Hot in Cleveland

Synopsis

Cast and characters

Main cast

• Valerie Bertinelli as Melanie Hope Moretti, a writer and mother of college-age son and daughter Will and Jenna. Depressed by her divorce, she boards a plane to Paris in the pilot episode with her best friends. However, when the plane makes an emergency landing in Cleveland, Melanie loves the city and its people so much that she decides to stay. In season 4, she finds work at a PR firm where she develops a relationship with her boss Alec. They briefly move in together, but break up so Alec can pursue a chance at fatherhood. Melanie discovers she is pregnant at the end of season 4 with Alec's baby; however, it turns out that she has a brain tumor, which caused symptoms that affected her pregnancy test. After getting the tumor removed, she is given her own talk show at a Cleveland radio station which she uses to give out advice to listeners.
• Jane Leeves as Rejoyla "Joy" Scroggs, an English beautician, known as the "Eyebrow Queen of Beverly Hills", who counts among her clients stars such as Oprah Winfrey and Ryan Seacrest. Joy has never married, and her mother, who still lives in England, is highly critical of her. Joy had a son, Owen, when she was 15, but put him up for adoption. In the first season finale, Joy receives a message from her son, but a tornado prevents her from contacting him. Owen finally comes to visit her in season 2, with disastrous results. At the end of season 3, a baby is left on the women's doorstep. This baby is revealed in season 4 as Joy's grandson Wilbur. At the end of season 4, Simon, Joy's ex-fiance and father of Owen, shows up and wants to get back together. Joy eventually marries her quirky boss, Bob, in the series finale and they adopt a baby girl they name Elizabeth or Betty for short.
• Wendie Malick as Victoria Chase, a five-time-divorced, Daytime Emmy Award-winning actress who is famous for playing the lead role of Honor St. Raven for 27 years in the long-running daytime soap opera, "Edge of Tomorrow". With the show recently canceled, Victoria laments that her only career opportunities are playing Megan Fox's grandmother and Melanie Griffith's mother, and promoting adult incontinence underwear in Japan. She has also appeared in numerous trashy Lifetime movies, the titles of which she brings up throughout the series. Her jobs in Cleveland have included high school drama teacher and reporter for Oh Hi, Ohio, a local news magazine program. At the end of season 2, she and Joy accidentally marry each other in Canada while they are drunk. In season 4, she stars in a fictional Woody Allen movie, which wins her an Oscar, and also marries her co-star Emmett Lawson while he is in prison. Also in season 4, someone reveals her real age, but it is censored onscreen. She has two daughters, Emmy and Oscar, and one son named Tony. She is sworn enemies with real-life soap star Susan Lucci, and their rivalry is depicted throughout the series.
• Betty White as Elka Ostrovsky, an elderly Polish caretaker whose judgmental retorts to the other women in the pilot reveal an astringent demeanor and allude to a storied life, including escaping from the Nazis, an active sex life, heavy drinking, and possible marijuana use. It is revealed in the first season finale that her late husband had mob connections, and that the smell of marijuana came from the polish of his stolen goods. In the season 2 finale her "dead" husband surprisingly shows up at her wedding to Fred. White was only expected to have a guest role in the pilot episode, but her performance was so well-received that the producers decided to make her a regular. Elka is 88 at the start of the series. During season 3, she celebrates her 90th birthday, and she later remarks her age in several episodes. A running joke on the series is Elka's ability to attract men better than Joy does. Elka is elected to a Cleveland City Council seat in season 5. She becomes mayor in season 6, after the previous mayor died.

  Recurring cast

• Wayne Knight as Rick, the women's neighbor and a reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Rick has slept with Joy, but professes in Season 2 that he is more attracted to Melanie.
• Carl Reiner as Maxwell Sidney "Max" Miller, Elka's on-again/off-again boyfriend
• Susan Lucci, as a fictionalized version of herself. A rival of Victoria's from their soap opera days, who is constantly competing with her. In season 6, she is revealed by Victoria's mother Penny to be Victoria's half-sister from an affair her father Alex had during their marriage.
• Huey Lewis as Johnny Revere, a famous musician who has an on/off sexual relationship with Victoria that dates back many years. Though the two have genuine affection for each other, career pursuits always got in the way of a lasting relationship. In the series finale, the two finally decide to settle down, and they get engaged.
• Joe Jonas as Will Moretti, Melanie's son, who is in college
• Juliet Mills as Philippa Scroggs, Joy's uptight and critical mother
• Michael McMillian as Owen Berr, Joy's son from a teenage pregnancy, whom she gave up for adoption. He has his own son, Wilbur, in the fourth season.
• Jennifer Love Hewitt as Emmy Chase, Victoria's actress daughter. In the fifth season, it is revealed she is married and eight months pregnant with a daughter, named Melon, to whom she gives birth in the same episode. She played a cop named Cole in the TV series Cole's Law.
• John Mahoney as Roy Miller, a waiter who flirts with Elka in season two. In season three, he fakes a murder investigation to get closer to Elka. The two start dating, and go on many adventures, including skydiving. They break up after Roy's mother disapproves of Elka, but get back together in season 5, albeit briefly.
• Buck Henry as Fred, Elka's fiancé in season 2. Their wedding is halted before they say their vows after Elka's "dead" husband shockingly shows up.
• James Patrick Stuart as Colin Cooper, Victoria's co-anchor on Oh Hi, Ohio, whom she finds annoying. He has an off/on relationship with Joy throughout the second and third seasons.
• Jon Lovitz as Artie Firestone, a mentally unstable billionaire who is heir to the Firestone family fortune. In season two, while disowned by his family and homeless, he became engaged to Joy so she could get her green card. In season three, he began taking medication for his mental illness and was welcomed back into the Firestone family. The character's name and personal fortune is a reference to another character played by Lovitz, Artie Ziff, on The Simpsons.
• Georgia Engel as Mamie-Sue Johnson, a naïve friend of Elka's. She and Elka run an illegal pharmacy in the fourth season.
• Dave Foley as Bob. Joy's strange and sleazy employer at a private detective agency where she works as a college intern. He quickly becomes infatuated with Joy. By Season 6, Joy finally reciprocates the feelings and the two get engaged. They get married and adopt a baby girl named Betty in the series finale.
• Craig Ferguson as Simon, Joy's former lover, Owen's father, and Wilbur's grandfather, who comes back into her life unexpectedly
• Jay Harrington as Alec Jones, Melanie's boss and love interest in the fourth season. He and Melanie break up amicably, so that he can have the chance to be a father.
• Heather Locklear as Chloe Powell, Alec's ex-wife who is still his business partner
• Alan Dale as Emmett Lawson, Victoria's on-screen and off-screen love interest during the fourth season. He proposes to Victoria, but is soon arrested for tax fraud. He and Victoria marry in prison in the season finale, but he escapes from prison disguised as her. He faked his death and is presumably still alive in a remote area of the world, but Victoria decides to move on without him.
• Eddie Cibrian as Sean, Joy's fireman love interest
• Tim Daly as Mitch Turner, Joy's new boss after he takes over the detective agency from Bob. He later becomes Joy's boyfriend.
• Bill Bellamy as Councilman Jim Powell, a former Ohio State University football star who holds a city council seat that Elka seeks

  Guest stars

Season 1