 In December 2001, Midler went on "Late Show with David Letterman" and publicly denounced her own series, calling it “the lowest thing that ever happened to me in my life.” Ratings of her show were already steadily declining, so CBS made the unwise decision to put "Some of My Best Friends" in her timeslot and push "Bette" back a half-hour in place of "Welcome to New York", which was put on permanent hiatus.The show finally debuted on February 28, 2001, and ranked number 77 in the weekly Nielsen ratings.After two low-rated weeks on Wednesday nights, the episode "Blah, Blah, Blah" was aired in a high-profile timeslot on Monday night following "Everybody Loves Raymond".