There is something in the evolution of many cable networks that echoes the beginnings of life on Earth, as from primordial ingredients something new begins to stir. The network begins with reruns or other acquired goods, clambers ashore with low-budget, low-commitment reality series, and finally, with original scripted material, stands erect and walks.
TV Land, which began by presenting “classic” television series packaged with a kind of ironic curatorial air, has passed through the reality stage, and Wednesday night it airs its first original scripted series, a situation comedy, “Hot in Cleveland,” whose title seems itself designed to echo shows that have gone before — “WKRP in Cincinnati,” “Hot L Baltimore” (a play first but also a series). Created and written by Suzanne Martin, who wrote for “Frasier” and “Ellen,” and with Sean Hayes (from “Will and Grace,” and since Sunday night an experienced host of the Tony Awards) one of the producers, it is much as you might predict, given the venue: shot with multiple cameras before a live studio audience, with laughs sweetened to taste; starring actors already famous from other, older sitcoms; and made to appeal to people no longer as young as they were, an audience raised on the very series that make up the rest of TV Land’s programming day.
Full story: Television review: ‘Hot in Cleveland’ on TV Land – latimes.com