Lynda Carter Says TV Execs Doubted 'Wonder Woman' Success at First

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The actress penned an emotional post after receiving a Paley Center for

By Kate Hogan
Published on May 22, 2025 01:44PM EDT

• Lynda Carter is paying tribute to her iconic character Wonder Woman as the series about her turns 50
• Receiving a Paley Center for Media Honors Award this week, Carter said that TV executives "didn't think a woman could carry a whole TV series" when the show debuted
• She proved them wrong, she added

Wonder Woman was a hit when it debuted on television in 1975, but star Lynda Carter says the doubters were always there.

On Monday night, May 19 in New York City, Carter received a Paley Center for Media Honors Award for her work on the series, which marks its 50th anniversary this year. And in an Instagram post looking back on the night, she said the fight to make the show was as tough as the fights her character often faced on TV.

"It has meant so much to me to be Wonder Woman — she really is just the best," Carter, 73, wrote. "Back then, the executives didn't think a woman could carry a whole TV series ... shows how much they knew! Ha!"

She continued, "More than ever, the world still needs Wonder Woman. She is within all of us and don't you forget it."

Elsewhere in her post she noted that William Paley, who founded the Paley Center, "saved" Wonder Woman when he picked it up for CBS after ABC initially canceled it.

She also gave credit to her late husband, lawyer and Paley Center board of trustees member Robert Altman, plus her musician daughter Jessica and Wonder Woman movie director Patty Jenkins, her two dates for the night.

After Wonder Woman ended in 1979, Carter continued working in TV and film, though took a step back to raise her children, Jessica and James, near Washington, D.C., after leaving Los Angeles.

“I spent a lot of time on movie sets ... but I didn’t have a lot of substance in my life,” she told PEOPLE in 2017.

However, the lore has always followed, and in 2020, she appeared briefly in the feature film Wonder Woman 1984.

The fan love for Wonder Woman continues today, too. Earlier in May, parts of Carter's original Wonder Woman costume sold for $240,500 at an auction of television memorabilia.