Hollywood Flashback: Before ‘Nobody Wants This,’ ‘Bridget Loves Bernie’s’ Interfaith Lovers Got Everyone Hot and Bothered

Nobody Wants This, Netflix’s hit series about an interfaith relationship between Adam Brody’s rabbi and Kristen Bell’s podcast host, enjoyed a smooth path to a prompt season two renewal. The same can’t be said for CBS’ similarly themed sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie, which debuted 54 years ago.

Created by Bernard Slade (The Flying Nun), the series provided an early-career role for Meredith Baxter as Bridget, a wealthy Irish-Catholic teacher who weds Bernie (David Birney), a Jewish cab driver. “I’d only been a working actor for a very short time, so I was thrilled to have a job,” Baxter, who would later play mom to Michael J. Fox on Family Ties, recalls to THR. “David had been a known stage actor for some years and had some feelings about working with such a newbie.” 

The show premiered Sept. 16, 1972, in the coveted time slot between All in the Family and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and was an instant ratings success, finishing the season as TV’s fifth-most-viewed program. But Bridget Loves Bernie drew the ire of the Jewish Defense League and other religious groups that objected to the interfaith marriage, which is prohibited by traditional Jewish law. With prominent Jewish figures organizing pickets and calling for advertising boycotts, Bridget Loves Bernie was canceled after one season and has been cited as the highest-rated TV series to ever get the axe.

Baxter doesn’t recall CBS explaining the decision but assumes the controversy didn’t help: “I was terribly upset and confused, as we had been doing so well!” Baxter and Birney’s chemistry was not an act — the pair wed in 1974, divorcing 15 years later. (Baxter alleged in her 2011 memoir that Birney was abusive during their marriage, which he denied.) Despite the short run, producer Jerry London remembers the show fondly: “Those two leads were very bright on the screen.” 

This story appeared in the Oct. 23 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.