Memories From the Set: Wendie Malick Looks Back on Just Shoot Me!, Seinfeld, Baywatch, Frasier and More

Dave Nemetz

3 December 2024 at 6:02 pm·7-min read

Our verdict is in: Wendie Malick is a sitcom legend.

For the past three decades, the veteran actress has been making us laugh with her sharp wit and snooty persona, appearing in dozens of our favorite TV shows. Along with more substantial roles on Dream On, Just Shoot Me! and Hot in Cleveland, Malick has also treated us to brief but memorable appearances on long-running hits like Seinfeld and Frasier. Now she’s back in primetime playing unstable prosecutor Julianne on NBC’s Night Court, trading barbs with fellow sitcom great John Larroquette. Basically, if you’ve watched TV in the past 30 years, you’ve probably seen her in something — and enjoyed her in it, too.

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When TVLine spoke with Malick last month about her Night Court role, we took the opportunity to ask her about a number of her past TV credits, letting her take us on a trip down memory lane to revisit some of her finest small-screen performances. (And yes, that trip included Baywatch.) Read on to hear Malick reminisce about her storied TV career — along with one iconic role that got away — and be sure to hit the comments to share your favorite Wendie Malick TV roles and performances.

Cheers

Early in her career, Malick auditioned for the role of Diane Chambers in the classic NBC comedy… but Shelley Long ended up getting the part.

“Yes, I did [audition]. And I didn’t get it, which meant Shelley Long had a very wonderful career. [Laughs] Oh, there are so many, the one that got away. We all have those. I remember nothing whatsoever [about the audition]. Nothing. I think I blacked it out.”

Dream On

Malick found her breakout role in 1990 as Judith, the ex-wife of Brian Benben’s Martin Tupper, on the groundbreaking HBO comedy.

“Up until that point, I was tall, brunette, I guess somewhat imposing, and I played either murderesses — I killed, like, six husbands in one season on various shows — or I was a judge or a lawyer, or the divorcée or an ex-wife or whatever. But on that show, I started out as sort of the straight woman for Brian Benben, and as the writers got to know me, they decided to use my comedy chops, and so they made me more and more neurotic, which is such a gift. So that was just the sweetest, sweetest job, and it really opened the door and made the rest of my career possible. So I am hugely indebted to [executive producer] John Landis and [co-creators] Marta Kauffman and David Crane for that.”

The show incorporated old black-and-white TV clips to illustrate Martin’s inner thoughts and feelings.

“The editors took care of all of it. There was a group of sort of stoners in a room just watching film clips from Playhouse 90. They were just so brilliant. And they sort of organized and cataloged them all, and then they figure out places to set them in. And this was so groundbreaking. I mean, nobody had done this before, and later, Ally McBeal, other shows started to do that sort of thing. But no, it was such a such a fabulous and fresh new way of doing it. I remember when Larry Sanders came out, they called Dream On and Larry Sanders the best hour of comedy on television. But this was when HBO was so new that very few people had it. Thankfully, people in our business were all watching it. So that launched a lot of careers, those shows.”

Baywatch

Yes, Malick appeared in seven episodes of the syndicated lifeguard hit as Gail Buchannon, the ex-wife of David Hasselhoff’s Mitch.

“I was Hobie’s mother! Whenever they had me back, once a year, they’d say, ‘It’s like having the Meryl Streep of Baywatch.’ [Gail and Mitch] tried to get back together, but I understood that David Hasselhoff sort of belonged to the sea, so it wasn’t gonna happen.”

And no, she never got into one of those iconic red swimsuits.

“No, I said I’m not wearing those. I wore a black one-piece. We played football on the beach one day. That’s as close as I got, I think. I ran in slow motion to ‘Summer of Love’ or something. And I know how to throw a football. My dad taught me. I was like the tomgirl version of the babes.”

Seinfeld

In Season 6 of the hit NBC comedy, Malick guest-starred as Wendy, a friend of Elaine’s who had a badly outdated haircut. And yes, it was a wig.

“Oh yeah. Like, out to here. Yeah, nobody would tell me that I looked ridiculous and my hair was too old-fashioned, and they left Kramer to do it, and he thought it was wonderful. But it just made me laugh, because the whole thing was, like, unconscious people, kind of like [she] doesn’t realize the wreckage she leaves in her wake. And this woman, who was a doctor, goes skiing with Elaine, and then I made her jump out on Central Park West and take her skis and boots and just walk down the block because it was one-way. People do this in New York all the time. I lived there for a long time. That is the temptation. But if somebody has their skis and boots, and you say, ‘Get out and walk, because I don’t want to go around the block’… It’s a little narcissistic.”

Just Shoot Me!

Malick’s career highlight might be this NBC comedy, where she played alcoholic magazine editor Nina Van Horn — a role that lasted for seven seasons and earned her two Emmy nominations.

“So much fun. She was a party girl. My husband said she’s like a savant. She knows how to party, and she knows clothes, and otherwise, she is like a complete idiot. She doesn’t really have any street smarts whatsoever. Whenever women would come up to me and said, ‘Oh, my God, I’m just like Nina,’ I’d say, ‘Then you need to get into rehab.’ There’s no way she’d still be alive.”

Frasier

Malick returned to the Cheers universe to play Ronee, the former babysitter of Frasier and Niles, on the NBC spinoff. Ronee struck up a romance with Frasier and Niles’ father Martin, played by John Mahoney, and the two ended up getting married.

“The thing I loved most about being on that show… it was working with John Mahoney, who was just one of the loveliest actors, generous and so dear. And we even did a fantasy dance number, and I got to sing on that show. And I’m not a great singer, which I told them when I went in to meet with them about this role, and they said, ‘Actually, that’s perfect. She’s not that good’… But what I loved about that show was they really trusted the writing, and I think the audience sometimes had to stretch to understand it all. Some of it was very intellectual, and oftentimes they would end a scene without a joke, just let you sit with what was happening. And it was just a very smart, good, beautifully acted and gorgeously written show.”

Hot in Cleveland

Malick snagged another long-running sitcom role with this TV Land comedy, playing actress Victoria Chase and starring alongside fellow TV vets Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves — and the incomparable Betty White.

“I turned 60 on that show, and Betty was turning 90, and I thought, ‘What a gift this is, to be with this remarkable force of nature who is having, like, probably her third renaissance.’ I mean, she started television, basically. And she had just done that Snickers commercial for the Super Bowl and hosted Saturday Night Live, and it’s like this whole new generation of people discovered her. I’ve been watching her my whole life, and she brought all of her friends on that show. Carol Burnett was my mother! And I watched her every Saturday when I was a kid. We had the whole Mary Tyler Moore cast, and it was just sort of like, ‘Wow, pinch me.’ This is like watching the greats. The iconic, greatest actresses and actors came through our set, and [Betty] was just a marvelous example of doing the best you can, always leaving it on the mat, being incredibly generous and kind. She’s a huge animal rights supporter, as am I. We did a lot of things for the Humane Society and various animal groups, and she was someone who just didn’t want people to come and dump on her. Whenever anyone would say, ‘You know what I really hate?’ she’d say, ‘No, and I don’t really care to know.’”

Shrinking

Along with Night Court, Malick is currently recurring on the Apple TV+ comedy as Dr. Julie Baram, the neurologist — and love interest — for Harrison Ford’s Paul.

“Oh, somebody’s gotta do it. [Laughs] No, it’s a weird thing. [Series co-creator] Bill Lawrence said, ‘I owe you one.’ I had been on this show Rush Hour, where I played a police chief, that he was the executive producer of, and I had to shoot guns, which I’m not keen on. I wasn’t very good at it. But he said, ‘Well, there was a role here that I think you’d be great for. You and Harrison Ford have this great chemistry. You’re his neurologist.’ And I thought, you know, that’s great if it happens, but you never know until you get in the room with somebody. And we did, right from the get-go. He was generous and funny and great, and totally a blast to work with and to hang out with. So I just felt like, ‘Pinch me. This is, like, the best job.’”

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