Julia Louis-Dreyfus didn’t mince words on Thursday, when recalling how one of her successful shows bit the dust earlier than it should have.
Her five-season series, The New Adventures of Old Christine, was canceled by CBS in 2010, just 12 episodes shy of its 100-episode milestone.
“They screwed us,” she said on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast in Cannes, as 100 episodes would have given the show the 20 weeks of programming it needed to pull in syndication dollars. The network treated the show “like s--t,” she added.
The sitcom, which ran from 2006 to 2010 and also starred Wanda Sykes, follows a divorced single mom (Louis-Dreyfus) as she navigates a close relationship with her ex-husband and his new, much younger girlfriend, also named Christine (Emily Rutherfurd.)
Louis-Dreyfus won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the role in 2006.
Despite its success, the star, who went on to star as Selina Meyer in the critically acclaimed series Veep for HBO two years later, has been candid about how CBS treated her in the years since its cancellation.
It was “a pretty male-centric network,” Louis-Dreyfus said on Thursday, and “I think it still is.”
The show’s creator, Kari Lizer, also blasted CBS in an interview with TV Guide in 2010. “As far as what happened at CBS, we’ve suffered from a serious lack of support from them since the beginning,” Lizer said. “I hate to say it, but I’m afraid they don’t care much for the female-of-a-certain-age point of view over there. How else do you explain them squandering the talents of Julia and Wanda?”
Her opinion of the network has yet to improve, as she’s been outspoken about the company’s firing of The Late Show host Stephen Colbert. The host’s show was axed last July, just days after he called out CBS parent company Paramount for settling with President Donald Trump for $16.5 million, ahead of its merger with MAGA-friendly media conglomerate, Skydance.
Louis-Dreyfus wrote on Instagram at the time, “I stand with my friend @stephenathome @colbertlateshow. And hey @cbstv, @paramountco, @paramountplus, & #ShariRedstone: ‘Institutions that are willing to sacrifice their values for the government’s favor are likely to end up with neither.’ -David A. Graham.”
The actress gifted Colbert a Veep-style roasting on Tuesday, as The Late Show comes to an end on May 21.
Despite feeling like CBS “screwed” both her and Colbert, Louis-Dreyfus’s new home on HBO turned out to be an advantageous next step after New Adventures was canceled.
The political satire ran for seven seasons and won 17 Primetime Emmy Awards, six of which went to Louis-Dreyfus for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
