Guest stars
Guest stars during the first season included Shirley Knight as Melanie's overprotective mother, Loretta; Hal Linden as Victoria's womanizing actor father, Alex; singer Joe Jonas as Melanie's son, Will; Carl Reiner as Max, Elka's boyfriend; Bil Dwyer as Melanie's ex-husband Anders; and Juliet Mills as Joy's critical mother, Philippa. Other first season guest stars include John Schneider, Wayne Knight, Robert Gant, Huey Lewis, Amy Yasbeck, Tim Conway, Mark Indelicato, David Starzyk, Gary Anthony Williams, Dave Foley and Susan Lucci.
For the second season, Mary Tyler Moore guest starred in the season premiere as Elka's jail cellmate, in the wake of the latter's arrest in the first season finale. This marked the first time since 1977, when The Mary Tyler Moore Show ended, that White and Moore had worked together. Sherri Shepherd appeared in two episodes as the judge in Elka's competency case. David Starzyk, John Schneider, Huey Lewis, Wayne Knight and Carl Reiner all reprised their roles from season 1. Bonnie Franklin also guest starred as Melanie's ex-boyfriend's mother, Franklin reuniting with One Day at a Time co-star Valerie Bertinelli. On July 20, 2011, Doris Roberts appeared as Lydia Dombrosky, Elka's nemesis. Jennifer Love Hewitt guest starred as Victoria's daughter Emmy, while Michael McMillian appeared as Joy's son, Owen. Buck Henry appeared in multiple episodes as Elka's love interest and eventual fiancé. Jimmy Kimmel, Susan Lucci, and Melanie Griffith made guest appearances as themselves. Michael E. Knight, Jon Lovitz, Isaiah Mustafa, Monica Horan, Max Greenfield, Mindy Cohn, Amy Sedaris, Frank Caliendo, Cedric the Entertainer, Darnell Williams and Jane Leeves' Frasier co-stars Peri Gilpin and John Mahoney also appeared on the show as guest stars. Don Rickles made a surprise appearance as Elka's dead husband in the Season 2 finale, "Elka's Wedding".
Season three features guest stars such as series producer Sean Hayes as a hand model boyfriend of Victoria's, Gilles Marini as Captain Lebeau, Kathie Lee Gifford, Sandra Bernhard, Don Rickles as Elka's late husband Bob, who faked his death, John Mahoney (Leeves' former Frasier costar) as Roy, Elka's boyfriend, and Laura San Giacomo as Melanie's estranged sister, and Baron Davis and Josh Cribbs as themselves. In addition to Mary Tyler Moore guest starring in the second season premiere, the third season saw Betty White reunite with Ed Asner and Georgia Engel in two separate episodes. The season includes the return of guests Jennifer Love Hewitt, Susan Lucci, Huey Lewis, Joe Jonas and Jon Lovitz. Cybill Shepherd, Curtis Armstrong, Andy Richter, Roger Bart, Paul Dooley, Jonathan Silverman, Doug Savant, Rhea Perlman, Kristin Chenoweth, Barry Bostwick, Alex Borstein, Dan Cortese, Lee Corso, Kevin Nealon, Regis Philbin, Joan Rivers, and David Spade—who had co-starred with Malick in Just Shoot Me, as had San Giacomo—also make guest appearances in the third season. Rick Springfield portrays an impersonator of himself who tricks Joy into sleeping with him in episode 16. Dan Dotson and Laura Dotson from Storage Wars appear as themselves in Episode 22.
Season four recurring guests include Heather Locklear as Chloe, Jay Harrington as Alec, and Alan Dale as Emmett. Other guest stars include Craig Ferguson, who plays the ex-boyfriend that left Joy when she became pregnant, Eddie Cibrian as Sean, Fred Willard as Dr. Hill, and Gary Anthony Sturgis as Officer Davenport, while Ed Begley Jr., Nicholas Bishop, Heather Dubrow, Dave Foley, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and George Hamilton also make guest appearances. Georgia Engel and Regis Philbin reprise their roles from the previous season, while Michael McMillian returns as Owen, Joy's son and Juliet Mills returns for one episode as Joy's mother.
In the live episode for the mid-season premiere, Academy Award winner Shirley Jones makes a guest appearance, as does William Shatner as "Sally from Cincinnati". Carol Burnett guest-starred as Victoria's mother and Jean Smart guest-starred as Victoria's sister in the second episode of the summer season. Tim Conway also reprised his role as Elka's ex-boyfriend, Nick.
Pat Harrington Jr., Bertinelli's former One Day at a Time co-star, made a guest appearance as hotel clerk Mr. Sherden in "GILFs".
The Mary Tyler Moore Show cast reunited on screen for the first time in 36 years, in an episode where Mary Tyler Moore, Valerie Harper, Cloris Leachman, Betty White and Georgia Engel were all members of a 1960s bowling team reuniting for the first time in 50 years.
In the season finale, Melanie announces she is pregnant, Joy rekindles her love for her son's father, and Victoria's husband, Emmett, who is in jail, has escaped on the night of their jailhouse honeymoon.
Season 5 premiered with The Soul Man with two back-to-back live episodes on March 26, 2014 (10:00PM EDT and 10:30PM EDT). Guest stars in the premiere episode included Dave Foley and Georgia Engel reprising their roles from the previous seasons, as well as Ken Jeong and Albert Tsai making a guest appearances with Alex Trebek appearing as himself. Cedric the Entertainer made a special guest appearance reprising his role from the Hot in Cleveland spin-off The Soul Man, while Betty White reprised her role as Elka on The Soul Man. Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jay Harrington, Craig Ferguson, Michael McMillian, Susan Lucci and Juliet Mills reprised their roles from the previous seasons. Tim Daly was added as recurring character Mitch, Joy's new boss and love interest. Additional guest appearances were made by Thomas Lennon, Jaime Pressly, Angela Kinsey, Chris Elliott, Jason Priestley, Sarah Hyland, Max Greenfield, Cheri Oteri, Chevy Chase, Rob Schneider, Nora Dunn, Morgan Fairchild, Coby Bell, Chris Colfer, Will Sasso, Steven Tyler (in the special animated episode), Queen Latifah, Perez Hilton and Debra Monk.
The sixth season was announced by TV Land as the final season for the series. Guest stars for this season include: Ernie Hudson as one of Victoria's ex-husbands who helps her come to terms with their once embarrassing legacy, Lesley Nicol who appeared in the Christmas episode; Andrew J. West as a man who hits on Melanie, Timm Sharp as the producer of Victoria's new TV show, and Robert Wagner as Jim, a new man in Elka's life. Mario Lopez appears as himself, with newly appointed Councilwoman Elka trying to lure him into taping his TV show in Cleveland. Gladys Knight and Ben Vereen appear in the "One Wedding and One Funeral" episode. Will Sasso reprises his role as Franky, Melanie's co-host on the "He Said/She Said" radio program. Bob Newhart, Thomas Gibson and Huey Lewis all appear in the season and series finale. Stacy Keach plays Victoria's father Alex in two episodes. MacKenzie Phillips, Bertinelli's former co-star in One Day at a Time, would make an appearance as Melanie's former school bully Caylin, in "About a Joy".
