It's silly anymore to complain that TV Land has strayed from its original mission of reairing classic TV programming. Over the years, the network has switched from playing vintage shows to playing recent repeats, and has started filling its schedule with crass reality shows and pointless awards. So if we're stuck with the TV Land of today, at least we may be getting some original sitcoms rather than shows about rich people hosted by Joan Rivers. The network has given the green light to two comedy pilots, which stand a good chance of ending up on the TV Land schedule.
Hot in Cleveland is about three middle-aged Los Angeles women who end up unexpectedly living in Cleveland and discover they love it there. Retired at 35 is about a New York City businessman who leaves the fast-paced life behind to move back in with his parents in their Florida retirement community. Granted, these sound like totally hacky, cliched premises, and both rely on the "big city types clash with laid-back small-town life" trope that has fueled countless sitcoms (including ABC's currently failing Hank), but it's nice to see shows that are focused on the lives of people over 35 (especially women), and even if this is a shaky start, it's also good to see another network giving original comedy a chance. If ABC Family can turn in surprisingly decent original programming, there's no reason to think TV Land couldn't as well.
Courtesy of TV Land
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