“Hot in Cleveland”
Wednesday 10pm, TV Land
We are truly experiencing the Renaissance of Betty White. Although we just lost our beloved Rue McClanahan, the last Golden Girl standing is back—again—in a new sitcom featuring some other familiar faces from sitcoms past. “Hot in Cleveland” stars Jane Leeves (“Frasier”), Wendie Malick (“Just Shoot Me”), and Valerie Bertinelli (“One Day at a Time”) as a trio of L.A. cougars who get stranded in the Middle-American locale of the title. In The Cleve they discover that the locals—especially the guys—look at them like glamorous A-listers, so they decide to stay and rent a house overseen by White’s irascible caretaker character. The writing in the preview isn’t terribly sharp, but these women are pros and can turn even the most banal material into something entertaining. Definitely worth a look.
“The Gates”
Sunday, 10pm, ABC
You can’t throw a cat without hitting a movie or TV show featuring vampires nowadays. (Although you really shouldn’t be throwing cats.) But most of them take themselves too seriously to blend the erotic vampire myth with the inherent campiness of nighttime soaps, a la “Melrose Place,” “Dynasty,” or “Desperate Housewives.” That doesn’t appear to be the case with “The Gates,” a new supernaturally tinged show about an exclusive gated community that holds all kinds of creepy creatures whose everyday lives are interrupted by the arrival of a new family from out of town. Expect lots of parallels to be drawn between monsters and the soulless existence of the upper-middle class. Starring the awesome, hot, and awesomely hot Rhona Mitra (“Nip/Tuck”).
“The Real L Word”
Sunday 10pm, Showtime
Lesbian drama “The L Word” helped make Showtime into the cable powerhouse it is today. The show had its ups and downs, and ended a few years back, but now the channel is taking the concept of the interwoven lives of the ladies who love the ladies and pairing it with Bravo’s wildly successful “Real Housewives” reality-TV franchise to create this new show, which basically could be titled “The Real Lesbians of Los Angeles.” The cast includes fashionista/biker Mikey, promiscuous real-estate mogul Rose, recently out lipstick lesbian Tracy, and Hollywood power couple Nikki and Jill. They’re all gorgeous. And if that’s not enough to entice you, let me borrow a line from Coolio: Ain’t no drama like lesbian drama, because lesbian drama don’t stop.
