Valerie Bertinelli Takes Over Mondays With ‘Hot in Cleveland’ & Food Network Shows
Preview
Suffering from the classic case of the Mondays? The cure is upbeat, down-to-earth TV vet Valerie Bertinelli, who eases us into two workweeks with comedy and cooking.
Monday, August 5, getTV brings back laugh riot Hot in Cleveland (2010–15), about three fortysomething L.A. women adjusting to life in Ohio — onetime soap star Victoria (Wendie Malick), Bertinelli’s divorcée Melanie and makeup artist Joy (Jane Leeves) — and their uninhibited landlady, Elke (Betty White). “Melanie tries to be the nice one. Over the series, she gets some backbone,” Bertinelli says. “She’s also klutzy. I loved doing the physical comedy.”
Monday, August 5, marks Season 7 of Kids Baking Championship (8/7c and 9/8c, Food Network). The oven mitts come off as nine bakers, ages 10 to 13, vie for $25,000. “The kids get better every year,” says Bertinelli, a judge alongside pastry chef Duff Goldman. “Some excel at decorating; others at flavor. When
you get the two together, it’s [special].” Cute overload: cakes that look like hedgehogs.
Monday, August 19, launches Food Network’s new Family Restaurant Rivals at 10/9c, with Bertinelli hosting. Each week, family members who staff three mom-and-pop eateries (Italian, Polynesian, Thai, whatever) make a dish for a panel of fancy food-world judges. “Everyone can relate to the family dynamics,” Bertinelli says. “And sometimes a bookkeeper surprises everybody by being an amazing cook.”
Hot in Cleveland, Mondays, 6/5c, getTV
