(l-r) Tim Daly as James and Téa Leoni as Jeanie in NEWLYWEDS. ©NBCUniversal Media. LLC. CR: Nicole Weingart/NBC.
BY JUDY SLOANE
Front Row Features
HOLLYWOOD-NBC’s new sitcom “Newlyweds,” about a couple who impulsively marry in their later years, stars real life husband and wife Tim Daly and Téa Lenoi.
Leoni portrays Jeanie, a free-spirited woman and Daly plays James, a reserved professor, who spontaneously marry after a whirlwind romance. Executive producer, Jamie Lee Curtis, has a recurring guest role in the series as James’ colorful ex-wife, Claudia.
Daly and Lenoi, who met and fell in love on the set of “Madam Secretary” in 2014, playing a married couple, wed in 2025. Both talked with TV journalists about their new comedy which premieres on NBC on Friday, October 23 at 8:30 pm ET/PT, 7:30 C.
Q: How did it come about that you are playing another married couple?
Téa Leoni: I’m going to start. We had a lot of fun on “Madam Secretary.” And the world got darker, and we wanted to get lighter. We thought we’ve done this particular medium and loved it, and we wanted to spend our days together.
Tim Daly: We spent six years pretending to be married on TV, and I would get to do it again, but we actually are married. It’s a miracle. It’s really fun. It’s cool, and we still like each other.
Téa Leoni: It’s a miracle. It took 12 years, but we got there.
Q: You’ve done this medium before in a multicamera sitcom. What are you looking forward to about getting back to this world and doing it every week?
Tim Daly: For me, it’s the live audience because I’m a theater kid and I love doing plays. But that schedule is months and months of people saying, “We are going away for the weekend. Do you want to come?” “I can’t.” “We are going out to dinner. Do you want to come?” “I can’t.” But this gives you the experience of performing in front of live people and that special energy that’s created when [a] room is full of strangers. So I just love being back here. It’s like coming home.
Téa Leoni: When I did “Flying Blind” and “Naked Truth,” they used to hang air‑sickness bags behind all of the sets.
Tim Daly: Now I just hold them for her.
Téa Leoni: I used to hurl before I came out. And in that time since I did that, I missed it, and I realized that I’m old enough, I’m tough, I’m good, I can do this. This is fun. I can’t believe I used to vomit about it. I used to be so scared.
We are working together. I love that. You don’t get that opportunity in film and single cam. You don’t get [the audiences’] feedback, and so it’s great. I love it now.
Q: How does your familiarity with each other’s sense of humor and timing make this particular show even funnier than it would have been on the page?
Tim Daly: One, we don’t need an intimacy coordinator because we are licensed to do whatever we want.
Téa Leoni: Whatever we want. (Laughter.)
Tim Daly: Now you answer the rest.
Téa Leoni: We get to start ahead of the game. It’s really fun to act with someone that you know so well because we are a little ahead with each other. It’s great. We like it. You have to agree.
Tim Daly: Oh, yes, we do like it.
Tim Daly of NEWLYWEDS at the Universal Studios Lot on Monday, August 10, 2026. ©NBCUniversal Media. LLC. CR: Todd Williamson/NBCUniversal.
Q: You guys have a dynamic here that is unlike anything else on TV right now. How is that going to be folded into the show?
Tim Daly: We’ve been told that we have chemistry. We were told that on “Madam Secretary,” and, hopefully, we exported that into this show.
Téa Leoni: We haven’t lost it.
Tim Daly: That’s something that I think just comes along. You don’t have to do anything to have chemistry. Either it happens, or it doesn’t. And I think we have it, right? Now you can agree.
Téa Leoni: Yeah, we do.
Tim Daly: There you go. But the question about what we bring from ourselves to it, I don’t know. You always bring a piece of yourself to every part you play, I think.
Téa Leoni: He can cook in real life. I’m just saying. He really is an amazing cook.
Tim Daly: Thank you.
Téa Leoni: We are bringing that.
Q: People may find the format a little old-fashioned, what are the new tricks of the trade in 2026?
Tim Daly: I think there are plenty of trolls out there that can say that. I could even say it. On the other hand, because things last forever, I can’t tell you how many young people come up to me and say, “My dad made me watch “Wings,” and I love it. It’s my favorite show.” So, I think that there is an audience. It’s just a matter of us finding them and them finding us, and, hopefully, they will.
