The way she tells it, Bette Midler's short-lived sitcom “Bette” was more like a comedy of errors.
The singer-actor's semi-autobiographical CBS show premiered in 2000 and was canceled 18 episodes into its 22-episode order. Midler discussed her self-proclaimed “big failure” Tuesday in David Duchovny's interview. podcast, “Fail better.”
“I did a TV show, 'Bette.' Is there anything more generic than that? the “Hocus Pocus” star joked. “A big, big, big mistake.”
Midler cited several reasons for the show's failure, including his poor understanding of serial television production. He said he had worked extensively in theater and film, but sitcoms were uncharted territory.
“Filming one show a week is breakneck speed for Midler, more accustomed to the studious pace of film shooting,” the Times' Carla Hall wrote in an October 2000 article about her and the show. “The comedy is filmed on Friday nights before an audience at the Culver City studios, starting around 6:30 pm and ending in the early hours of the morning, driven by Midler's desire to make it as funny as possible.”
The week that story was reported, a coordinating producer won a pool the crew held regularly, where they put in $5 each and guessed when filming would end. The winning guess that week was 1:11 a.m., or almost five hours to film a half-hour show.
“It was a form, a part of media, that I just didn't understand. I saw it. I appreciate it. I loved it. But I didn't know what it meant to achieve it,” Midler said on the podcast. “I didn't realize what the rhythm was, I didn't understand what the hierarchy was and no one bothered to tell me.”
Midler was effectively sidelined on her own show.
“Because I was so green,” he said, “I didn't know I could have taken over.”
So when a teenage Lindsay Lohan left “Bette” after the show's pilot, despite having a contract, Midler didn't fight.
“If I had been in my right mind, or if I had known that part of my duties was to stand up and say, 'This is no use at all, I'm going to sue,' then I would have done it.” Midler said. “But it seems like I've been spoiled in some way for not being able to make it to the writers' room. I couldn't talk to the showrunner. “I couldn’t clear myself up.”
Midler said she aired her complaints on “The Late Show With David Letterman” and was fired the next morning.
“Bette” aired on Wednesdays along with “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” which was a giant at the time. In March 2001, The Times wrote about the cancellation of “Bette,” saying: “The show, in which Midler plays a diva lookalike, has been a ratings disappointment since its debut, and Midler herself had hinted on several occasions that he found “The experience of starring in your own television show is arduous.”
“I said, 'Oh, isn't that great?'” Midler told Duchovny. “I was really excited to not have to continue because I couldn't get myself together enough to make it work. He didn't know how to make it work, for many reasons, one of which was that it was a completely different situation than what he thought it was going to be.”
However, it seems that not everyone disliked the comedy.
Days before Midler's appearance on the podcast, Lohan posted a photo of her and her former “Bette” co-star on instagram.
“It was a great shoot,” Lohan wrote in the caption, “with the amazing @bettemidler 💕 #tbt.”
