-intelligent laughter based on character driven humor as well as plots that rely on more than frustrating misunderstandings, banana peel slip 'n falls or cloyingly precocious children.

In the first scripted comedy ever to appear on TV Land, the re-run happy cable network will air the first episode of this summer's highly anticipated new sitcom, Hot in Cleveland, on Wednesday, June 16 (check your local listings here). Many television viewers are looking forward to the debut of Hot in Cleveland because of the hotness of 88-year-old Betty White, the spicy actress who recently injected a needed dose of Geritol into tired Saturday Night Live when she appeared as a guest host on the show Mother's Day Eve. On Hot in Cleveland, Betty White will be part of an ensemble cast rounded out by actresses Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick, a trio of attractive 40-something sitcom staples who may be half the chronological age of octogenarian Betty White, but not necessarily twice as sexy.

What is the Premise of Hot in Cleveland?

Hot in Cleveland is your classic "fish out of water" story. Remember how Green Acres took city girl Eva Gabor and put her in the country where people had pigs for pets or how the hillbilly Clampetts struck it rich, moved to Beverly Hills and hobnobbed with snobs. TV writers have been milking the culture clash comedic cow for years. In Hot in Cleveland, the culture clash involves a trio of women who are over the hill by youth-obsessed L.A. standards. En route to a vacation in Paris, the women are forced to endure an emergency landing in Cleveland, Ohio, where--to their surprise and delight--they find out they are still hot by Cleveland standards. So, naturally they decided to move there (I know, only on TV!).

Where Does Betty White Fit In?

The trio of L.A. women rent a house in Cleveland that for some reason comes with caretaker Betty White, who at first mistakes the women for prostitutes. White's comic timing is still red hot. In one scene in the Hot in Cleveland promo video, the Jane Leeves characters says to Betty (who had just made a comment about escaping the Nazis), "So what are you... like 100?" Betty glares at her, pauses, and replies, "I don't like you," her comic timing as precise as a Swiss watch.

With Betty White setting the bar high and mentoring by example, Hot in Cleveland could prove to be one of the best sitcoms on television this summer. The show has a contract for 10 episodes, and with an Emmy Award winning writer like Suzanne Martin of Frasier and Ellen, along with producer Sean Hayes of Will & Grace, is likely to prove hot enough to attract stellar ratings for TV Land and be picked up for a second season.

The only thing that could sink Hot in Cleveland would be cliché dialogue, contrived plots and clownish acting, but with the pedigrees of its actresses, head writer and producer, Hot in Cleveland is far more likely to sizzle than melt.

Source:
http://www.tvland.com/prime/shows/hot_in_cleveland/index.jhtml