Hot in Cleveland

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
From left to right: Victoria, Melanie, Joy and Elka

Hot in Cleveland was an American sitcom airing on TV Land starring Valerie Bertinelli (Melanie Moretti), Jane Leeves (Rejoyla "Joy" Scroggs), and Wendie Malick (Victoria Chase) as three past-their-prime entertainment industry veterans from Los Angeles. One day, their lives are changed when their Paris-bound plane makes an emergency landing in Cleveland, Ohio. Here, the group finds a welcoming community that is less shallow, youth-obsessed and weight-conscious than LA. Melanie falls in love with the place and leases a home with sassy caretaker Elka Ostrovsky, played by Betty White. It's essentially Golden Girls with a slightly younger cast. The series, which is TV Land's first original scripted series, premiered on June 16, 2010, and was the channel's highest rated telecast in the cable network's fourteen-year history.

The show was written by Suzanne Martin (Frasier, Ellen) and is produced by Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner of Hazy Mills Productions. The series was taped in front of a live Studio Audience at CBS' Studio City in Los Angeles using a multi-camera format. It ran for six seasons, from 2010 to 2015.

Tropes used in Hot in Cleveland include:

Elka: So, what are you in for?
Cellmate: Drunk and disorderly. Or as I call it... Tuesday.

  • Brick Joke: That "Mommy Dearest" tell-all Victoria mentions one of her children as having threatened to write about her? Gets turned into a movie two seasons later...
  • But We Used a Condom: Joy claims that she became pregnant even when using a condom.
  • Butt Monkey: Joy to Elka
  • Celebrity Star: Susan Lucci, Melanie Griffith, Jimmy Kimmel
  • Cleveland Rocks
  • Cool Old Lady: Elka.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Joy and Elka. Especially Elka.
  • December–December Romance
  • Defictionalization: On 3/1/11 It was announced that the Scriptwriters are adding a plot in which Valerie Bertinelli's character takes a summer job as a columnist for Woman's Day—and a column "written" by Ms. Bertinelli's character will run in the real magazine.
  • Did Not Do the Research: In one episode, after Melanie finds out her favorite singer is gay, they begin talking about some other singers they didn't know were gay. They mentioned Elton John, George Michael, and The Village People (all of them). In reality, only two members of The Village People were gay.
  • Drop-In Character: Rick was like this, and Artie seems to becoming one, too.
  • Exactly What It Says on the Tin: A lot of Victoria's Lifetime movies were titled like this.

Victoria: I once played a lady storm chaser in the Lifetime Original Movie Lady Storm Chaser.

  • Expy: Elka is very similar to Sophia from The Golden Girls.
    • In a very odd coincidence that can be considered creepy. Elka and Sophia followed very similar paths. Elka was originally a much smaller part, but Betty White's Popularity Power convinced the producers to expand her character. Interestingly, Elka's Golden Girls Expy Sophia follows a similar path. Originally conceived as a Drop-In Character, Sophia responded so well with fans, the writers wrote out their original fourth character (Rose, Blanche, and Dorothy's gay cook, Coco) and wrote Sophia in.
    • Let's keep this going. Victoria could be the show's Blanche, rather self-centered and vain. Joy is the second-in-command Deadpan Snarker, similar to Dorothy. Melanie is the hardest to compare, although she does tend to be a rather sweet and naive Rose-type at times. At one point, Jane Leeves actually said the show could be called The Silver Girls.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: Elka is choleric, Victoria is sanguine, Joy is melancholic, and Melanie is phlegmatic.
  • Gosh Dang It to Heck: Melanie does this a lot, but she is able to curse out her ex-husband.
  • Hair Flip: Victoria attempted to do one while on All My Children, but due to Susan Lucci's interference, was unable to complete it.
  • Hey, It's That Gal: The show has Barbara Cooper (or Gloria) sharing a house with Daphne Moon and Nina Van Horn (or Principal Folsom), with Rose Nylund (or, if you like, Sue Ann Nivens) as their caretaker.
  • Hollywood Homely: In-Universe - the entire premise of the show. The main women are seen this way in Los Angeles, but are pretty in Cleveland.
  • Homage: The episode "Indecent Proposals" is basically one to Sex and the City.
  • I Ate What?: Poor Melanie and her tapeworm...
  • I Want Grandkids: Joy's mother reminds her about never having children every time they speak.
  • I Was Quite a Looker: Elka
  • Japandering: Victoria dreamed of the day that she build enough success, respect, and credibility as an actor to piss it all away for a boatload of cash. She didn't, however, expect it to be for "Lady Pants."
  • Kavorka Man: Rick
  • Large Ham: White Dwarf Starlet Victoria likes to pretend that she's still on a soap opera set.
  • May–December Romance: Victoria and her Sugar Daddy, as well as Joy and Lou.
  • Murder Is the Best Solution: Joy's first plan whenever her friends are hurt is to kill the person.

Joy: I say we kill him.
Melanie: That's your solution for everything.
Joy: Well can't we try it just once?

  • The Other Darrin: Chance the Dog
  • Parents as People: Even though their children are grown & college aged, this is prominent with Victoria's character in her children's childhoods. She has even forgotten how many kids she has on multiple occassions.

Victoria: - It was like that for both of my pregnancies
Melanie: Victoria, you have 3 kids....
Victoria: *surprised look on her face*

    • Granted, she could've had a multiple birth but it's always stated in a way that points to the otherwise.
  • Place Worse Than Death: Cleveland.
  • Reality Is Unrealistic: Victoria entered and LOST a look-a-like contest, as herself. She was supposed to be a drag queen look-a-like, but she still lost (to a Susan Lucci look-a-like.)
  • Rich Bitch: Victoria can be considered an example, except her finances, or lack thereof are a recurring problem for her.
  • Sitcom Arch Nemesis: Susan Lucci is Victoria's archnemesis.
    • It's going to be interesting to see what happens next season, since Victoria has actively been trying to sabotage Susan Lucci and now All My Children is canceled.
  • Sound Effect Bleep: Airport buzzers and metal detectors censor out swear words in "It's Not That Complicated".
  • Spiritual Successor: To The Golden Girls. See Expy above.
  • Squick: An In-Universe - example Victoria fills in for Juliet in the High School play and has to kiss a high school boy. The audience cringes. Lampshaded by Elka

Elka: it's funny 'cause it's gross

"I love her! They keep saying she's a boy, but I'm not buying it."

(Joy and Victoria are spying on Melanie and her ex-husband)
Joy: What's going on?
Victoria: She's making a heartfelt speech while he's stares at her like an idiot. It's like those warm moments on Glee!

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