David Duchovny now has a podcast out on Lemonada, called Fail Better. The premise is looking into the way that failure looms over all of us and really shapes who we are. The first two episodes, featuring Ben Stiller and Bette Midler, respectively, dropped on Tuesday, May 7. During the episode with Bette, he asks her about failures she’s had throughout her career. Bette brings up hiring Don Siegel, who she calls the “meanest man in show business,” to direct Jinxed! because he made her life “completely miserable.” Siegel and an unnamed co-star who said “racist and homophobic things” ganged up on her throughout filming. (I can’t find the exact transcript, but apparently in 1982, she name-dropped Ken Wahl to Rolling Stone.) When the movie failed, they blamed it on Bette, which landed her in “movie jail” for several years.
What happened in the aftermath of Jinxed! led to another one of Bette’s biggest mistakes: her sitcom, Bette. Bette admits to not knowing a lot about filming a sitcom. Afraid of once again being labeled as difficult, she didn’t want to rock the boat when power and control were taken away from her. Bette aired for 16 episodes on CBS back in 2000. The actress who was originally cast as Bette’s daughter was none other than Lindsay Lohan. Lindsay filmed the pilot, then decided to just peace out. Bette was left not knowing quite what to do. In retrospect, she wishes that she’d stood up for herself and sued Lindsay for breaking her contract.
Venerable actor Bette Midler says that her partially-autobiographical 2000 sitcom “Bette” represented a series of mistakes. Among the errors was her decision not to sue Lindsay Lohan, who appeared as her daughter in the pilot episode, but who did not continue in the following 16 episodes which broadcast on CBS in the U.S. Midler unpacked her regrets on “Fail Better,” a podcast hosted by fellow star David Duchovny. “’Bette.’ A big, big mistake. I think for several reasons,” Midler said.
She suggested that Lohan’s early exit from “Bette” may have contributed to its failure. “Lindsay Lohan was cast as my daughter in the pilot. Well, 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?”
At the time, Lohan had recently enjoyed success in “Parent Trap.” She went on to star in “Freaky Friday” and “Mean Girls.”
Midler, who was executive producer on “Bette,” also pointed the finger at herself.
“I didn’t realize what the pace was, and I didn’t understand what the hierarchy was, and no one bothered to tell me,” she said. “Well, I was kicked to the curb immediately and I didn’t know what to do about it… I didn’t know that I could have taken charge, that I could have asserted, because I think because I was so terrified of being branded a grandstander.”
“It was a part of the media I simply did not understand,” Midler continued. “I watched it. I appreciated it. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t know what it meant to make [a TV series.] 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 had completely forgotten about Bette. I didn’t watch it, but do remember seeing commercials for it on TV. I don’t think hearing this story about teen LiLo is necessarily surprising, but I was curious to see what else she had going on back in 2000. Her only other credit that year was Life-Sized with Tyra Banks. Lindsay’s other big movies didn’t come out until 2003 (Freaky Friday) and 2004 (Mean Girls), so I’m not sure what happened there with her career or family. Bette herself said the entire experience was “chaos.”
I gave it a listen out of curiosity. Bette is her usual chatty, bluntly honest self. What I find the most interesting about both of Bette’s stories is that despite being such a popular entertainer, she still dealt with misogynistic BS. It’s sad that the first bad experience left her too fearful of standing up for herself during the second one. I like that David asks his question and then lets her talk without interruption. Podcasts can be a tough listen if a host continues to talk over their guest. You can listen to the entire interview here. Also, you all know that I’m going to be checking it every week now to see if an ep drops with Gillian Anderson.
Bette Midler calls her autobiographical sitcom, ‘Bette,’ “a big, big, big mistake.”https://t.co/FNyo9oSqLB
— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) May 8, 2024
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