"Hot in Cleveland"

The first original sitcom for TV Land also brought a Cleveland-set series back to prime time for the first time in more than five years, since "The Drew Carey Show" limped to a conclusion. Like Carey's show, it is shot in Hollywood -- but, like the earlier show, it also has been busily name-dropping Northeast Ohio: references to Carey, Euclid Avenue and LeBron James, and an episode set partly in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Ohio connection extends to casting. Wendie Malick, though from Buffalo, is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University. (I have an interview with her here: www.ohio.com/entertainment/96238004.html .) Valerie Bertinelli's fiance, Tom Vitale, is from Cuyahoga Falls. And an upcoming episode will include a guest-starring turn by the great Tim Conway, formerly of Chagrin Falls and Cleveland.