Cybill

In her autobiography 'Cybill Disobedience', Cybill Shepherd stated that the main character was based on herself, essentially depicting what her life as an actress could have been without the successes of The Last Picture Show and Moonlighting.

Many of the show's details and situations were drawn directly from Shepherd's own family, marriages, and personal experiences.

Due to the show's premise, many episodes used a show-within-a-show format, usually in the cold opens, depicting Cybill Sheridan playing a variety of other characters in her various film and TV acting roles.

Several prominent actors appeared as themselves in humorous or self-deprecating caricatures of their real personas, including Jonathan Frakes, Joan Van Ark, Dick Van Patten, Burt Reynolds, and Cybill Shepherd's real-life ex-partner, director Peter Bogdanovich.

CBS abruptly canceled the series at the end of the 1997–98 season after a noticeable ratings decline, pulling it from the schedule after the April 8, 1998 episode while the remaining already-produced episodes aired over the summer.

The cancellation was unexpected by the show's staff, as the final aired episode ended on a cliffhanger with the words 'To Be Continued...' on screen.

At the time of its cancellation, Cybill's ratings were actually higher than those of Nash Bridges and Chicago Hope, both of which continued airing on CBS.

Shepherd alleged the cancellation occurred because the network was uncomfortable with the character's feminist leanings and frank depiction of female sexuality, and in 2018 she claimed that CBS executive Les Moonves had hit on her during a dinner date; after she refused him, she said he soon interfered with the show's concepts and ultimately canceled it.