Newlyweds Showrunner Gail Lerner Fired Weeks Before Premiere
Tim Daly and Téa Leoni‘s sitcom Newlyweds hasn’t even aired yet but there’s already been a surprising change after showrunner Gail Lerner revealed she was fired.
“Here’s the good news: I couldn’t be more proud of the new sitcom Newlyweds that I created with the singular Jamie Lee Curtis,” Lerner wrote via Instagram on Friday, October 9. “Premieres 10/23!”
She continued: “Here’s the bad news: I got fired off it today. The reason I’ve been given is ‘creative differences.’ The cloudy part: I’m so sad to be separated from the most joyous TV experience of my life. The cast, crew, and writers are unparalleled.”
Lerner wished the show well despite her sudden departure.
“The silver lining: the first six episodes were made under my leadership, and I wouldn’t change a thing. No one knows what’s going to happen in our meshuganah business, but I predict this show’s gonna be a barn burner,” she continued. “Please check out the first six (and beyond!). If you like them, please let me know! If you don’t, keep it to yourself.”
Lerner’s firing comes two weeks before the premiere. According to the synopsis, Newlyweds follows a “later-in-life love story about a free-spirited woman and a buttoned-up professor who marry impetuously after a whirlwind courtship.”
In addition to Leoni, 60, Daly, 70, the show stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Emma Meisel, Ignacio Diaz-Silverio, Bill O’Neill and Al Madrigal.
Before working on Newlyweds together, Leoni and Daly starred on the NBC sitcoms The Naked Truth and Wings, respectively. The duo met on the set of Madam Secretary — where they played love interests — and eventually started dating off screen, getting married in 2025.
“I mean, she looked at me, and she saw me. She just saw right into me, and it scared the hell out of me, actually, because all my defenses and walls came crashing down,” Daly recently recalled to Us. “And there I was vulnerable and caught on her tractor beam. I can’t even understand. I’m crazy about her. It’s wild.”
Newlyweds premieres on NBC Friday, October 23, after Reba McEntire‘s hit series Happy’s Place.
