‘Newlyweds’ makes old sitcom formula work for contemporary times

“You have to remember, a lot of people don’t have any money anymore,” she says. “People are really struggling. NBC is going to look like they were geniuses (to bring) back the thing that real people really want, and they want it for free.”

Her contribution: “Newlyweds,” a comedy about an older couple meeting and marrying in a minute. Tim Daly and Tea Leoni, a couple in real life, play the newlyweds.

“There’s something really delicious about watching people figure out life when they are (already) … in a life with other people,” Curtis says.

She got in touch with Gail Lerner, a veteran sitcom writer, and pitched the idea.

“This time is when most people start thinking, ‘This is it. I am who I am. I’m done changing,’” Lerner says. “We are a sort of an aspirational love show.”

The two worked on the concept during the pandemic and “for a million various reasons,” Lerner says, “it was hibernating for a while. And then NBC called in November of 2025 and said, ‘Hey, let’s do that show,’ and we were off to the races.”

In addition to the lead couple, “Newlyweds” features her two children, his teaching assistant and Curtis, as Daly’s ex.

Starring in “Anything But Love” — an ABC sitcom with comedian Richard Lewis that ran from 1989 to 1992 — was Curtis’s favorite job.

“I’m 68 years old, and every single year all I’ve ever said to my agents is, ‘I want to do a sitcom,’” Curtis says. “I love every aspect of it — the dance with the cameras, the idea you actually get to rehearse — and I just never got to do it. So, I just decided to create my own job. I met Gail and that’s why we are all here.”

Though Lerner supervised six of the episodes of the new series, she says she was fired as showrunner earlier this month. In an Instagram post, she said she still supports the show and expects it to be a “barn burner.” No details were given about the change.

Before the announcement, Curtis was just as enthused about “Newlyweds’” potential.

“I think people love ‘love’ and family,” she says. “The reason we are here is because ‘Happy’s Place’ became such a happy place and people wanted to go there. 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 feelings.”

While multiple-camera series shot in front of a live audience are in short supply these days, Daly says they aren’t old-fashioned.

“I can’t tell you how many young people come up to me because things live forever," he says. "They talk to me about ‘Wings.’ There is an audience. It’s just a matter of us finding them and them finding us.”

Both he and Leoni were interested in doing another series together. They starred on “Madam Secretary,” realized they had chemistry and, eventually, started dating. Newlyweds in real life, they like getting an opportunity to go to work together.

“It’s been really fun to act with someone you know so well,” Leoni says.

Finding the right actors to support them took the producers to a number of places — including a clown show, where Lerner found Bill O’Neill, the pliable actor who plays Arvid, Daly’s teaching assistant.

“The physical virtuosity and the constant invention that is Bill is so exciting,” Lerner says.

“Even though we met 40 versions of these people,” Curtis says of the cast, “these are the people we chose."