Bette Midler admits failed sitcom was a 'big mistake'

The 78-year-old actor starred in her own sitcom in 2000, but the show proved to be a flop and Midler now looks back on the project with some regrets.

During an appearance on the Fail Better podcast, she admitted: "It was a big, big mistake."

Lindsay Lohan actually starred in the pilot episode of the show.

However, the Hollywood star subsequently withdrew from the project, and Midler views Lohan's exit as a major turning point for the show.

The veteran star explained: "Things happened that were so astonishing. I didn't know those things could happen.

"For instance, 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?'."

Midler also acknowledged that the show's name was unimaginative.

The actor, who served as an executive producer on the sitcom, said: "'Bette'. Does it get any more generic than that? 'Bette'. A 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. 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."

Midler now wishes that she assumed more creative control over the show.

She said: "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."

Australian Associated Press