Bette Midler doesn’t hold back when it comes to calling out her past mistakes, and one of them is the 2000 sitcom Bette.
Midler recently recalled her time as a sitcom star, calling the experience a “mistake.” She also regretted not suing Lindsay Lohan after she left the series after the pilot episode.
“I did a TV show Bette. Is it even more general? A big, big, big mistake,” Midler said of David Duchovny’s speech Fail better Podcast. “I think for several reasons. It was the wrong motivation. It was a part of the media that I just didn’t understand. I’ve seen it. I appreciated it. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t know what it meant to do it.”
She continued: “I had done live theatrical events. I had made films. I had done variety television shows. I was on talk shows. But I had never done a situation comedy before. I didn’t know what the pace was. And I didn’t understand the hierarchy. And no one bothered to tell me.”
Midler said she was “immediately thrown to the side of the road” without anyone to guide her through the process of the television world, adding: “But because I was so green, I didn’t understand what my options were and what my choices were.” “could have hit” to improve my situation. I didn’t know I could have taken charge.”
Cast of the CBS television pilot episode “Bette.” (L-R) James Dreyfus (as Oscar), Joanna Gleason (as Connie Randolph), Bette Midler (as Bette), Lindsay Lohan (as Rose) and Kevin Dunn (as Roy).
Cliff Lipson/CBS/Getty Images
Bette aired on CBS from October 2000 to March 2001. Created by Jeffrey Lane, the show consisted of 18 episodes, two of which did not air and were canceled after one season. Bette played a version of herself in the series, with Kevin Dunn playing her husband and Lindsay Lohan playing her daughter Rose in the pilot episode.
It was Lohan’s farewell to the sitcom that Midler noted that things happened “that were so amazing.”
“After the pilot, Lindsay Lohan decided she didn’t want to do it because she had other fish to fry,” Midler said. “So Lindsay Lohan walked out of the building and I said, well, what do you do now? And the studio didn’t help me. It was extremely chaotic. . . And if I had been in my right mind or had known that it was my duty to stand up and say, “This is absolutely not possible, I’m going to sue,” then I would have done that. But somehow I was coddled by not being able to get into the author’s room. I couldn’t talk to the showrunner. I couldn’t express myself clearly.”
Midler says she was “thrilled” when the show was canceled after one season.
Lohan recently shared a promotional image from the show alongside Midler, captioning the Instagram post: “So much fun filming the incredible.” [Bette Midler].”