Jamie Lee Curtis has emerged as a champion of the multicam sitcom, pushing for the return of the genre ahead of the debut of NBC’s “Newlyweds” this fall.
“There’s just nothing going on that isn’t hard,” Curtis told press during a Monday Los Angeles panel conversation with the team behind “Newlyweds.” “People want to have a good time — they want to have a good time in the comfort of their own home, and they want to turn on a network show and have laughs and have feelings. And if that isn’t what sitcoms can do well, then I’m not sure what they do.”
Curtis, who serves as both an executive producer and guest star in the series alongside Téa Leoni and Tim Daly, added that part of the appeal of network sitcoms is creating must-see TV for free. The series follows Leoni and Daly’s characters’ whirlwind romance; Curtis plays Daly’s kooky ex-wife.
“A lot of people don’t have any money anymore. People are really struggling,” Curtis said, pointing to the cost of cable, streaming platforms and other expenses. “This is network television … NBC is going to look like they were geniuses of bringing back the thing that real people really want, and they want it for free.”
Returning to multi-cam as a format has been on Curtis’ bucket list since she starred in ABC sitcom “Anything But Love” with the late Richard Lewis in 1989.
“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. “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 recalled her experience with a TV comedy in “New Girl,” but said the single-camera format didn’t scratch the same comedy itch for the actress 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. Awful. Single camera comedy is not fun.”
“When you do a sitcom, we can’t do the sitcom without those four cameras and those 12 camera technicians working, and it’s a beautiful dance,” she continued.
Curtis, however, noted that the same “dance” happens with audiences, who have the power to bring back sitcoms through their viewership, saying “if the audiences support a sitcom, there’ll be more sitcoms.” “NBC is betting on that feel-good part of sitcoms, and we’re just going to deliver it because that’s the privilege we get to do,” Curtis said.
“Newlyweds” premieres Friday, October 23 at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
