Jamie Lee Curtis has made it clear that she enjoyed New Girl far more than she enjoyed making it. The actor recently revisited her recurring role on the popular sitcom and explained why its production style left her longing for a very different kind of comedy set.
Jamie Lee Curtis says she loved ‘New Girl’ but hated working with its single-camera format
In an Instagram Reel from Entertainment Weekly, Curtis discussed her experience filming New Girl while appearing at NBCUniversal’s Summer Backlot Experience. She called the series a “great show” and “very funny,” but said working on a single-camera comedy did not suit her.
Curtis explained that the filming process felt more like making a movie because the crew did not provide the instant response she enjoys while performing comedy. “It’s silent, and it’s awful. For me, awful,” she said, later adding that single-camera comedies were “not fun” for her.
Her criticism was not aimed at the New Girl cast or the show itself. Curtis played Joan Day, the mother of Zooey Deschanel’s Jess Day, and returned several times during the series’ seven-season run. The popular sitcom ended in 2018.
Curtis contrasted that experience with Anything But Love, the ABC sitcom she starred in alongside Richard Lewis from 1989 to 1992. She told EW that she has “begged” her agents to find her another multi-camera sitcom because she prefers that style of comedy production.
Now, Jamie Lee Curtis is getting that opportunity. An official NBCUniversal announcement confirms that she will serve as an executive producer and recurring guest star on Newlyweds, a new NBC comedy starring real-life couple Téa Leoni and Tim Daly.
NBCUniversal later confirmed that Newlyweds will premiere Oct. 23 at 8:30 p.m. ET. The show follows a free-spirited woman and a professor who impulsively marry following a whirlwind romance.
The project continues a busy television stretch for Curtis. She recently starred in Scarpetta and also reflected on nearly 50 years in acting. For Curtis, the problem with New Girl was never New Girl. She simply discovered that the quiet, movie-like rhythm of single-camera production was not how she wanted to make comedy.
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