I don’t know who has more fun on TV than the wacky crew of TV Land’s Hot in Cleveland.
How can they not be enjoying themselves when the average age of the four leading ladies is 64.5?
In an age when Hollywood pretty much kicks older actresses to the curb, the women of Hot in Cleveland demonstrate there is life after 40.
Or 50.
Or even 90.
For the record, the venerable Betty White is the grande dame of the ensemble. She’s a sprightly 91 and still as quick as when we first came to know her in the 1950s, and love her on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Golden Girls in the ’70s and ’80s.
Venerable? White has been nominated for 21 (!) Emmys, taking home seven.
Wendie Malick, 62, has made us laugh in HBO’s Dream On and as the boozing former model Nina Van Horn on Just Shoot Me!
We all saw Valerie Bertinelli, 53, grow up as Barbara Cooper on One Day at a Time from 1975 to 1984, and followed her to the short-lived Sydney and Cafe Americain, and on to the final two seasons of Touched by an Angel.
The baby of the quartet is Jane Leeves, 52. Leeves played the irrepressible Daphne Moon on Frasier from 1993 to 2004.
The whole gang is back in action when Hot in Cleveland comes back from winter break for the second half of Season 4.
The fun begins at 9 p.m. Wednesday and will air live.
Yes, live.
Older baby boomers will recall their early TV days when live shows were common.
They’re a rarity now, and to be immensely enjoyed.
Wait. There’s more.
In Wednesday’s episode, “Buying the Pharmacy,” the ladies welcome guest stars William Shatner and Brian Baumgartner.
This will be Baumgartner’s first TV appearance since The Office folded. He played the hilariously dense Kevin Malone, in case you never learned his name.
Hollywood legend Shatner is an enviably robust 82 and joked in a TV Land news release, “At long, long last, I am working with someone who is older than me.” In case the series has been off your radar, Hot in Cleveland revolves around three close friends from Los Angeles - Melanie Moretti, Joy Scroggs and Victoria Chase - who find their lives changed forever when their Paris-bound plane makes an unplanned landing in Cleveland.
Whereas the trio were seen as long past their prime in youth-obsessed Los Angeles, they discover that in the Midwest city of Cleveland, they’re still considered attractive and sexy. They are, in fact, still hot in Cleveland.
So, they decide to relocate, and rent a house in town that happens to come with an elderly, eccentric, opinionated caretaker, Elka Ostrovsky.
Hilarity ensues.
The summer season kicks off just where February’s winter finale left off. Joy (Leeves), who has begun an internship with a private detective (Dave Foley), discovers what secret and shady business venture Elka (White) and Mamie (Georgia Engel) have been up to all season.
Yes, it’s illegal and dangerous and they are in way over their heads by cutting into the business of some very nasty locals.
Melanie (Bertinelli), Victoria (Malick) and Joy try to step in to help. There will be mobsters, mistaken identities and twists and turns.
Shatner is only the latest big name guest to drop in. The series has been blessed with many guest stars designed to delight the core boomer audience. Several of them starred alongside the four leads in previous sitcoms, and it’s been a delight to see them reunited.
The list has included John Schneider, Wayne Knight, Huey Lewis, Carl Reiner, Amy Yasbeck, Tim Conway and Susan Lucci in Season 1. Season2 included Mary Tyler Moore, Bonnie Franklin, Doris Roberts, Buck Henry, Peri Gilpin, John Mahoney and Don Rickles.
Season 3 featured visits from Kathie Lee Gifford, Sandra Bernhard, Laura San Giacomo, Ed Asner, Cybill Shepard, Kristin Chenoweth, Regis Philbin and Joan Rivers.
Before it’s all over, Season 4’s guest stars will include Fred Willard and Ed Begley Jr.
The June 26 episode, “Canoga Falls,” should prove memorable with guest stars Conway and Carol Burnett, and Jean Smart from Designing Women.
In that episode, Victoria’s sister (Smart) tricks her into coming home for a visit. She and the others find her mother Penny (Burnett) “in an alarming state.” There will be 12 new episodes before Hot in Cleveland wraps up the season. Fans should rejoice - the series has been renewed for Season 5 with 24 episodes.
More fun: The summer seasons of TV Land’s The Exes and The Soul Man also debut Wednesday following Hot in Cleveland.
The former premieres at 9:30 p.m. and the latter kicks off at 10.
TV Week, Pages 87 on 06/16/2013