Jamie Lee Curtis' High-Profile NBC Series Fires Showrunner Two Weeks Before It Premieres
Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020.
Although Jamie Lee Curtis has an upcoming NBC sitcom on the way in less than two weeks, the show’s arrival may well be overshadowed by the behind-the-scenes ousting of its co-creator. It is not unusual for TV shows to go through creative reshuffles at various points in the production process, but dropping a showrunner less than a month before a show’s premiere could still reasonably be called cause for concern.
However, despite the optics, Jamie Lee Curtis’s upcoming NBC series opted to part ways with its showrunner less than two weeks before its premiere, according to an Instagram post from co-creator Gail Lerner. Lerner is a sitcom veteran, notable for her role as a co-executive producer on Will & Grace, Ugly Betty, Happy Endings, and Black-ish. Alongside Curtis, Lerner was announced as the co-creator of this upcoming sitcom, which also features Curtis in a supporting role.
The show is Newlyweds, a throwback to traditional network sitcoms that stars Tea Leoni as the quirky bohemian Jeanie and real-life husband Tim Daly as her more staid, conventional professor love interest Tony. After a fast-paced, impulsive relationship, the duo find themselves navigating married life in the aftermath of a last-minute wedding. Curtis plays the supporting character Claudia, while Ignacio Diaz-Silverio, Emma Meisel, and Al Madrigal round out the cast.
Newlyweds Fires Showrunner Gail Lerner Ahead Of Premiere
On paper, Newlyweds sounds like a near-guaranteed winner, with an "opposites attract" premise that harkens back to classic American sitcoms from I Love Lucy to Dharma & Greg and a multi-camera style that is rarely seen in 2026, even on network TV. The pilot episode is directed by the legendary industry icon Pamela Fryman, who directed an astounding 196 out of How I Met Your Mother’s 208 episodes, as well as working on '90s classics like Frasier and Just Shoot Me.
However, NBC clearly didn’t share this confidence in the show’s potential, with Lerner announcing via her Instagram post that “creative differences” led to her sudden dismissal shortly before the show’s upcoming October 23 premiere. With Curtis attached as an executive producer and supporting star, her major role in the show is self-evident, but Lerner also said during NBC’s fall preview that the actor came to her with the premise of Newlyweds during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thus, it is clear that the two co-creators were working on the series for a long stretch prior to its arrival, which makes Lerner ’s departure all the more surprising. With CBS’s Ghosts being replaced by Eternally Yours, a new, untested supernatural sitcom, the timing couldn’t be better for an NBC sitcom to enter the network TV listings and make a name for itself. However, it is tough to envision Newlyweds making that confident start after this shake-up.
What Lerner's Firing Means For Newlyweds
According to Lerner, the first six episodes of Newlyweds were made under her leadership, meaning the show should ideally have a cohesive style, tone, and vision that reflects her collaboration with Curtis in these opening episodes. However, this puts NBC in something of a lose/ lose position. If Lerner’s first six episodes are a critical hit, then the sitcom’s atmosphere will likely change after her episode 7 departure.
If Lerner’s direction wasn’t working, it is unlikely that viewers will wait until after episode 7 to see if the show’s entire feel changes thanks to a new showrunner. Thus, while Jamie Lee Curtis’s NBC sitcom isn’t necessarily dead in the water, it is left in an unenviable middle ground. Add in the fact that most of 2026’s biggest hit sitcoms, from the Scrubs revival to The Big Bang Theory’s second spinoff Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, are spinoffs of proven existing hits, and things look even worse for Newlyweds as the NBC sitcom's premiere approaches.
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