"Hot In Cleveland" (TV Land, US TV Series)

[pkristen]

Summary:
L.A.-lites Joy, Victoria and Melanie decide to take a trip to Paris but end up in Cleveland in a layover. However, they realized that while they were considered nearing their expiration date in L.A., they were definitely very attractive women in their prime in Cleveland. So they decide to move to Cleveland on a temporary basis, sharing a house with smart-ass much older and hotter Elka.

Review:
Because I don't have TV/Cable, I never had the interest or opportunity to check out this show until I was staying at the home of my lesbo best friends and watched the Season three Victoria and Joy post-wedding episode. So needless to say, I felt compelled to check out this show some more.

So I sat through marathon viewings of season one and two, and realizing that while I liked the concept of the show of celebrating the friendships of older woman, I really didn’t think the show was that funny. And it took me a while to figure out why:
1. A lot of the writers were from “Frasier”. Another show that I watched, respected that it was clever and intelligent, but I just didn’t think it was funny.

2. I’m not a fan of insult humor (which I define as at the expense of someone – who doesn’t deserve it), which is much different than teasing humor (where the target of the humor can genuinely enjoy and appreciate what is being said). It’s one of the reasons why I don’t like “Golden Girls” when I finally got old enough to really assess the type of humor involved. And yes, that means I only find Sue Sylvester partially amusing. Personally, I think it’s bad enabling to laugh and appreciate insult humor because that means you consider it valuable and cool, which is a form of passive bullying.

3. And while the general premise of the show is to celebrate the friendships between older women. These are women who spend A LOT of time obsessing about their age, weight, looks, fashion, men, and all of those other facets of the worst stereotypes of non-feminism.

I now just finished watching season three -- almost giving up half way through and forcing myself through the last episodes, and it will definitely be my last.

But on the LGBT angle, I did appreciate the moments of the pseudo-lesbian wedding, and the appreciation of the Gay male best friends. But those moments are rare, and really isn’t that worthwhile compared to everything else I had to sit through.