Hot in Cleveland - Series 1 Re-release [DVD]

When I heard about "Hot in Cleveland" I wasn't overly concerned with being sure to catch it on TV. I thought I probably wouldn't find anything new, and - to be honest - I wasn't sure about the ladies of the cast, since I'd only heard of Jane Leeves (Frasier) and Betty White. I nearly missed out on one of the funniest sitcoms currently on, and I'm glad I watched.

THE PREMISE: Three friends of a certain age - newly-divorced hopeless-romantic writer of "200 Things Every Woman Should Do Before She Dies" Melanie (Valerie Bertinelli), never-married caustic British beautician-to-the-stars Joy (Leeves), and much-divorced egocentric former soap-star Victoria (Wendie Malick) - are on their way from Los Angeles to Paris when their plane is forced to land in Cleveland, Ohio. When they go into a bar while waiting for their flight, they find themselves in a new Eden, where men look at them rather than through them, pull their chairs out for them, and where people eat in public without shame, and decide within hours to stay there permanently, renting a house and living together. The house comes with smart-mouthed Elka (Betty White), the live-in caretaker, who takes an instant dislike to Joy.

It's best not to investigate the premise too much. Wondering why three successful women choose to live in the same house in a place where property is stated to be so apparently inexpensive is the kind of conundrum that can quickly drive a person insane.

It's better to simply enjoy the scrapes the three friends, and Elka who quickly becomes fond of all of them - even Joy in a way, with whom she still continues to exchange biting insults, which are a highlight of the show - get into.

One of my favourite episodes from Season 1 is "Birthdates" where they all set each other up on dates. Unfortunately, Melanie reminds her date of his dead wife, Victoria thinks she's set Joy up with a murderer, while her own date Chester has rather enviable breasts...

The acting is of a very high quality: all the characters - even acerbic Joy - are uniformly likable and realistic, and the actors display impeccable comic timing.

There is nothing especially new here. Occasionally, it does resort to cliché, but I think that's true of most sitcoms. This is a generally good-hearted comedy, without any real viciousness (the women argue and exchange insults but always support each other), that people of most ages can watch together and enjoy.

The only reason it has four stars not five is that on the DVD some of the episodes are matched to the wrong title ("Meet the Parents" is under "The Sex that Got Away" etc), and I know other people have had this problem, so it's not just one faulty DVD. Also, as others have mentioned, there are no subtitles. But, these things only slightly mar the enjoyment of a very good show for me.

So funny, and down to earth! you laugh the whole episode!
I thought it was going to be only for women, but my husband loved it! he couldn't stop laughing!

My Thoughts: 'Hot in Cleveland' is one of those modern fast run shows that you find rarely do well in this day and age. When I saw the previews, at once my suspicion was that it wouldn't be funny, Jane Leeves was reported to be droll, boring and snobby in comparison to her former character 'Daphne' from hit show 'Frasier', and Valerie Bertinelli has played in so many true movies that my assumption was it would be too hard to find anything she says giggle-worthy. The addition of "Just Shoot Me" star Wendie Malick playing more or less a similar role to her previous shows and then the topping off of America's Sweetheart Betty White (now in her twilight years)... needless to say I didn't expect much, and thought this would flop.

I was pleasantly surprised from the very first episode, but it would be unfair of me if I didn't admit that I also felt oddly stung as this show seems to have alot of parallels with the now practically ancient (but still hilarious) show 'The Golden Girls' from the late 80s' and early 90's. The three younger actresses - all over forty, by the way, play off being older by trying to pretend they're still young things (sound familiar?) while Betty White plays a sassy, smart-mouthed and occasionally hostile old lady which is utterly reminiscent of Sophia Petrillo from 'The Golden Girls'.

While the humour is alot more up front in this show ('The Golden Girls could never be this blatent about sex nor this insulting), it doesn't hold a candle to what has already been done. That said, the show is still a lovely change of pace from what is already out there, but does definitely cash in on the 'Desperate Housewives' generation.

The Story: Three women find themselves on the wrong side of their forties: author Melanie Moretti is still reeling from being dumped by her husband of twenty years, actress Victoria Chase is still stinging after her character from a daytime soap is killed off, and Joy Scroggs, eyebrow shaper to the stars is stuck in a perpetual midlife crisis by dressing like a twenty year old. Feeling their age and trying to attempt an exciting fling at romance and excitement in gay Paris, the women board a plane to France in attempt to cheer up Melanie, and begin a new chapter of their lives. Unfortunately, their flight lands in Cleveland due to unforseeable weather changes, and they have the choice to try and make the best of it until they can get the next flight to Paris.

To their astonishment, they discover that despite being in their forties, the three of them are surprisingly still eligible to the local attractive men - some much younger than themselves. Melanie has a fling that throws her life into a new swing when she decides to remain in Cleveland for a month to rebuild her life and reinvent herself. After humming and hawing, Joy and Victoria also decide to stick around after realising that they are 'Hot in Cleveland'.

Renting a beautiful house at an extraordinarily low price comes with a catch as they find that the caretaker, Elka Ostrovsky, will be a permanent resident to the property. Elka is a fiery, smart-lipped old lady who is never void of insultive criticism and prone to meddling.

With life this complicated, could it really be worth staying in Cleveland just to attract some men? The women will soon learn that when you're 'Hot in Cleveland', life can never be the same.