Missing ‘Hot in Cleveland’ 15 Years Later? 10 Other TV Shows to Check Out
Hot in Cleveland didn’t just give its four leading ladies a new start in a Midwest-nice town, it also blessed us with another Betty White performance for the ages. As TV Land ushered in its first original scripted series, it cast White alongside Wendie Malick, Valerie Bertinelli, and Jane Leeves, who played best friends who make the most of an emergency landing in Cleveland and decide to stay in the city. That trio ends up getting a house — and a new roomie in White’s caretaker character.
White was, as always, a scene-stealer, but played it modest in an interview with TV Guide Magazine. “Valerie, Jane, and Wendie play off each other so well,” she said. “This show gives me the opportunity to walk in, throw out some bitchy line, and go off.”
Now, 15 years after Hot in Cleveland’s debut on June 16, 2010, you might be feeling left in the cold — but we know of similar shows that might warm right you right up again. Read about ’em all below.
The Cool Kids
TV stars of yore found a second (or third) act on this sitcom, which starred Leslie Jordan, David Alan Grier, and Martin Mull as a rule-breaking group of retirement home residents, and Vicki Lawrence as the interloper who insists on joining them. After Lawrence’s character steals a car for a mission to the mortuary, the “cool kids” invite her to stay.
Crowded
After coming up with Hot in Cleveland, Suzanne Martin created Crowded, starring Carrie Preston and Patrick Warburton as a couple dealing with boomerang children and omnipresent parents. The sitcom didn’t last long, but Leeves and White guest-star in Episode 7, making that installment a Cleveland reunion.
Designing Women
We’re in the middle of a Jean Smart renaissance, but the Hacks star got her start joining Annie Potts, Dixie Carter, and Delta Burke in this Emmy-nominated sitcom. The four women play partners in an Atlanta interior design firm, and their Southern sass is still influential, as a recent Drag Race lip sync challenge proves.
Frasier
This hit Cheers spinoff shares DNA with Hot in Cleveland: Martin was a writer, Leeves was a series regular, and a Malick was a frequent guest star during the sitcom’s original run. Kelsey Grammar, meanwhile, reprises his Cheers role as psychiatrist Frasier Crane seeks for a new life in Seattle and ultimately connects with his brother and father.
The Golden Girls
Hot in Cleveland immediately drew comparisons to this classic sitcom about four women growing old together in Miami. Columnist Michael Musto even found direct parallels between Hot in Cleveland’s characters and their Golden Girls predecessors, saying that Malick “is basically the modern-day Bea Arthur,” Bertinelli “is the new Betty White,” Leeves is “the nouveau Rue McClanahan,” and “witheringly sarcastic Golden Girl Betty White has turned into Estelle Getty.”
The Golden Palace
The Golden Girls ended in 1992 after Arthur decided to leave the series, but the other three stars continued on in a spinoff in which their characters decide to buy and run a Miami hotel. It’s not quite the same without Arthur, but don’t worry — her Dorothy Zbornak reunites with the other gals in a two-episode guest stint.
Grace and Frankie
Other “golden girls” of television include Jane Fonda’s Grace Hanson and Lily Tomlin’s Frankie Bergstein, who go from frenemies to roommates to besties after their husbands come out as gay (and in love with each other) in this sitcom. Malick, meanwhile, guest-stars as a business executive in charge of an “adult intimacy” company.
Just Shoot Me
Speaking of Malick, she got two Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy nominations for this earlier entry in her filmography. The sitcom, based in the offices of the fictional Blushmagazine, also starred Laura San Giacomo, David Spade, Enrico Colantoni, all of whom went on to guest-star on Hot in Cleveland.
The Kominsky Method
Hot in Cleveland, meet No Longer Hot in Los Angeles. A Golden Globe-winning series with Emmy-nominated performances, The Kominsky Method stars Michael Douglas as an actor-turned-acting coach and Alan Arkin as his longtime agent as the two characters contend with aging in a youth-obsessed town.
One Day at a Time
If Hot in Cleveland made you a Bertinelli buff, you’d better know the sitcom that made her famous. One of the many hits produced by TV legend Norman Lear, One Day at a Time follows a divorced mom making a new start with her two kids, one played by Bertinelli, in Indianapolis. (While you’re at it, check out the acclaimed 2017 reboot, another of Lear’s productions.)
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