Inevitably, there’s a lot more to the MTV Networks than music videos and VH1 programming, when you consider that cable channels CMT, Spike, Comedy Central and TV Land are in the orbit of this giant cable empire.

Not so long ago, TV Land was a repository for vintage TV series that stirred nostalgic memories, a place to showcase the golden age of television.

TV Land reverently presented the reruns of classic shows like “The Andy Griffith Show,” “Gunsmoke” and “The Beverly Hillbillies.” Fortunately, TV Land is still the place to check out the wonderful Barbara Eden in “I Dream of Jeannie,” or you can find more recent classics like “Everybody Loves Raymond.”

At the gathering of the nation’s TV critics on the winter press tour, Larry W. Jones, president of TV Land, confirmed that his channel is going deeper into the original sitcom business because the success of “Hot in Cleveland” resulted in 2010 being the “highest-rated year in primetime since 2007 with our target audience of adults 25-54.”

In case you missed it last year, “Hot in Cleveland,” starring the enduring and legendary Betty White, along with Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick, turned into a big hit.

“Hot in Cleveland” resolves around three fabulous best friends from Los Angeles – Bertinelli’s novelist Melanie Moretti, Leeves’ eye makeup artist Joy Scroggs and Malick’s former soap star Victoria Chase – who find their lives changed forever when circumstances have them relocated to Ohio’s big city.

They rent a house that happens to come with White’s very opinionated caretaker Elka.

With Betty White still going strong at age 89, “Hot in Cleveland” returns on Jan. 19 for a second season, which picks up where season one left off with the three friends trying desperately to free Elka from jail, because she was arrested after a stash of valuable jewels – fenced by her mob-employed deceased husband – was found in her storm cellar.

TV Land’s commitment to new sitcoms gets off to a fast start when “Retired at 35” also premieres on Jan. 19, following “Hot in Cleveland” on the same night.

“Retired at 35” stars veteran actors George Segal and Jessica Walter as retired couple Alan and Elaine Robbins living in Florida.

The carefree retired lifestyle is soon disrupted when their grown son David (Johnathan McClain) comes for a visit and, after one too many hectoring phone calls from his boss, decides to leave the New York City rat race and retire to Florida.

The disillusioned businessman ends moving into his parents’ condo, which in turn sets off a chain reaction of unexpected events, such as his Mom suddenly deciding to move to Portugal to take up painting.

As unlikely as it may appear, David settles into the carefree retired lifestyle or, as his hedonistic Dad describes it, “college in slow-motion.” David finds that bingo night at the retirement community leads to unexpected sexual shenanigans.

CMT is well known for its music-based and reality programming. Speaking to TV critics, Brad Johnson, senior vice president for comedy development at CMT, observed that ratings and research indicated that “family and comedy” are two important things to the channel’s viewers.

Since comedies that the whole family can enjoy together are harder to find, CMT decided to fill the void with its own scripted series “Working Class,” starring Ed Asner as cranky manager Hank Greziak at a food market where Melissa Peterman’s Carli Mitchell is a co-worker.

The story of “Working Class” revolves around single mom Carli trying to give her kids a better life by moving them into an upscale suburb.

The transition to the good life is harder than she thought. Her only “career” prospect is a glorified deli job at the local grocery store, and the man she falls for not only already has a girlfriend, but he’s also her boss, Rob Parker (Patrick Fabian).

With her ladies-man brother Nick (Steve Kazee) to help her out when he’s not acting like a kid himself, Carli faces the comic challenges of parenting, dating and making friends in her new community by doing more with less.

Of all the channels in the MTV galaxy, Comedy Central is the most predictable place for new comedy. Sports fans addicted to ESPN programming are going to love the absurdity of “Onion SportsDome,” a 30-minute rundown of the silliest in sports news, analysis, scores, highlights, rumor-mongering and petty personal attacks.

Much like “The Onion” newspaper mastered the satirical skewering of culture and politics, among other things, “Onion SportsDome” turns the conventions of modern sports coverage on its head, mocking the overblown style of ESPN’s reverential coverage.

“Onion SportsDome” is co-anchored Mark Shepard (Matt Oberg) and Alex Reiser (Matt Walton), both of whom master the earnest reporting of the most mundane or inane sporting events.

I think ESPN’s “SportsCenter” is funny enough as it is when Chris Berman gets all lathered up in his overhyped and frenzied coverage of all things sports, but you can count on “Onion SportsDome” to go to the extremes, and that all alone makes it worth watching to sports fans of all stripes.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.