Hot in Cleveland star Valerie Bertinelli said the show didn’t get the ending it deserved.
Bertinelli, 66, told People that the sitcom, which ran on TV Land from 2010 to 2015, and starred Bertinelli alongside Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick, and the late Betty White, should have had more time on the air. “I’m still p---ed off for canceling us a year too early in my mind,” she said.
The series followed three middle-aged best friends who decided to share a home in Cleveland after an emergency landing in Ohio. White played their home’s caretaker. Bertinelli said the series meant a lot to fans, who she felt didn’t get the full story before the show was canceled.
To that end, she’s revisiting the series with the new podcast, Still Hot in Cleveland, which began airing episodes last month. Bertinelli, who won two Daytime Emmy Awards in 2019 for her Food Network show Valerie’s Home Cooking, is joined by Hot in Cleveland’s executive producer, Todd Milliner, as co-host.
The “nostalgia-cast” shows that the interest in another part of the story is still there, she said. “I love when I hear the beginning germinations of an idea and how it turns into six seasons of Hot in Cleveland,” she told People.
“It’s amazing the way artists’ brains work. And for me, that’s fascinating. And I think my audience, we all are so similar, and that’s why we like hanging out together—I think they’ll find it fascinating as well,” she added.
Despite continued fan interest, Bertinelli said that a revival is a tough nut to crack, given White’s passing. The 99-year-old died from a stroke on December 31, 2021.
“I know Wendie’s not crazy about that idea because she’s right—without Betty, how is it Hot in Cleveland? But I don’t know. I feel like there’s a way... And through this podcast, there’s a way for us to just enjoy being around that joy again,” she concluded.
