Jamie Lee Curtis is setting the record straight after comments about her experience on New Girl sparked attention online.

The Oscar-winning actress recently reflected on her time playing Joan Day, the mother of Jess Day, while promoting her upcoming NBC sitcom Newlyweds. Curtis explained that her preference was not about the quality of New Girl, but rather the difference between performing in a single-camera comedy and working in front of a live studio audience.

In an Instagram post, Curtis said she had been discussing how much she enjoys the immediate response she gets while performing Newlyweds, a multicamera sitcom she co-created with Gail Lerner. The new series stars Téa Leoni and Tim Daly as a couple who unexpectedly find love and decide to marry later in life.

Curtis described the experience of filming in front of a live audience as being similar to performing a play, where actors can immediately hear the audience’s reaction to a joke or emotional moment. By comparison, she said working on a single-camera comedy such as New Girl could feel like performing without any immediate feedback.

The actress emphasized that her comments should not be interpreted as criticism of the beloved Fox comedy.

Curtis praised New Girl as a “fantastic” show and highlighted the talent behind the series. She also had warm words for Zooey Deschanel, who played Jess, describing her as “an absolute gem of a human.” Curtis additionally recalled how much she enjoyed working alongside her longtime friend Rob Reiner, who played Jess’ father, Bob Day.

Curtis appeared on New Girl six times between 2012 and 2018. Her character, Joan, was part of the show’s extended family storylines, while Reiner’s Bob played her on-screen ex-husband. The pair eventually reunited during the show’s final season, when Joan revealed that she and Bob had reconciled.

Curtis’ clarification came as she pushed back against the attention surrounding what she described as a casual remark made during a press appearance. She suggested that the comment had been taken out of context and urged audiences to focus instead on the project she was actively promoting.

“Let’s not waste clicks and comments and just move on to WAY more important things,” Curtis wrote.

Her new series Newlyweds marks another venture into the multicamera sitcom format, a style Curtis appears particularly enthusiastic about. The actress’ comments also offer an interesting glimpse into the different rhythms of television comedy, where the same performance can feel dramatically different depending on whether an actor is working with a live audience or on a quieter single-camera set.

For fans of New Girl, however, Curtis’ clarification makes one thing clear: her criticism was about the experience of performing, not the show itself. Her appreciation for the series, its cast and the people she worked with remains firmly intact.

Source: https://www.tvinsider.com/