Over a decade ago, Kathy Bates ripped into NBC for axing her show Harry’s Law — and now she’s doubling down.
Though Bates, 77, has found her way back into a courtroom courtesy of her hit series Matlock, the actress is still mourning what could’ve been with Harry’s Law, the David E. Kelley–created legal drama that lasted two seasons before its cancellation.
At the time, Bates did not hold her tongue about losing the show. “I think they treated us like shit,” she told reporters in 2013. “They kicked us to the curb. They disrespected us. They disrespected our 11 million viewers every week. And I think they’re getting what they deserve.”
Asked about the outburst in a new interview with Variety, Bates made it clear that her feelings haven’t changed. “They said, ‘We can’t monetize on old people,'” she recalled, “and I felt like, ‘Fuck you!'”
Jordin Althaus/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Dusting off her shoulders, Bates — who recently became the oldest Emmy nominee for Best Actress in a Drama for her role on Matlock — added, “Success is the best revenge.”
Harry’s Law saw Bates play Harriet Korn, a sharp-tongued lawyer who forms her own criminal defense firm after being fired from her job as a top-level patent attorney. The show proved to be a hit with an older demographic but lagged with younger viewers that networks were desperately courting, prompting NBC to shelve it.
In the years since, Bates has certainly been vindicated. She is now back on TV, leading a new legal drama on a different network, CBS. She’s once again up for an Emmy for her lead performance in Matlock, after earning nominations for both seasons of Harry’s Law.
Bates said Matlock‘s success is indicative of the “redemption stage” she finds herself in, both in life and her career. “I finally feel like I’m who I am,” she said in the new interview. “I’ve fought my way through the rapids. I feel this is the best time of my life. I’m glad I stuck around for it!”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Bates had another “f— you” to share, this time directed at critics of her weight loss. The actress shut down claims that she dropped 100 pounds primarily by taking Ozempic and argued that she succeeded in her weight loss by changing her lifestyle and diet.
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“People say, ‘Well, it was the Ozempic.’ F— you, it was the Ozempic! It took me years to do this,” she said. “I got this diagnosis about diabetes — my father died of it; his mother died of it; one of my sisters is in peril. When they said ‘diabetes,’ I figured out what to do to slowly, over years, lose the weight.”
She clarified that the drug entered the equation after she made other big changes, adding, “When Ozempic came along, I was able to lose the last 15 to 20 pounds and keep it off.”
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Bates will be back in court when Matlock returns next month. The series follows folksy Southern charmer “Matty” Matlock, who rejoins the workforce to infiltrate a law firm she blames for covering up the pharmaceutical industry’s role in the opioid addiction crisis.
Matlock season 2 premieres Sunday, Oct. 12, at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. The season then continues on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
