Hot in Cleveland

You three don't look like you come from Cleveland.

Uh, actually, we're from Los Angeles.

Right, and, uh, we moved here

because we were feeling invisible there.

Yeah, men... men had stopped looking at us.

Oh, the men in L.A. don't look at women in their 30s?

- Oh, that's so sweet! - Oh, you think we're in our 30s?!

Smile.

Dial up the crazy.

That is a great idea.

We must increase our bust.

This is gonna be a good show.

Melanie: Well, great.

We're in a dive bar in Cleveland.

Look, I googled "Cleveland" and "get hammered,"

and this is what came up.

It's one of those ideas that you hear and you immediately go,

"oh, why hasn't anybody done this before?

It's so brilliant and so simple."

And then you throw in Betty white,

then I think you've got a pretty good show on your hands.

Yeah, I was up for that part.

The title got me right away... "Hot in Cleveland."

I feel young and hot.

Like they're undressing me with their eyes

and not finding spanx.

Kind of says to you right there what the show is.

And if it doesn't,

it makes you curious about what it could be.

All the men look like real men,

and the women look like real women?

And everyone's eating, and no one's ashamed.

Hayes: I actually thought it was really smart of TV land

to take the plunge into original programming.

To Cleveland!

To Cleveland!

Bertinelli: They had traditionally done

all of these great reruns of classic sitcoms.

Hayes: And so it seemed like a perfect fit

to start a new generation of brand-new shows

to pair with these reruns.

You know, maybe we should just forget

fixing each other up with men

and enjoy each other's company, right?

Ooh! Hot firemen.

It was definitely taking a chance,

but I think it was a very wise one.

- You just gave that whole speech about... - Shut up, Joy.

Milliner: And if you're gonna take a risk, why not take it with four people

that had already been on hit shows?

Leeves: The script was sent to me,

and I immediately recognized the name Suzanne Martin,

who had been a writer on "Frasier."

So, I was very excited.

I read the script. I absolutely loved it.

I'm gonna go talk to him.

Remember...

romantic comedies are like cellulite cures.

Every one of them is a lie.

Oh!

Malick: The premise was intriguing,

but I thought, "I need to know who else is in it."

Milliner: We met with Jane first. Then we met with wendie. Then we met with Valerie.

And we started telling them all that the other one was in.

- Exactly. Exactly. - So we kind of lied a little bit.

This has got to be the craziest lie you've ever told.

It gets a little bit crazier.

Bertinelli: What we came to find out is

they had said the same thing

to everybody that they were going after.

And then it all kind of came together,

and then Betty was the final piece of the puzzle.

I remember for our first table read,

the first time we sat down,

there was this sort of this magical feeling.

And we all sort of got that little tingle up our spines

knowing that this is something that really could work.

White: There was chemistry between us

that just felt so right,

and it's not something you can even pinpoint or explain.

Leeves: And then I told him to look around,

and he found Melanie's breasts.

They do look pretty good tonight.

I mean rude!

- Man: Can we have silence, please? - We are rolling.

Here we go. And action.

To think that we spent all that time and effort and money

trying to look 10 years younger and 10 pounds lighter,

and all we had to do was crash-land in Cleveland.

On the pilot, I remember feeling the energy

and the audience connecting right away.

Milliner: We kind of hit Betty right at the top

of one of her peaks in her career,

but she was just a guest star on the pilot.

White: And I made it very clear that,

if they did get picked up,

I would not be able to do more.

So, what are you, like 100?

I don't like you.

They haven't been able to get rid of me since.

Aren't you that girl from that show?

Yes. Yes, I am. Are you a fan?

No.

Hayes: You just know you have something

that the audience loves, that they love,

that everything's just lining up,

and that lightning in a bottle happens.

So, what should we do now?

I say we go back to that bar

where the men think we're hot.

I'll drive.

Milliner: It came together on one night,

and then when we got the call about the numbers...

Oh, my God, it's my agent.

Okay, everybody, just shut up. He thinks I'm in Paris.

I think we were all incredibly surprised at the ratings we got.

I mean, Valerie was saying, "maybe we'll even get

2.5 million or 3 million or something."

I said, "oh, come on."

I know, right?!

I was tripling them, quadrupling them,

and going, "what if we did this, you guys?!"

And then we got the news about our numbers,

which were through the roof.

It was like beyond anybody's wildest dreams.

Everybody's phone was going off, off, off,

that we just crushed the numbers.

I think the show just sort of burst out of the gates

right from the start.

A word to the wise...

a smart jockey always sits straight up on the horse.

See, you're the jockey, and he's the...

Yes, yes, we understand. Thank you.

It's so your boobs don't flop to the side

and get lost in your back fat.

Leeves: I hadn't seen for a long time

a group of women of a certain age

being portrayed as still viable and sexual

and celebrated the way they have been on this show.

It was very empowering to be a part of something like this.

You're too old to act like this.

She's not old. 40 is the new 30.

And 50 is the new 40.

What's 80?

It's still 80.

And I still don't like you.

The perception of age is so blurred now.

Take it easy, Vic. You look incred for

We did see that there was a gap in television programming,

and that was having women

that are like women all over the country

that have lives and goals and love and dreams,

and I think that's what we loved about it.

What happened?

We got along fine, but...

He wouldn't go downtown.

If you know what I mean.

What?

I mean, there's so many good restaurants

and... and shops downtown.

We made your life better.

And you love us for it, you big softy.

I'm so glad you like us.

You think we're great.

And people wonder why writers drink.

Cadiff: What an advantage, really,

just to work with not only four iconic actresses,

but women that were so good at what they did.

Ooh.

My date is a plastic surgeon.

Take a look at me right now.

This is the worst I'm ever gonna look!

I think Melanie is sort of

the naive, vulnerable, gullible center of the show.

Nobody tells Melanie Moretti what to do.

I'm out of here.

Will you put another quarter in the meter?

Oh. Yeah, sure.

Damn it!

Oh, tube tops.

Yeah, I had a back brace and bacne in high school,

so, you know...

You couldn't wear tube tops?

No, not couldn't. Shouldn't have.

First yearbook photo to be rejected.

"Too disturbing."

Malick: I love that her character is so sweet,

and Valerie, on the other hand, in real life,

grew up with a bunch of boys,

and you can tell because she swears like a sailor.

Remember that cute doctor I met when the bar got held up

and he needed my spanx so he could...

Me.

Victoria, of course, is that self-centered actress.

Are all actresses as beautiful in person as you?

Sadly, no.

She always has a lifetime original movie

that she can relate to some situation that's going on.

I know art because I played a blocked artist

in the Lifetime original movie "The Empty Paintbrush."