Chicago Sun-Times
July 25, 2000 | Phil Rosenthal
Bette Midler used to be big in pictures.
It was the screen that got smaller. Right?
“I think what you are saying is, why am I going into television, and what happened to my movie career?” said Midler, who will parody her larger-than-life persona in the CBS sitcom “Bette,” beginning this fall.
“I have to be brutally frank, and I’m sure that everyone will say it, anyway: `Well, it was time for her to move on to the small screen because she couldn’t get those jobs.’ If you say that, that’s fine with me. I don’t care. I really don’t care.”
The truth isn’t quite so simple, of course, and it’s nowhere near as amusing.
Midler‘s daughter is about to enter high school, and a sitcom supposedly will give Midler more time to spend at home, though the home is in New York, and the show will be in California. No matter what, it’s a less disruptive schedule than concert touring, and Midler seems to think it’s going to be easier than filmmaking.
“(There’s) the sturm und drang, the angst of pulling these movies out of your kishkas,” Midler said. “I mean, (there’s) development for 15 years, and then you have to wait for the 25-year-old (studio exec) to give you the green light. I mean, forget it! Life is too short. I’ll tell you what: When they learn to make movies, I’ll be back.”
Still, jokes aside- and why not blame those punk execs at the studios?-it’s hard not to acknowledge that as Midler ages, there are fewer roles available to her and women her age. Half the older female roles in Hollywood, it seems these days, are going to Eddie Murphy.
“I’ll tell you the truth, I’ve had a good run in pictures,” Midler said via a satellite hookup from Italy, where she was vacationing with her family. “Most of the women I came up with don’t have the kind of jobs they once had. That thought has crossed my mind.
“I’ve been a live stage performer. I’ve been on Broadway. I’ve made records. (Series TV) was the only area that I had not done any work in. And I was tempted because I, really, really- this is the truth-I really wanted to stay home with my family.”
“Bette” has Midler playing Bette Midler, an ego-driven diva with a heart of gold. The show’s pilot, which will undergo some tweaking before it hits the air, has some very funny moments at her expense.
“I’m playing myself, so I’m hoping I won’t be too far off the mark,” she said. “It takes a bit of a stretch to play myself, but it’s the role I’m most comfortable with.
“It’s going to give me a chance to live a life, even for a little while, that I wish my life were like, and for that reason, I think I’m going to have a lot of fun. And when I have fun, everybody has fun.”
Besides the coast-to-coast commute, Midler’s biggest obstacle may be that CBS has given her show a Wednesday night slot opposite the invincible Regis Philbin and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”
“I’m kind of a television virgin, so to speak. I’m not television savvy like you people are,” she said, unconcerned. “Hey, how long can Regis go on? Maybe he’ll be struck by lightning. Who knows?”vies on TNT, which has the rights to the show’s reruns.
Quote of the day: “If the guy’s a schnook, you must unbook,” said “The View” co-host Joy Behar after the talk show canceled a scheduled appearance with O.J. Simpson.
