TV Land Shows

[ClassyCo]

We've already got a discussion going on HOT IN CLEVELAND (which is TV Land's most successful series), but the cable channel that originated with the intention of giving TV classics their own place to enjoy their syndicated glory has had other shows come and go.

RETIRED AT 35 was the second original series green-lit by TV Land. It stars George Segal as a successful New Yorker who quits his job and decides to live the retirement life with his unhappily married parents in Florida. It produced two seasons and was the first original series TV Land would cancel.

THE SOUL MAN starred Cedric the Entertainer as a singer-turned-minister who trades his lavish lifestyle for a more humble one once he gets "the calling" to minister. The character first appeared on an episode of HOT IN CLEVELAND, and was then transferred to its own spin-off, which produced five seasons.

HAPPILY DIVORCED starred Fran Drescher and John Michael Higgins as a divorced couple whose marriage ends when the latter comes out as gay. Their friendship remains steady, however, as the two reenter the dating world. It produced two seasons.

THE EXES centers on three divorced men living in a apartment building owned by their divorce lawyer. It stars talents like Kristen Johnston, Wayne Knight, Donald Faison, and David Alan Basche. It produced four seasons.

KIRSTIE starred actress Kirstie Alley as Madison "Maddie" Banks, a Tony Award-winning actress whose life is uprooted when the child she gave away at birth reappears in her life. Maddie Banks was revealed to be a former acting school classmate of Victoria Chase from HOT IN CLEVELAND. The show produced just twelve episodes before getting cancelled.

I figured these shows didn't necessarily warrant their own threads, so I decided to group them together here. There may also be more shows that I do not know about that TV Land has aired over the years.

Anyone a fan of TV Land sitcoms?

All of these shows (with the exception of KIRSTIE) are available to stream on Paramount+. KIRSTIE is currently available You-Know-Where.

 

[Monzo]

Aside from Hot In Cleveland, The Exes is the only other TV Land sitcom I've watched and HIC was way better than The Exes. Oddly enough, the cast I knew from other shows (Kristen Johnston, Wayne Knight, Donald Faison) were a disappointment, while David Alan Basche, whom I'd previously only known as a guest or recurring actor in dramas, pleasantly surprised me because I didn't expected it to be so versatile. I was appalled that Donald Faison had to go straight to a sitcom like The Exes after his Scrubs success.

The Exes to me was always over the top in jokes and felt like one of those 90's NBC sitcoms that aired at 8:30pm and were only watched because they were slotted in between two hits and actually no one liked them.

 

[tommie]

The Exes to me was always over the top in jokes and felt like one of those 90's NBC sitcoms that aired at 8:30pm and were only watched because they were slotted in between two hits and actually no one liked them.

The whole gist of these TV Land sitcoms were of course that they were throwsbacks to sitcoms of yesteryear - Hot in Cleveland was clearly a take on Golden Girls, I guess The Exes were literally meant to represent those 90s NBC sitcoms. They were meant to be comfy viewing rather than challenging.

 

[DallasFanForever]

Most of those TV Land sitcoms admittedly didn’t register with me. The only one I could sort of get into was HIC. I do see the Golden Girls comparisons but only to a certain extent. Obviously it was never going to have the same impact.

 

[Daniel Avery]

I sampled Happily Divorced entirely because of my affinity for Fran Drescher. I was sort of uncomfortable with the premise, since it mirrored (some would say "milked") her real-life situation with long-time husband Peter Marc Jacobson. Still, some people are just okay with laying it all out there like that. IMO that sort of personal business ought not be aired out in public like that, much less turned into a sitcom.

I only watched about three or four episodes before I gave up on it, not because of the discomfort over the premise and its relation to real-life events. It just wasn't terribly funny. The characters (especially the male lead) weren't played strongly enough, even Fran D, who is normally very watchable and charismatic. To me, it felt like they sold the idea thanks to Fran and Marc-Peter's very public break-up, but didn't put a lot of development-thought into what came next.

 

[ClassyCo]

All twelve episodes of KIRSTIE are uploaded You-Know-Where, and a couple of nights ago, I watched the first episode.

The cast is pretty good, even though I've never been a SEINFELD fan and therefore kind of "meh" to Michael Richards. Kirstie Alley and Rhea Perlman are the standouts, while Eric Petersen (the guy playing Kirstie's long-lost son) is completely miscast. I understand the humor the writers are trying to draw from him being chubby and therefore unattractive, but he just comes off as awkward, which leads him to lack anything coming close to chemistry with any of her co-stars.

The script (at least of the first episode) was weak. The writing was sloppy and the jokes chuckle-worthy at best. The whole thing (which was around 21 minutes long) left me underwhelmed. I honestly haven't any desire to watch any of the other episodes, although I'm sure I'll get around to a few of them one day.

If you haven't seen KIRSTIE, you haven't missed much.

 

[DallasFanForever]

All twelve episodes of KIRSTIE are uploaded You-Know-Where, and a couple of nights ago, I watched the first episode.

The cast is pretty good, even though I've never been a SEINFELD fan and therefore kind of "meh" to Michael Richards. Kirstie Alley and Rhea Perlman are the standouts, while Eric Petersen (the guy playing Kirstie's long-lost son) is completely miscast. I understand the humor the writers are trying to draw from him being chubby and therefore unattractive, but he just comes off as awkward, which leads him to lack anything coming close to chemistry with any of her co-stars.

The script (at least of the first episode) was weak. The writing was sloppy and the jokes chuckle-worthy at best. The whole thing (which was around 21 minutes long) left me underwhelmed. I honestly haven't any desire to watch any of the other episodes, although I'm sure I'll get around to a few of them one day.

If you haven't seen KIRSTIE, you haven't missed much.

I think I watched the first episode and to be honest I was rather disappointed. It just didn’t click for me and the jokes were pretty hammy at best. I guess I expected more given the excellent cast.