Brian Damage
05-20-2010, 10:04 PM
CBS surprisingly pulled the plug on the sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine, and creator Kari Lizer tells TV Guide Magazine exclusively that she's not laughing about it.
"As far as what happened at CBS, we've suffered from a serious lack of support from them since the beginning," says Lizer, who's seen her series shuffled around the schedule and exiled from the network's flagship Monday-night comedy block. "I hate to say it, but I'm afraid they don't care much for the female-of-a-certain-age point of view over there. How else do you explain them squandering the talents of Julia [Louis-Dreyfus] and Wanda [Sykes]?"
She may have a point: Once the home of mouthy femmes like Maude, Murphy Brown and Designing Women's Julia Sugarbaker, the network has shifted its focus in recent years to guy-centric sitcoms like Two and a Half Men (agreeing to pay Charlie Sheen nearly $2 million an episode to keep it on the air) and The Big Bang Theory, which is moving to a high-profile Thursday slot, to be followed by the male-heavy new $#!% My Dad Says.
Things are a bit more gender-balanced on the drama side, especially with CBS' addition of The Good Wife last season. But times can be tough for funny women (if you're not Betty White): Sykes' self-titled Fox talk show also got axed. "Wanda's having a rough week," says Lizer, who expects the stand-up to bounce back: "She's never funnier than when she's pissed off."
As for reports that ABC might pick up Old Christine, Lizer is adopting a wait-and-see attitude: "I don't think we're going to know anything about ABC for a few days," she says. "I'm hoping for life after CBS."
http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/news/exclusive-did-sexism-kill-old-christine-5127.html
"As far as what happened at CBS, we've suffered from a serious lack of support from them since the beginning," says Lizer, who's seen her series shuffled around the schedule and exiled from the network's flagship Monday-night comedy block. "I hate to say it, but I'm afraid they don't care much for the female-of-a-certain-age point of view over there. How else do you explain them squandering the talents of Julia [Louis-Dreyfus] and Wanda [Sykes]?"
She may have a point: Once the home of mouthy femmes like Maude, Murphy Brown and Designing Women's Julia Sugarbaker, the network has shifted its focus in recent years to guy-centric sitcoms like Two and a Half Men (agreeing to pay Charlie Sheen nearly $2 million an episode to keep it on the air) and The Big Bang Theory, which is moving to a high-profile Thursday slot, to be followed by the male-heavy new $#!% My Dad Says.
Things are a bit more gender-balanced on the drama side, especially with CBS' addition of The Good Wife last season. But times can be tough for funny women (if you're not Betty White): Sykes' self-titled Fox talk show also got axed. "Wanda's having a rough week," says Lizer, who expects the stand-up to bounce back: "She's never funnier than when she's pissed off."
As for reports that ABC might pick up Old Christine, Lizer is adopting a wait-and-see attitude: "I don't think we're going to know anything about ABC for a few days," she says. "I'm hoping for life after CBS."
http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/news/exclusive-did-sexism-kill-old-christine-5127.html