Bette Midler Calls her Sitcom "Bette" a "Big Mistake"

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Bette Midler says Sitcom "Bette" was a "Big Mistake", Recalls Chaos from Lindsay Lohan's Exit
by Jessica Wang
May 7, 2024


During the latest episode of David Duchovny's 'Fail Better' podcast, veteran actress Bette Midler, 78, called her 2000 sitcom a "big, big mistake" and also revisited the chaos after onscreen daughter Lindsay Lohan dropped out of the show after the pilot.

"I did a television show, Bette. Does it get any more generic than that? A big, big, big mistake," Midler said. "I think for several reasons. It was the wrong motivation. It was a part of the media I simply did not understand. I watched it. I appreciated it. I enjoyed it, But I didn't know what it meant to make it."

"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."

Duchovny said, "Well, the hierarchy should have been, since Bette is the name of the show, you should have been number one on the hierarchy."

"Well, I was kicked to the curb immediately," Midler said. "And I didn't know what to do about it. I mean, all the signs were there. But 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."




Midler believes the sitcom would have worked better "if I had had a team that was on my side," adding that "things happened that were so astonishing," citing Lindsay Lohan's departure.

"After the pilot, Lindsay Lohan decided she didn't want to do it, or she had other fish to fry," Midler said. "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 . . . and 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."




Midler's time on the sitcom ultimately became too "taxing," and she was "thrilled" once it came to an end.

“The mad scramble to keep up was just too intense," she said.

https://ew.com/bette-midler-sitcom-b...n-exit-8644737