Pamela Adlon: ‘Better Things’ Was Left ‘Dangling From a Precipice’ After Louis C.K. Fired by FX

On the day Louis C.K. was accused of sexual misconduct in November 2017, “Better Things,” the FX comedy series he co-created and co-wrote with longtime collaborator Pamela Adlon, aired its penultimate episode of Season 2. Adlon, who had a recurring role on C.K.’s “Louie,” is the face of “Better Things” as its leading actor, but the show was very much a joint effort between Adlon and C.K. behind the scenes over its first two seasons. After FX announced it was severing ties with C.K., Adlon was left heading into “Better Things” Season 3 alone.

“All of a sudden, he’s gone, my show is dangling from a precipice,” Adlon recently told Vanity Fair. “It was so huge. And it was so devastating.”

Adlon said “there were an extraordinary amount of people who were affected” by C.K.’s departure, which occurred after the comedian admitted the sexual misconduct allegations were true. As “Better Things” Season 3 went into pre-production, Adlon created a “sacred space” for her writers.

“I’ve never been in a writers’ room, let alone run a writers’ room,” Adlon said. “Sitting down, meeting writers, reading their stuff — how do you do this? Is this person going to get along with this person? It’s like making a table at a fucking Bar Mitzvah. My mind was being cracked open every day in a new way.”

Shortly after C.K. admitted to sexual misconduct, Adlon released her own statement in which she supported his accusers and criticized C.K.’s actions as “abhorrent.” The Times article included a report that Dave Becky, Adlon’s manager at the time and an executive producer on “Better Things,” had helped keep the accusations against C.K. under the radar for years, which Adlon reacted to by severing her own ties with Becky and firing him as her manager.

“Better Things” Season 3 debuts on FX with Adlon fully in control Thursday, February 28.