We’re Hot, In Cleveland
June 19, 2010 3 Comments
Cheers, Cleveland! Source:Google
You’ve seen the ads on the side of RTA buses and the billboards along I-480, and being a Clevelander, let’s hope you watched the premier of Hot In Cleveland on TV Land Wednesday night. Apparently, plenty of folks across the country did; “Hot In Cleveland” was the highest rated and most watched show on cable June 16th, according to Nielsen Media Research.
“Hot in Cleveland” revolves around three fabulous best friends from L.A – a novelist, eye-brow archer to the stars and former soap star – who find their lives changed forever when their plane, headed for Paris, makes an unexpected landing. When the friends discover that they are hot in Cleveland (as opposed to aging in L.A), they decide to stay. Starting over, they rent a house in Lakewood that happens to come with a very feisty caretaker.
I’m glad Cleveland collectively made the right PR move and got on board with supporting the show. Catching wind that a new sitcom was airing about Cleveland, the folks at Positively Cleveland were skeptical, without having even seen the pilot. Word was it would be yet another jab-at-Cleveland, kick-’em-when-their-down kinda show.
My own reaction was this: As a Clevelander, we’re used to this kind of thing. Drew Carey must be lurking in the background somewhere, ready to jump out and help “save” Cleveland. The writers at Scene Magazine were surely at a dive in Tremont, planning a cover story.
Neil Mohney of Forest City meets cast member Betty White in LA Source:Google
Luckily, someone with the knowledge and background of communications jumped in and -gasp- had a novel idea: to see for himself what “hot” was all about. Forest City Enterprises Executive Coordinator Neil Mohney hopped a flight to the set in L.A and talked to the cast and producers himself. He met with producer Bob Heath (an Akron native) and learned that “hot” was in reference to the show’s forty-ish cast feeling sexy in Cleveland as opposed to L.A, where fake boobs and butts are as prominent as forty-inch waistlines here in Cleveland.
But not everyone here in Cleveland is jumping on board the “hot” express. The show’s publicity team pitched Cleveland Magazine to put the cast on the cover of the June issue, but got turned down. More important than being hot in LBJ-town? The mag’s annual “Rating the Suburbs” issue. All those cougars moving from the west coast need to know which yacht club boast the ritziest Sunday brunch, darling.
Here’s a good “oops” PR move (or lack thereof) for the folks over at Viacom, the comm company of TV Land. A search of www.hotincleveland.com (as well as .net and .info) yields a search of… a site run by a pastor at the downtown Old Stone Church?! Yep- looks like someone didn’t register their domain name, and a Clevelander wanting to promote his city got to it first. Certainly the publicity team at Viacom wants to greet interested web surfers with “Move over Hotlanta – We’re Hot in Cleveland!” -which is exactly what appears at the top of the pastor’s site.
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Liz – persevere on the blogging — and don’t think it needs to be a 1,000 words at a crack. It’s better at 300 (a message I keep telling myself and still my average post length is 500-600 words…)
Give us more on what you think, how you see things. This isn’t the time for objectivity!
Best of luck!
Sean
“My own reaction was this: As a Clevelander, we’re used to this kind of thing. Drew Carey must be lurking in the background somewhere, ready to jump out and help “save” Cleveland. The writers at Scene Magazine were surely at a dive in Tremont, planning a cover story.” Hahaha, this is hilarious, primarily because it’s true.
Honestly, if more of the people of Cleveland doesn’t get on board with this, they truly are idiots. This show had the highest Nielsen rating, in it’s FIRST DAY?! And it depicts Cleveland in a positive light?! Uhhh…. hello future tourism! What T.V.-guru doesn’t want to visit the places that they see on their favorite T.V. shows? Answer: NONE OF THEM. This show could potentially send Cleveland’s tourism through the roof (compared to it’s past tourism, of course). Can we say, improved economy?
I had no idea that this show existed. Now that I do, not only am I going to watch it, but I support it 100%. Cleveland is looked down upon way too often. It’s time for people across the nation to see the positive that this city offers. And if it takes humor to do so, then so be it. If you can’t laugh at yourself, you’re a lost cause.
Great post, Liz. I think your opinion on Cleveland and their need to welcome this show in with open arms, leads to great PR advice for Cleveland’s “big-wigs.”
Here’s what we all knew might happen: the show’s writer’s get lazy (I still can’t figure out another reason that show’s do this…) and instead of using actual Cleveland establishments (such as bar and restaurant hot spots), they start making up locations.
This happened on the latest episode of “Hot in Cleveland,” when the ladies go to an restaurant called “Stormy’s on Euclid.”
In this day of age, pull out your Droid and Google it. Find someone who is, at the very least from, or familiar with, Northeast Ohio, and ask! Tell me there isn’t a bazillion restaurants/bars/clubs etc. that could benefit from a shout-out!
Here’s an article from The Plain Dealer’s Andrea Simakis on this: http://bit.ly/b0GzB5