NBC and Universal Television are bringing in a steady hand to take the reins of freshman multi-camera comedy Newlyweds, hiring sitcom veteran Bruce Helford (The Conners) as new showrunner to replace Gail Lerner who was fired last Friday.
Newlyweds, co-created by Lerner and Jamie Lee Curtis, is currently on a previously scheduled weeklong hiatus. The break will now be extended, giving Helford time to get up to speed on the series, starring Tèa Leoni, Tim Daly and Curtis, which filmed Episode 8 of its 13-episode order on Friday. Production will resume in November.
Helford brings in four decades of sitcom experience — the vast majority of it on broadcast — and strong track record handling big personalities on shows like Roseanne, headlined by Roseanne Barr, as well as Anger Management, of which he somehow delivered 100 episodes in the span of two and a half years with Charlie Sheen starring in the wake of his public meltdown and firing from Two and a Half Men.
His extensive showrunner resume also includes The Drew Carey Show and George Lopez, which he co-created, and, most recently, The Conners.
Newlyweds is a later-in-life love story about a free-spirited woman (Leoni) and a buttoned-up professor (Leoni’s real-life husband Daly) who marry impetuously after a whirlwind courtship
Helford is known mostly for male-lead and family sitcoms (the list also includes The Norm Show and Kevin Can Wait), so doing a rom-com may seem like a stretch for him.
One of his first writing jobs was actually on the 1989 ABC sitcom Anything But Love, about the romance of co-workers played by leads Curtis and comedian Richard Lewis.
“It was my favorite job I’ve ever had,” Curtis recalled about her experience on Anything But Love during a recent panel for Newlyweds. “And 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.’
Newlyweds stars Leoni, Daly, Curtis, Emma Meisel, Ignacio Diaz-Silverio and Bill O’Neill. Helford executive produces with Lerner, Eric and Kim Tannenbaum and Jason Wang for the Tannenbaum Company, Curtis, Scott Schwartz and Lionsgate Television. Pam Fryman directed and executive produced the pilot.
The series, produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, premieres Friday, Oct. 23 at 8:30 PM, immediately following the season premiere of Happy’s Place.
“That truly was an instance of creative differences, and we feel like that concept of a romantic comedy in a multi-cam format was very winning. And that cast is phenomenal with Téa, Tim, and Jamie,” NBC and Peacock Scripted Content President Lisa Katz told Deadline on Friday about Lerner’s exit. “So, we’re working to find the right person and move forward, and we’re still really, really invested and committed to it, and feel like it’s a great companion to Happy’s Place too.”