At this point is isn't going to matter whether or not Téa Leoni is a handful to work with on her new CBS police drama, Madam Secretary, or not. According to the gossip news updates, David Duchovny's ex-wife has been driving the cast and crew on her new TV show crazy, but short of lighting them on fire, the Bad Boys bad girl isn't going to be fired for anything anytime soon. Not only were the network execs already able to sell the series to Britain's BSkyB, the ratings boost has lifted CBS' Sunday night block above its competitors in all demographics
To call CBS new Sunday primetime political drama Madam Secretary, staring Téa Leoni, a success is a bit of an undersell to say the least.
According to Zap2It the new series ratings are single handedly changing the Sunday night landscape in CBS' favor:
"The addition of the freshman drama MADAM SECRETARY to CBS's Sunday night has elevated upscale audiences for the Network's 7:00-10:00 PM block with dramatic increases in the 8:00-9:00 PM hour.
"Compared to the year ago Sunday 8:00-9:00 PM time period, MADAM SECRETARY is up +47% in A18+/$100K+ households, POM (professional, owner, manager); up +48% among A18+/$150K+; up +54% among A18+/$100K+; and up +40% with A18+/4+ years college."
Sadly, for the cast and crew of the show there is no telling if this news is going to make Leoni more or less difficult to work with in the future.
One informant told Star Magazine that they certainly hoped that a little success would go a long way to helping Tea lighten up.
They claimed that working around Leoni's insecurities was starting to be more trouble than it was worth:
"Téa told producers that she wants final approval over her costars--she doesn't want anyone who's a bigger name on the show.
"Téa wants to be the most talked-about character and throws a fit if she doesn't like one of her lines.
"She also wants to be in every scene, which has caused some tension."
Not only has Téa's rep--of course--denied the rumors, her costar, Tim Daly, says that acting with Tea is a lot like working spending the afternoon with an old friend--not a diva (via Coolum News):
"Working with Téa is a disaster, you can tell...No, it's really great.
"We really hit it off...we play very hard at our work and we like to have a good time."
Well...if Joe Hackett likes her than Leoni can't be all bad.
