Kathy Bates Goes Off On NBC: ‘They Treated Us Like S--t’

Kathy Bates is unhappy with the way NBC treated her series “Harry’s Law.” Very unhappy. The actress was appearing before a Television Critics Association, or TCA, panel Friday to promote her role on FX’s “American Horror Story: Coven” when she was asked about her former show, which was canceled last year after two seasons.

“I think they treated us like s--t,” Bates said, according to Entertainment Weekly. “They kicked us to the curb. I think they disrespected us, I think they disrespected our seven to eleven million viewers every week, and I think they’re getting what they deserve.”

As the Hollywood Reporter pointed out, “Harry’s Law” averaged a respectable 8.9 million viewers per week in its final season. However, it failed to make a dent in the coveted 18-49 demographic, so NBC canceled the series. It does not appear to have helped very much: The network continues to lose badly in the 18-49 demographic, according to TVbytheNumbers.

Bates told the TCA panel members how hurt she was by the show’s cancellation. “It was just a real difficult emotional thing,” she said. “Going to work every day ... you create a family. For me ... it was just delightful for me to go to work every day and to lose that on the whim was hard. I loved the part, I loved the people I worked with, and it was astounding to feel that as an older person, you weren’t wanted, your audience wasn’t wanted on television.”

After “Harry’s Law” ended, Bates was understandably gun-shy about venturing back into television. However, she decided to sign on to “American Horror Story” after meeting with co-creator and executive producer, Ryan Murphy. “I went in and I sat down and I met with Ryan, and, I must say, when he pitched this show to me, this little kid that lives inside all of us, I think, just started jumping up and down and running around and saying, ‘I can do it like this.’”

The highly anticipated third season of “American Horror Story,” subtitled “Coven,” is set to premiere in October.