Bette Midler calls titular CBS sitcom a "big mistake", talks about Lindsay Lohan's departure from the project

Bette Midler, the popular actress made an appearance on the Fail Better podcast where she talked about her 2000 sitcom, Bette, and called it a “big mistake.” Speaking to David Duchovny in the episode released on May 7, 2024, Bette Midler said:

"I did a television show, Bette. Does it get any more generic than that? A big, big, big mistake. 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."

During her interview, she also talked about the time Lindsay Lohan left the show, and how the situation had become extremely chaotic as the actress who played Bette Midler’s daughter decided to leave just after the pilot episode. She said:

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

She continued:

“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."

Bette, a sitcom series started airing in October 2000 on CBS Network. The show ran for 18 episodes and was the debut of Bette Midler in a lead TV series.

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“The mad scramble to keep up was just too intense”: Bette Midler stated that she was “thrilled” when the show had come to an end

As Bette Middler spoke to the host on the Fail Better podcast, she talked at length about her 2000 sitcom failing, and how she was “thrilled” when she got to know that it is now coming to an end. She stated how the sitcom had become “taxing,” as she exclaimed:

“The mad scramble to keep up was just too intense.”

She continued and shared how she had never done situational comedy, and said:

"I had made theatrical live events. I had made films. I had made a variety of 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."

However, she also narrated how the show also positively impacted her in many ways, as she learned about the challenges of producing a TV show. Bette Midler said:

“You have to give people so much credit when it’s great because the speed of it is so taxing. It’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to me in my entire life. ”

Apart from Bette Midler and Lindsay Lohan, Kevin Dunn, Joanna Gleason, and James Dreyfus were also a part of the star cast. On the other hand, the show saw many guest appearances by celebrities like Danny DeVito, Brenda Song, Sharon Lawrence, Tim Curry, Ashley Tisdale, Oprah Winfrey, Olivia Newton-John, and even Kobe Bryant.

The show was originally planned for 22 episodes. However, only 18 episodes of the same were aired.