Family Ties Forever!
06-23-2010, 01:35 AM
link (http://www.kansascity.com/2010/06/22/2033716/older-actresses-are-still-hot.html)
Older Actresses Are Still Hot In TV Land Sitcom 'Hot In Cleveland'
By Jonathan Storm
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Photo: Matt Sayles
Betty White (left) is the matriarch of “Hot in Cleveland,” which also stars Wendie Malick (“Just Shoot Me”), Valerie Bertinelli (“One Day at a Time”) and Jane Leeves (“Frasier”).
We must have been having an awful lot of fun. Where did the time go?
Jane Leeves, the lovably loopy Daphne from “Frasier,” is 49. Valerie Bertinelli, the adorable younger sister from “One Day at a Time,” is 50. Wendie Malick, the boozy fashion editor and former supermodel in “Just Shoot Me,” turns 60 in December. And Betty White — well, she has always been pretty old, but now she’s 88.
The quartet has come to TV Land in the network’s first original scripted program, “Hot in Cleveland,” bringing 156 years of TV acting experience with them. It’s not wasted. The sitcom is funny and fresh, and the actresses appear to be having the time of their lives.
In most worlds, the younger threesome would be considered in their prime. But, alas, this is showbiz, so they are notably long in the tooth, though a shade younger than the actresses who starred in “The Golden Girls” when it premiered in 1985.
“Hot in Cleveland,” with “Will & Grace’s” Sean Hayes as an executive producer and “Frasier’s” Susan Harris as show-runner, is structurally similar to that beloved classic, one of the many that have been buttering TV Land’s bread for years.
No silver-haired retirees this time around, however. Ripping a page from Bertinelli’s character’s book, “200 Things Every Woman Should Do,” the three younger, semi-glamorous LA best friends are off to Paris on a whim.
But their plane is forced into an emergency landing in Cleveland. “I’m too young to die,” hollers Malick’s Victoria Chase, as the plane shudders. “Nice to still be too young for something,” she mutters as an afterthought.
Our heroines wind up in a bar, at first dismayed by the down-market atmosphere and clientele. Spago, this isn’t.
As they get acclimated to the bar’s bad lighting, what to their wondering eyes should appear but men who look at, and not through, them, and an entire establishment full of people who see nothing of note in women ordering cheese fries and “not light” beer.
A gal could get to love this, even one played by a Jenny Craig spokeswoman who has lost nearly 50 pounds, so Bertinelli’s Melanie Moretti decides to stay in Cleveland and rent a house. After all, it’s a monthly lease, and the rent is about the same as the cost of one night at a fancy Paris hotel.
Victoria and Leeves’ character, eyebrow-archer-to-the-stars Joy Scroggs, are reluctant to join their friend at first, but after some discussion, it appears that all four will be in town for the duration, which so far is 10 episodes.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Tonight
“Hot in Cleveland,” which premiered last week, airs at 9 p.m. Wednesdays on cable’s TV Land. You can watch the pilot at www.tvland.com.
Posted on Tue, Jun. 22, 2010 10:15 PM
Older Actresses Are Still Hot In TV Land Sitcom 'Hot In Cleveland'
By Jonathan Storm
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Photo: Matt Sayles
Betty White (left) is the matriarch of “Hot in Cleveland,” which also stars Wendie Malick (“Just Shoot Me”), Valerie Bertinelli (“One Day at a Time”) and Jane Leeves (“Frasier”).
We must have been having an awful lot of fun. Where did the time go?
Jane Leeves, the lovably loopy Daphne from “Frasier,” is 49. Valerie Bertinelli, the adorable younger sister from “One Day at a Time,” is 50. Wendie Malick, the boozy fashion editor and former supermodel in “Just Shoot Me,” turns 60 in December. And Betty White — well, she has always been pretty old, but now she’s 88.
The quartet has come to TV Land in the network’s first original scripted program, “Hot in Cleveland,” bringing 156 years of TV acting experience with them. It’s not wasted. The sitcom is funny and fresh, and the actresses appear to be having the time of their lives.
In most worlds, the younger threesome would be considered in their prime. But, alas, this is showbiz, so they are notably long in the tooth, though a shade younger than the actresses who starred in “The Golden Girls” when it premiered in 1985.
“Hot in Cleveland,” with “Will & Grace’s” Sean Hayes as an executive producer and “Frasier’s” Susan Harris as show-runner, is structurally similar to that beloved classic, one of the many that have been buttering TV Land’s bread for years.
No silver-haired retirees this time around, however. Ripping a page from Bertinelli’s character’s book, “200 Things Every Woman Should Do,” the three younger, semi-glamorous LA best friends are off to Paris on a whim.
But their plane is forced into an emergency landing in Cleveland. “I’m too young to die,” hollers Malick’s Victoria Chase, as the plane shudders. “Nice to still be too young for something,” she mutters as an afterthought.
Our heroines wind up in a bar, at first dismayed by the down-market atmosphere and clientele. Spago, this isn’t.
As they get acclimated to the bar’s bad lighting, what to their wondering eyes should appear but men who look at, and not through, them, and an entire establishment full of people who see nothing of note in women ordering cheese fries and “not light” beer.
A gal could get to love this, even one played by a Jenny Craig spokeswoman who has lost nearly 50 pounds, so Bertinelli’s Melanie Moretti decides to stay in Cleveland and rent a house. After all, it’s a monthly lease, and the rent is about the same as the cost of one night at a fancy Paris hotel.
Victoria and Leeves’ character, eyebrow-archer-to-the-stars Joy Scroggs, are reluctant to join their friend at first, but after some discussion, it appears that all four will be in town for the duration, which so far is 10 episodes.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Tonight
“Hot in Cleveland,” which premiered last week, airs at 9 p.m. Wednesdays on cable’s TV Land. You can watch the pilot at www.tvland.com.
Posted on Tue, Jun. 22, 2010 10:15 PM