Actress Kyra Sedgwick might be tempting fate in Hollywood by scolding her industry for ignoring the great middle of the country.
Sedgwick appeared on Tavis Smiley’s PBS show this week where she discussed her recently concluded series “The Closer” on TNT. She said the series drew healthy audience shares in the Midwest but not in L.A. or New York City. At first, she said she felt insulted at this ratings truth, but it wasn’t long before she realized this wasn’t a bad thing at all.
She told Smiley she realized Hollywood was making a mistake to ignore everything outside New York and Los Angeles.
“I think that there’s a … huge difference,” Sedgwick said, “between what people politically believe and what interests people in Los Angeles and what interests people in New York, and what they believe politically [in the rest of the country] … and I think to ignore that is really cutting yourself out of a huge part of your population that I feel… they’re under-represented, and I think that was the great thing about [‘The Closer’ series].”
Hollywood is well-known for the extremist, left-wing sentiment observed by so many of its denizens, and during the interview Sedgwick looked uncomfortable making note of this mistake her industry is making. She even acknowledged she might get “in trouble” with her industry contemporaries for this realization.
Conservatives in Hollywood have talked of the militant leftism in La La land for years and have asserted their careers were put in jeopardy once they became open about their political leanings. Let’s hope Sedgwick doesn’t suddenly find herself persona non grata for her realization that there is, indeed, life outside L.A. and New York City.