In most worlds, the younger trio would be considered in their prime. But, alas, this is showbiz, so they are notably long in the tooth, though just 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. The network has been promoting the dickens out of its new toy, but there's no need to go too far afield as you seek to join other cable channels that have found real gold slotting originals with their reruns.
The show features three women of a certain age and one certifably old coot who has earned the right to speak plainly to them. No silver-haired retirees this time around, however. Ripping a page from Bertinelli's character's book, 200 Things Every Woman Should Do, these semi-glamorous L.A. 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.
"I Googled Cleveland and get hammered, and this is what came up," says Victoria, who's constantly poking her BlackBerry, iPhone, Palm Pixi Plus or whatever it is, to see if her agent has found her anything new after 27 years of playing Honor St. Raven, and, occasionally, her evil alter egos, Silver and Magnolia St. Raven, on the iconic, but just-canceled Edge of Tomorrow.
