The 59-year-old actress is returning to sitcom territory with Jamie Lee Curtis as co-creator, playing a free-spirited woman who marries a buttoned-up professor
Tèa Leoni is heading back to network television with a new comedy pilot that reminds everyone she’s been funny the entire time. The actress, best known for her dramatic role as U.S. Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord on Madam Secretary, is starring in Newlyweds, an NBC pilot co-created by Gail Lerner and Jamie Lee Curtis. The series centers on Jeanie, a free-spirited woman played by Leoni, who marries a buttoned-up professor after a whirlwind courtship. That’s essentially the entire premise: older woman, opposite personality, impetuous marriage, comedy ensues. It’s a formula that works because the casting is smart and the character dynamics are built-in.
- The 59-year-old actress is returning to sitcom territory with Jamie Lee Curtis as co-creator, playing a free-spirited woman who marries a buttoned-up professor
- Jamie Lee Curtis as co-creator is also doing a supporting role in the pilot
- What’s genuinely refreshing about this project is that it’s not trying to be something it’s not
What’s interesting about Leoni’s return to comedy is that she’s been proving she can do it for years, but nobody really talks about it. Yes, Madam Secretary made her a household name. Yes, her dramatic film roles in Deep Impact, The Family Man, and Bad Boys established her as a serious actress. But back in the ’90s, she starred alongside Holland Taylor in The Naked Truth, a sitcom about tabloid news drama. That show proved she could handle comedy timing and ensemble dynamics. More recently, she had a successful run on Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, where she played Sofia Caccimelio, wife of the “Dry Cleaning King of Brooklyn.” That was comedy, that was supporting, that was her flexing muscles in a completely different genre. The Newlyweds pilot is just the next logical step.
The timing of this NBC pilot is particularly perfect because Leoni just got married in real life. She married actor Tim Daly in 2025 Tim Daly, who coincidentally played her husband Henry McCord on Madam Secretary. They met on set in 2014 and spent six seasons playing husband and wife before actually becoming husband and wife. That’s not just cute. That’s a full-circle, Hollywood-movie-script kind of moment. When asked when he fell in love with her, Daly told PEOPLE: “God, about four minutes after I met her at the office of Madam Secretary.” That’s the kind of comment a guy makes when he’s genuinely smitten.
Daly is known for roles on Wings, Private Practice, and obviously Madam Secretary, so he’s not exactly a nobody in this equation. They’re both legitimate TV actors who found each other on a set and actually made it work. That gives the premise of Newlyweds some authentic foundation Leoni and Daly both understand what it’s like to play married people on television. Now Leoni is playing married people in a sitcom setting, which is genuinely different from dramatic television.
Jamie Lee Curtis as co-creator is also doing a supporting role in the pilot
That’s the kind of A-list commitment that suggests NBC actually believes in this project. Curtis isn’t typically the sitcom type either, so having her involved signals the network went after quality names and trusted their comedy instincts. Gail Lerner is penning the series, which means the writing has a specific voice backing it up.
What’s genuinely refreshing about this project is that it’s not trying to be something it’s not
It’s a sitcom about later-in-life love and marriage. Leoni is 59 years old playing a 59-year-old character (presumably). She’s not trying to play 35. She’s not pretending to be something she’s not. She’s just doing comedy with actors who understand how to do television. That’s the formula. That’s the bet. That’s what NBC is banking on.
Sometimes the best television comes from letting talented people do what they do best in a format they understand. This is that project.
