Jamie Lee Curtis walked back her claim that she “hated” filming “New Girl,” calling the comment “flip” and urging fans to “move on” from the growing controversy.
“HEY INTERNET! HI! As if we don’t have bigger issues facing Americans and the world at large and natural disasters and unnatural behaviors of despots than to be concerned about a flip comment picked up at a press moment promoting NEWLYWEDS @NBC,” she wrote on Instagram Tuesday night as her comments about the Zooey Deschanel-led sitcom continued to make headlines. “I was there gushing about a multi-camera sitcom that I co-created along with Gail Lerner about a late in life love and people finding each other and marrying on a whim. It stars, Tea Leoni and Tim Daly as the couple and we are having so much fun and the audiences are loving it.”
As Curtis went on, she explained that she was simply discussing “how much I liked doing the show live in front of a studio audience, which is almost like doing a play where you get immediate feedback.” She noted that her comments regarding “New Girl,” which was a single-camera comedy,” was meant to highlight that you get “absolutely no [audience] feedback” on those types of shows.
“I said it wasn’t my favorite experience,” she said. “Although, the show itself is fantastic and the team that made it are talented and that Zooey Deschanel is an absolute gem of a human and I got to play with my friend, Rob Reiner, as exes and that was sweet and lovely.”
Curtis then called on her followers to “not waste clicks and comments and just move on to WAY more important things.” You can read her full statement below.
As we previously reported, Curtis voiced her support for the multicam sitcom during a Monday Los Angeles panel conversation with the team behind “Newlyweds.”
“I’m 68 years old, and every single year, all I’ve ever said to my agents is, ‘I want to do a sitcom — All I want to do is a sitcom,’” she said at the time. “It’s my favorite job. I love the whole part, every aspect of it: the dance with the cameras, the idea that you actually get to rehearse something and work it, learn a joke and play it.”
Curtis then noted that her experience on “New Girl” didn’t scratch the same comedy itch given the single-camera format – despite it being a “very funny show.”
“It’s a good show, but doing it is …. just like doing a movie — you’ve got a camera crew and nobody laughs … [it’s] silent, and it’s awful for me,” she noted. “Awful. Single camera comedy is not fun.”
“Newlyweds” premieres Friday, October 23 at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
