Multicam sitcoms are my comfort food. From a young age, I was obsessed with the genre, bingeing I Love Lucy in elementary school before turning to Friends and The Big Bang Theory. The genre, defined as a comedy filmed with three to four cameras, usually in front of a live studio audience with the “fourth wall” missing from its set so that it mirrors the feel of a stage play, has been around forever…but seems to be going extinct. Once Big Bang ended in 2019, the number of multicam sitcoms rapidly decreased. But NBC, once home to the “Must See TV” era in the 1990s with hits such as Friends, Seinfeld and Frasier, seems to be semi-intent on reviving the genre. The Reba McEntire-led Happy’s Place is entering it’s third season. And now there’s Newlyweds, a new sitcom bursting with potential.
Newlyweds seemingly takes inspiration from another ‘90s gem, Dharma & Greg, in that its plot follows a couple that decides to marry only mere days after meeting each other. But there’s lot of fun twists within the premise. First, it was created by Oscar-winning legend Jamie Lee Curtis, which indicates that she’s willing to take a risk on a dying genre of television, on a network no less (most stars seem to take their talents to streaming these days).
Second, Newlyweds stars real-life married couple Téa Leoni and Tim Daly–how sweet is that?! Leoni and Daly met on the set of Madam Secretary in 2014 and married last year. While I don’t believe Leoni has any prior major sitcom experience, Daly starred on another ‘90s sitcom, Wings, which I recently started bingeing and has quickly become one of my favorite shows as of late (brief side rant: only seasons 7 and 8 of Wings are free to stream on Pluto TV, meaning I have no context on what happened before that! But now with Daly back on TV…maybe more will be licensed out to watch? A girl can dream).
Newlyweds is quick to develop, featuring Leoni’s Jeanie and Daly’s James meeting on a blind date and quickly falling in love. Leoni and Daly have absolutely electric chemistry that is only accentuated by the great supporting cast around them. Jeanie has two Gen Z children, who are refreshingly not screen-addicted, boomer-hating stereotypes–they are actually portrayed as human! James’ assistant, a musical-loving Norwegian named Arvid, is hilarious and will certainly get good mileage from his physical comedy chops.
Finally, Jamie Lee Curtis herself guest stars as James’ ex-wife Claudia, and you can tell she is absolutely relishing every moment she’s on camera. She slinks around James’ house, dropping acid-tongued one-liners like she does it in her sleep. Curtis previously guest-starred on New Girl, and I think she really excels in this format.
Newlyweds offers a lot of promise as a freshman sitcom and I hope it can stick around. In the past, networks have put sitcoms with little promise in the “Friday Night Death Slot,” but NBC seems to be re-building their multi
cam powerhouse on Friday nights with Newlyweds and Happy’s Place. As a sucker for nostalgia, I want Newlyweds to have sitcom reunions just like Happy’s Place. Maybe Daly’s Wings’ co-star Steven Weber can stop by as one of his friends (Weber is employed at NBC via Chicago Med, after all), or Curtis can recruit her New Girl daughter Zooey Deschanel as one of Jeannie’s work colleagues (Jeannie is a teacher, and so was Jess on New Girl!) If you have a half hour on a Friday night and want to stay in the house, say “I do” to Newlyweds.
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