Hot in Cleveland
Hot in Cleveland by Mindi McNeil (mindimcneil@gmail.com )
It was a Carol Burnett Show Reunion this week on Hot in Cleveland. Carol Burnett guest starred as Victoria’s eccentric mother Penny, who is a former children’s puppeteer and TV legend. She pretends to be crazy so that Victoria will come back home to Canoga Falls for a visit. The girls (Elka, Joy, and Melanie) accompany Victoria back home and from there the craziness takes off. Victoria goes to her mom’s home and it looks like the latest edition of Hoarders and hears her mom talking crazy and begins to worry. Penny thinks her behavior will convince Victoria to move back to Canoga Falls and stay with her. When Victoria goes to discuss things with Melanie & Joy, Elka comes up with a not so wise idea to get Penny to act off the wall crazy in order to make sure that Victoria will stay with Penny.
After Victoria discusses things with Joy and Melanie they come to the conclusion to have Penny put in assisted living, which Victoria mistakes for putting Penny on life support. After the girls explain what assisted living is Victoria decides that it’s a great option, and talks it over with her sister Bess. She tells Bess that she will pay for Penny’s care and put her in a nice home close by so Bess can see her daily. Bess however has her other plans, she has reconnected with an old love from high school and has decided to buy a Winnebago with him and travel the country and then move to Arizona. This throws a monkey wrench in Victoria’s plans and also upsets Penny who has always depended on Bess.
Panicking when she finds out that her daughters want to put her away, Penny hits the road with Elka in an attempt to run away from everything. In the process of running away, Elka tells Penny that she needs to let Bess go to live her own life (which Penny agrees is the right thing to do), and that Victoria should have her time to be the one in charge (which they both get a good laugh at that thought). Elka tells Penny to tell Victoria that she will move with her as long as Victoria will buy her a condo. And while all of this is going on Joy and Melanie are back at the house in Victoria’s old room playing dress up with her old clothes, playing her old board games and baking treats in an old Easy Bake Oven. In the end Penny goes to Cleveland with Victoria and the girls. Elka takes Penny out for dinner and Elka’s friend Nick (Tim Conway) comes over to their table and hits on Penny, while Elka goes to Nick’s table and uses her usual Elka charms and hits on the men there.