Every year the Paleyfest celebrates the best and brightest talent in the TV industry with a week-long series of panels and events in Beverly Hills. This year’s Paleyfest runs from March 4 to the 17, with panels featuring cast members, directors, and writers from shows as diverse as True Blood, American Idol, Parks and Recreation and Glee – and the hit TV Land series Hot in Cleveland. The sitcom is based on the unlikely but intriguing premise that three L.A. entertainment industry women get stranded in Cleveland on their way to Paris and decide to stay there.
Hot in Cleveland was created by Suzanne Martin, a former writer for Ellen and Fraiser. The sassy sitcom stars veteran actresses Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, and Wendie Malick, and TV icon /“It” Senior of the Moment, Betty White. Valerie Bertinelli plays Melanie Moretti, a recently-divorced author and the sensible, good-natured one, Wendie Malick is Victoria Chase, a self-absorbed, former soap opera star, Jane Leeves is Joy Scroggs, a neurotic stylist to the stars in search of a green card. They rent a house overseen by snarky octogenarian Elka Ostrovsky (Betty White). Her first line (to the real estate agent and her future housemates) is, “Why are you renting to prostitutes?”
The March 8th Hot in Cleveland Paleyfest panel played to an enthusiastic audience at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. It featured the show’s stars along with show creator Suzanne Martin. The crowd was mostly older couples, with the rest of the crowd divided between men and women of all ages. It wasn’t merely a crowd of older women, indicating the show appeals to more than “cougar”-aged women. Show creator Martin mentioned that she watched The Golden Girls when she was in her 20s, proving that younger audiences will watch older actresses. After all, the Golden Girls didn’t get to be such a beloved TV show by attracting only viewers in retirement homes.
Hot in Cleveland debuted on June 16, 2010. “Sometimes you do a pilot in February and you wait until May if you’ve been picked up. This show was picked up in three weeks. I’ve never heard of anything like that,” White noted during the panel discussion. Now in its second season, the show has been picked up for a third season.
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