Great News for "Hot in Cleveland" -- Classic Comics Unite!

TV Land's terrific new sitcom Hot in Cleveland just announced another great get for the show: Comic Tim Conway will guest as a rival with Carl Reiner for Betty White's affections! Reiner has already been featured in several segments as Betty's new boyfriend, and he's adorable and very appealing in the role. Betty White is, of course, peerlessly funny!

Read a good account of the Tim Conway news here from Ohio.com, from the Akron Beacon Journal.

The addition of Tim Conway should kick the comedy up even another notch. Hot in Cleveland is already honestly laugh-out-loud funny, and not just for a certain boomer demo. The writing is crisp, the characterizations solid, and the acting spot on. The show is a real delight. We're also thrilled to read about the addition of Dave Foley to the ensemble -- this show really has an eye for perfect casting. Couldn't be better!

If you're not already watching Hot in Cleveland, give it a try. New episodes premiere Wednesdays at 10pm. The only mistake TV Land is making right now is that they're really stingy with episodes available online. Only the current week's episode? Not enough! If you want to get fans hooked, let us watch the episodes! (I will say that with a little sleuthing you can find them around the net, but wouldn't you rather watch them on TV Land? I would.)

TV Land's "Hot in Cleveland" Sitcom Premieres Tonight!

The Flaming Nose is plenty excited about TV Land's new filmed-live-in-front-of-a-studio-audience sitcom Hot in Cleveland, premiering tonight (Wednesday, June 16th) at 10pm. Why this anticipation? Good provenance -- actor and sometime producer Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) is exec producing, writers with Frasier and Ellen experience are on aboard -- and a good cast of female comedy veterans, including Betty White, the very deserving darling of the moment. If you're at all an aficionado of television comedy, you should be heartened by the rest of the starring ladies, too: Valerie Bertinelli ('70s smash One Day at a Time), Jane Leeves (Frasier), and Wendie Malick (Just Shoot Me! and early cable sitcom Dream On).



Granted, the premise may be more silly than sublime -- a trio of slightly over-the-hill L.A. beauties are stranded in Cleveland, Ohio and find themselves enjoying the reception they get from the local lads -- but the time feels right for silly and I'm going with this one. Betty White is the acerbic-tongued housekeeper they meet up with; stand back and let the quips begin. I've got to give big support to this quartet of pros, all nicely matured, who look terrific and really know how to sling a comedy line.

The producers are proud of the fact that the show is filmed live, with no added canned laughter, and let's hope the writing is sharp enough to keep those audience members entertained as much as we hope we'll be. This is TV Land's first original sitcom, a big step after the net's long and successful history as part of Nick at Nite back in the mid-80s, and as its own entity ten years later. TV Land used to be just that -- a wonderful place for classic TV lovers -- but in an eternal and probably unwinnable quest to skew younger the channel spurned its roots and has turned lately to reality shows and defiantly post-boomer content. Perhaps Hot in Cleveland will both fulfill their advertiser dreams for original content and at the same time reach out to viewers who've felt abandoned by what used to be such a fun channel. Count me as one of the latter.

Hot in Cleveland premieres tonight Wednesday, June 16th at 10pm on TV Land. Visit their HiC website for behind-the-scene videos, and become a fan of the show on Facebook, too.