Bette Midler shared her regret about her short-lived sitcom Bette, which only lasted for one season on CBS. The show starred Midler as a famous singer and mom to Rose, played by Lindsay Lohan.
Bette Midler reveals why her 2000 sitcom Bette ended only last one season
During David Duchovny’s podcast, Midler mentioned that problems arose when Lohan left the show after the pilot episode, leaving things chaotic. It’s unclear why Lohan left, but she had other projects lined up. Midler said during the podcast episode, “After the pilot, Lindsay Lohan decided she didn’t want to do it, or she had other fish to fry,” she added, “So Lindsay Lohan left the building and I said, well, now what do you do? And the studio didn’t help me. It was extremely chaotic.”
Midler felt lost and unsupported during the sitcom, wishing she had stood up for herself more. She felt inexperienced and didn’t understand the fast-paced world of sitcoms. She expressed, “If I had been in my right mind, or if I had known that my part of my duties were to stand up and say, ‘This absolutely will not do, I’m going to sue,’ then I would have done that. But I seem to have been cosseted in some way that I couldn’t get to the writer’s room. I couldn’t speak to the showrunner. I couldn’t make myself clear.”
The Hocus Pocus 2 actress said, “I had made theatrical live events. I had made films. I had made variety television shows. I had been on talk shows. But I had never done a situation comedy. I didn’t realize what the pace was. And I didn’t understand what the hierarchy was. And no one bothered to tell me.”
Better said that she felt at the time like being “kicked to the curb immediately.” She added, “Because I was so green, I didn’t understand what my options were, what choices I could have made to improve my situation. I didn’t know that I could have taken charge.
Better Midler admits feeling revealed when the show got canceled
Despite feeling disappointed, Midler admitted feeling relieved when the show got canceled after one season in 2001. She realized it was a mistake and that she didn’t fully grasp the TV industry.
The experience left Midler feeling like she had been “kicked to the curb immediately.” She didn’t understand her options or how to improve her situation, admitting she was “so green” in the industry.
She later reflected that filming “Bette” was a “big, big, big mistake” for several reasons. She didn’t understand the motivation behind it and felt out of her depth in the media landscape.
The show consisted of 18 episodes, two of which did not air on CBS. Despite the disappointment, Midler learned valuable lessons from the experience and grew as an artist.
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