'Hot in Cleveland' Plays an Early Lesbian Card with Valerie Bertinelli

The seriously cute sitcom offering from TV Land, Hot in Cleveland, got a little bit lesbian this week when Valerie Bertinelli’s character Melanie accidentally has a couple of run-ins with her rock idol Hailey Nash’s (Amy Yasbeck) breasts.

Led by a cast of cougars in their own right including Wendy Malick, Jane Leeves, the irrepressible Betty White and Bertinelli, Hot in Cleveland -- the premise of which is that all of these women are “hot” in Cleveland where they might not be appreciated in LA-- played the lesbian card early in its run.

The episode, which had Malick’s Virginia reliving her groupie past with Huey Lewis, got comic mileage out of Melanie accidentally falling into Hailey Nash’s cleavage and “motorboating” her, an impression Bertinelli recreated with comic verve and commitment, I thought would make my Barbara Cooper --Val in One Day at a Time -- loving head explode!

After a couple of fumbles – and fondles – trying to shower her idol with praise, Melanie leaves an apology note for Hailey, which has Hailey turning up at the gals’ house.

As sitcom comedy almost always turns on the premise of a misunderstanding, Hailey bestows a signed CD on Melanie, who then attempts to profess her adoration for the rocker. Mid-speech Hailey plants one on a surprised Melanie, who doesn’t object so much as she expresses she didn’t realize Hailey is a lesbian.

To which Hailey asks how she didn’t know since the signed CD is called “I Like Girls,” and her hit song is “Love My Honey Pot.”

Hailey exits once she realizes Melanie wasn’t clumsily hitting on her with the inadvertent boob grabs, but it’s White’s Elka, who drops the sarcastic last laugh walking out and dryly asking how Melanie was so naïve she didn’t realize “Love My Honey Pot” was a lesbian thing.

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