Cybill Shepherd is claiming that her eponymous sitcom was cancelled by Les Moonves after she rejected his sexual advances.
In an interview on SiriusXM's The Michelle Collins Show, Shepherd told the host that her show would have run for five more seasons until she upset her boss. 'Well, he did, uh his assistant and my assistant made a dinner date and we went to it and he was, well he was telling me his wife didn't turn him on, some mistress didn't turn him on,' said Shepherd.
'And I'm watching him drink alcohol and I'm going, he says, well, you know, why don't you let me take you home? I said, no, I've got a ride and I had my car outside with a good friend of mine who is an off duty LAPD officer.' Shepherd said after that night the show suddenly began getting notes about what her character could and could not do and shortly after was cancelled by the network. Moonves was married to his first wife Nancy at the time. Cybill Shepherd Les Moonves
'Yes. Um, we did a lot of jokes. It's just funny to see somebody whose quote "pretty," you know, talking with some food in their mouth, not overdoing it. It's just funny,' explained Shepherd of the show before that ill-fated dinner meeting.
'And then I got that note, don't do that anymore. Don't have Cybill talk while she's eating.'
It did not stop there either, with Shepherd saying the notes continued to come from Moonves.
'Then it was, okay, we had done one menopause episode, then we were going to do a second one,' she revealed to Collins.
'They said you can't use menses, menstruation, or period and I fought to say period and that ended up in Newsweek or TIme just that year. I had had to fight to say period.'
Collins then asked: 'After this dinner date though, I want to ask you this, obviously you made it clear you weren't interested, he's married, et cetera. Uh, how soon after that then did you find that you were having issues with the series?'
Shepherd responded: 'Quite shortly.'
Cybill ran for four seasons and was one of the most critically acclaimed sitcoms of the late 1990s.
It earned Shepherd two Golden Globes and was nominated for 12 Emmys during its run.
Shepherd was also branded as being notoriously difficult to work with during the show's run, much like many women who have now come forward to share their #MeToo stories.
Her show was pulled abruptly in its fourth season despite strong ratings, and never had the chance to air a finale.
The cancellation was a shock to everyone, and Shepherd told Collins that despite this the cast and crew still filmed two final episodes.
Shepherd said that she was not allowed however into the editing room to work on those last episodes.
The drama did not end there either, with CBS later suing Carsey-Werner Co. and claiming that the production company did not do enough to sundicate the prgram while demanding they pay millions in fines.
That suit was ultimately dismissed when a judge ruled the producers were not obligated to sell the show into syndication.
It would have been a hard sell at the time too given that there were only 87 episodes as opposed to 100, which is standard.
There has been no comment yet about Shepherd's claims from show creator Chuck Lorre or co-stars Alicia Witt and Christine Baranski.
Shepherd was never one to suffer fools, as evidenced in her description of her relationship with ex Elvis Presley, who she split with over his drug addiction. She was also linked Peter Bogdanovich, Jeff Bridges, Larry McMurtry and Frank Marshall.
Shepherd has been married twice and has three children.
Poster Comment:
People who lost jobs on that cancelled show should sue.