Hot in Cleveland: A Golden Girls for the new millenium?

It's a sitcom about four single women of a certain age, portrayed by an ensemble that includes Betty White.

"Hot in Cleveland," which debuts this week on TV Land, is not officially "The Golden Girls" redux. But the similarities don't end with the set up. Just as White shared top billing with three golden character actresses (Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty), she now works with another trio of established comedy veterans: Valerie Bertinelli ("One Day at a Time"); Jane Leeves ("Frasier"); and Wendie Malick ("Just Shoot Me!").

The four recently sat for an interview with The Associated Press on a key set for the series: the bar where three fifty-somethings (played by Bertinelli, 50; Leeves, 49; and Malick, 59) discover that while they may be past their prime in hometown Los Angeles, they are still "hot" in Cleveland. And, with that realization, they decide to stay there, moving into a house that comes complete with its own caretaker (White, 88).

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Associated Press: So, who is the most comfortable here, sitting in a bar?

(Betty White and Jane Leeves raise their hands. Wendie Malick points toward Leeves. All laugh.)

Leeves: I'm English. Pubs. It's the natural habitat.

AP: I see remnants of merlot on that table cloth.

Bertinelli: It's actually grape juice. (Laughs.) They won't give us real liquor around here.

Leeves: I don't think you are allowed to really drink on television.

Malick: This is a bar that doesn't have premium labels, as you may well imagine. So, we are kind of going down in terms of our needs since we have arrived in Cleveland.

White: We're cheap, is what she's trying to say.

AP: When this script came across your desks and they said it would be on TV Land, did you think, "Huh?"

Bertinelli: Goodness. When I first heard about it, Betty was already set. And this happened most quickly.

Malick (to White): You were the bait.

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