- TV producer and writer Chuck Lorre wrote about his time on the ’90s sitcom Cybille in his new book.
- He remembers leaving the set, even though he was told not to, during an argument.
- The problems began, he claimed, in the second season after Cybill Shepherd “became a different person.”
Chuck Lorre recounts working on the sitcom in his new book Cybille it wasn’t always fun.
Lorre created the series centered on actress Cybill Shepherd, known for her television shows Undeclared work and movies like The last image session And Taxi driver.
Cybille debuted in 1995, six years after his success with Bruce Willis ended. The story of a struggling middle-aged actress, starring Christine Baranski, Alicia Witt and Alan Rosenberg, was a hit.
“When season two began, true to her name, Cybill became a different person,” Lorre, the showrunner, wrote in his new book, Sitcom: A Memoir. “She named her current manager co-executive and angrily demanded total control of stories, scripts, casting, cameras, lighting, editing and probably creative departments.”
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As he remembered, the examination didn’t stop there.
“After every table read and rehearsal,” Lorre wrote, “I was ordered to her trailer, where I had to sit on a stool while she gave me script notes, enthroned in one of those giant vibrant Sharper Image leather lounge chairs.”
While the Emmy Award-winning series continued to air new episodes until 1998, Lorre did not remain its lead.
He wrote that, just before his firing in the second season, he was told “that the Queen of Merry was unhappy with Act Two of the script in production. I probably had a few drinks to fortify my courage, then informed everyone involved that there was nothing wrong with Act Two and that I was going home. I was warned not to do it. But I did it.”
There were consequences – and they came quickly.
“Later that night, the day before Yom Kippur, I received a call from a junior manager at Carsey-Werner telling me not to return. I was fired. (Arabs always attack on a Jewish holiday),” Lorre wrote. “Someone would clear out my office and send everything to my house.”
Weekly Entertainment contacted a Shepherd representative.
Carsey-Werner Co. / Courtesy Everett Collection
As for Lorre, his television career was far from over.
He went on to create major hits, such as Two and a half men, The Big Bang TheoryAnd Mom.
Shepherd alleged that his sitcom was ultimately canceled after he refused the sexual advances of CBS executive Les Moonves, who was forced to leave the network in 2018 following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denied.
“It would have lasted another five years,” she said in December 2018 on the SiriusXM show. The Michelle Collins Show. “We had the best writers, directors and actors in the world – everyone was brilliant.”
Lorre recounts his adventures in Hollywood in Sitcom: A Memoiravailable in bookstores now.
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