The actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus, best known for the TV comedies Seinfeld and Veep, is in her early sixties. As she got older, she started to notice something about Hollywood. “Old women are so easily dismissed and made invisible,” she remarked. “Man, I want to hear from the old ladies.” It’s a clear, straightforward premise for Wiser Than Me, in which Louis-Dreyfus interviews great women over 70.
The roll call for the first season, aided by her celebrity connections, was something to behold: Jane Fonda, Isabel Allende, Fran Lebowitz, Amy Tan, Rhea Perlman and the wonderful 90-year-old Carol Burnett, who recalled with wit, wisdom and perfect clarity her days living in a performers’ boarding house in 1950s New York. “What’s the most surprising thing about getting older?” Louis-Dreyfus asked her. “That I got older!” she countered. At the end of each episode, Louis-Dreyfus debriefs her 90-year-old mother on the conversations she’s had.
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