I'm at the end of season 5 in my rewatch and realized this is the ultimate gimmick show ever made. They rely too much on special guest stars, live episodes, series recap specials, an animated episode, and reunions of stars from older shows. If this show didn't have all that and stuck strictly with the story of the ladies in Cleveland, would this show have lasted 6 years? Because of all the gimmicks they do, the season story in 5 feels so disoriented. They kept pausing Melanie's story and Victoria's story to bring in a special guest star or have some outrageous story for Betty White because she was the shows' first original gimmick to get viewers. I'm thinking this is why I tuned out during some of season 6. The show lacks depth with their stories.