If anyone knows TV, it’s me.  Not only do I happen to, unapologetically, love the medium, I can’t imagine what a day without TV Land, televised sports, or the Food Network would be like.  Don’t want to know!  Anyway, I am sitting on tremendous TV knowledge and that knowledge leads me to announce that the fact that Betty White is returning to television is the best “television-related” news in two forevers.   This beautiful and hilarious comedienne  is one in a gazillion and how any network has let her go unutilized this long is beyond me.  For that matter, come on, shouldn’t the entire Golden Girls cast be gainfully employed on television and the movies?

Betty White has signed on in a Recurring Role in a promising new TV Land original series,  Hot in Cleveland.  I’m also doing back flips over the concept of Valerie Bertinelli returning to television.  I think her recent commercial campaign, her autobiography, and bikini pics (with snow and ice covering most of the country, I chose to show one of these pics at the top of the post – Valerie can thaw out as much ice now as she did 20 years ago…  probably more!) reminded the public of just how much we all love her.  TV Land is absolutely brilliant to bring both ladies back into our living rooms.

From TV Land:

“HOT IN CLEVELAND”

New York, NY, January 13, 2010 – TV Land announced today that it has signed comedic actresses Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick to star as best friends in the network’s sitcom pilot “Hot in Cleveland.” Additionally, the incomparable Emmy Award-winning Betty White has also been cast in the comedy pilot as a recurring guest star. The sitcom, which was previously announced in October along with comedy pilot “Retired at 35,” is TV Land’s foray into scripted comedy series and is a TV Land PRIME presentation.

“Hot in Cleveland” is written by Emmy Award-winning Suzanne Martin (“Frasier,” “Ellen”) and is produced by Emmy Award-winner Sean Hayes’ Hazy Mills Productions.

The new comedy revolves around three fabulous, LA women of a certain age and best friends (Bertinelli, Leeves and Malick). Their lives are changed forever when their plane unexpectedly lands in Cleveland and they soon rediscover themselves in this new “promised land.” Loving their new home, the women find themselves living under one roof and battling their sassy, property caretaker, played by Betty White.

Popular actress Valerie Bertinelli is most-remembered for her role as “Barbara Jean Cooper” on the beloved Norman Lear sitcom “One Day At A Time.” She also starred in “Touched By An Angel” for the show’s final two seasons. More recently, Bertinelli became a spokesperson for the Jenny Craig weight-loss program and in 2008 she released the autobiography Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound At A Time, which discussed her struggles with weight loss. In November 2009, Bertinelli released a fitness DVD called “Losing It and Keeping Fit” and also wrote a follow-up book called Finding It: And Satisfying My Hunger for Life without Opening the Fridge.

Jane Leeves starred for 11 seasons in the Emmy Award-winning NBC comedy “Frasier” and was also nominated for an Emmy as Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role on the series as Daphne Moon. More recently, Leeves lent her voice to The Disney Channel’s “Phineas and Ferb” and guest-starred in USA Network’s “The Starter Wife.” Leeves is also known to audiences for playing the memorable character “Marla Penney” in several episodes of “Seinfield.”

Wendie Malick was nominated for two Emmy Awards and won a Golden Globe for her role as the hilarious and beautiful fashion editor Nina Van Horn in the NBC ensemble comedy “Just Shoot Me.” She appeared as Judith Tupper Stone in the early 1990s in the HBO comedy “Dream On,” for which she won four CableACE Awards as Best Actress in a Comedy Series. Malick’s work has included roles in the movies “The American President,” “Scrooged” and “Bugsy.”

One of television’s most beloved and talented actresses whose career has spanned over 50 years, Emmy Award-winning actress Betty White is best known for her role in the classic sitcom “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and the beloved series “The Golden Girls.” White won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for the first season of “The Golden Girls” and was nominated every year of the show’s run. The series ran from 1985 to 1992 on NBC. White has also guest-starred on a number of television programs including “Ally McBeal,” ‘The Ellen Show,” “That 70s Show” and won an Emmy in 1996 for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, appearing as herself on a memorable episode of “The John Laroquette Show.” White had a recurring role in ABC’s “Boston Legal” from 2005 to 2008 as the calculating, blackmailing gossip-monger Catherine Piper, a role she originally portrayed as a guest star on “The Practice” in 2004. Most recently, White appeared in the 2009 motion picture, “The Proposal” with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. She will be honored with the Screen Actors Guild Achievement Award on January 23, 2010.

“Hot in Cleveland” is part of TV Land’s foray into scripted comedy series and is one of two sitcom pilots for the network. The cast of the network’s other pilot, the multicamera “Retired at 35″ was announced last week with Johnathan McClain, “Saturday Night Live” alum Casey Wilson and acting veterans Jessica Walter and Christine Ebersole landing starring roles opposite previously cast George Segal. “Retired” follows David (McClain), a successful young businessman who decides to leave the New York rat race behind and move into his father Alan’s (Segal) Florida retirement home.

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Classic scene from an episode of The Golden Girls. Blanche, Rose, and Dorothy are trying to fly under the radar while buying condoms. Naturally, it doesn’t turn out that way!

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“People always ask me if I’m like Blanche. And I say, ‘Well, Blanche was an oversexed, self-involved, man-crazy, vain Southern Belle from Atlanta — and I’m not from Atlanta!’” – Rue McClanahan

One of my favorite sitcoms of all time is The Golden Girls.  The casting is sheer perfection and the chemistry between the actresses was the stuff most television producers only dream of.  Like Roseanne, Good Times, I Love Lucy, Beverly Hillbillies, Sanford and Son, and Andy Griffith – this is a sitcom that where you just can’t find a down side.

Rue McClanahan was flawless in her role as Blanche Devereaux.  I swear, I’m in a trance any time the woman comes on the screen.  Her mannerisms, her voice, the way she loses herself in her character – sheer brilliance.   As I watched an episode this morning with my cat, Alexa, it occurred to me that Rue McClanahan doesn’t get nearly enough credit or attention.

Which is exactly why I’m HERE right this minute paying tribute to this hilarious actress!

Rue McClanahan Trivia:

• Rue was born in 1934 in Healdton, Oklahoma.
• She was a New York stage actress in the 1950’s. She was discovered on stage by Norman Lear and cast in roles on “All in the Family” (1971) and later “Maude” (1972).
• Stands 5′3.”
• When Rue was cast as Blanche on The Golden Girls, she was reunited with Bea Arthur (whom she’d worked with on Maude) and Betty White (whom she’d worked with on Mama’s Family).
• Estelle Getty, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Bea Arthur all won emmy’s for their roles on The Golden Girls
• After Bea Arthur left the show after eight seasons, McClanahan, White and Getty returned for a brief spin-off in “The Golden Palace” (1992).
• Rue is currently married to her sixth husband.
• In 1997, Rue McClanahan was diagnosed with cancer. She had a lumpectomy and underwent five months of chemotherapy.
• Is a vegan and dedicated animal rights activist.
• An Honorary Director for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

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