DVDizzy Forum

Baby, it's cold outside, yet TVLand just turned up the heat on a proposed series called "Hot in Cleveland." Valerie Bertinelli (Barbara Cooper on "One Day at a Time") and two other stars of long-running network sitcoms will be featured in the pilot episode for this comedy being developed by the cable channel.

Also in the cast are Jane Leeves (Daphne Moon on "Frasier") and Wendie Malick (Nina Van Horn on "Just Shoot Me"). Filming on the pilot episode begins in February.

Although set in Northeast Ohio, "Hot in Cleveland" will be taped in the traditional three-camera sitcom format at a Los Angeles studio soundstage. It features another prime-time veteran, Betty White ("The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "The Golden Girls"), in a recurring role.

Written by Emmy-winner Suzanne Martin ("Frasier," "Ellen") and produced by Sean Hayes (Jack on "Will & Grace"), it is one of two comedies announced in October as rerun-heavy TVLand's first attempts to launch original scripted shows.

The other is "Retired at 35," which stars George Segal (Malick's "Just Shoot Me" pal), Jonathan McClain, Casey Wilson, Jessica Walter and Christine Ebersol. It tells of a successful young businessman (McClain) who quits the New York rat race and moves into his father's Florida retirement home.

"Hot in Cleveland" focuses on three eccentric Los Angeles women, best friends "of a certain age," whose lives are forever changed when their plane unexpectedly lands in Cleveland and they rediscover themselves in this new "promised land." Loving their new home, they live under one roof, battling the property's sassy caretaker (White).

The pilots for these series have been given the green light, but then TVLand must be impressed enough with the results to order full seasons. According to the cable channel's executives, the two comedies are "designed to appeal to the attitudes, life stage and interests of people in their 40s."