Jamie Lee Curtis had just wrapped a movie when, during the 1988 pilot season, ABC offered her a half-hour multi-camera pilot. She did it and loved it, so she was bummed out when the network didn’t pick it up to series that May. She went to do another movie, and, while she was filming, A Fish Called Wanda came out in July 1988, making Curtis an overnight global star.

Suddenly, ABC called and told her they wanted to pick up that pilot, which became Anything But Love, a sitcom that ran for four seasons.

“It was my favorite job I’ve ever had,” Curtis recalled during a panel for the new NBC multi-camera comedy Newlyweds, which she executive produces and recurs on. “And I’m 68 years old, and every single year, all I’ve ever said to my agents is ‘I want to do a sitcom. All I want to do is a sitcom.’ It’s my favorite job, I love the whole part of it, every aspect of it, the dance with the cameras, the idea that you actually get to rehearse something and work it and learn a joke and play it. I just never got to do it, and so I just decided to basically kind of create my own job. I met Gail, and that’s why we are all here.”

Gail Lerner is Newlyweds‘ writer and executive producer. Curtis had done single-camera comedy series over the years, including New Girl and The Bear, but is not a fan of the form.

“I’m telling you, I have begged my agents ‑‑ and by the way, I did a single‑camera, which I hate. I mean, great show, New Girl, very funny,” she said. “It’s a good show, but doing it is just like doing a movie. You’ve got a camera crew, and nobody laughs. They are silent, and it’s awful, for me, awful. Single‑camera comedy is not fun.”

Newlyweds is a later‑in‑life love story about a free‑spirited woman (Téa Leoni) and a buttoned‑up professor (Tim Daly) who marry impetuously after a whirlwind courtship. Curtis plays the professor’s ex-wife, “a bitch,” in her own words.

The Oscar winner, who is married to filmmaker Christopher Guest, spoke about the genesis of the idea for Newlyweds.

“The truth of the matter is I met my husband and married him after seeing his picture in a magazine, and we had never spent more than 72 hours together before we got married, I mean at one time,” she said. “I think you can know what we did for the other 70 hours. (Laughter.)
There wasn’t a lot of talking. We were strangers when we married, and then you wake up one day and go, like, ‘Wow. He really doesn’t talk.’”

Continued Curtis, “We have been married for 42 years, thank you very much. But the point is that there’s always been that aspect of my relationship with my husband, we are polar opposites, and that was when we started talking about a later‑in‑life thing that happens to people in their sixties, who hook up and kind of go, ‘You know what, let’s do this.’ There’s something really delicious about watching people figure out life when they are filled in a life with other people, and that’s ultimately what we kind of wanted the show to be.”

Lerner spoke about how she and NBC got involved.

“Jamie brought me this idea during the pandemic, so we’ve been really generating it for a very long time. And for a million various reasons, it was hibernating for a while, and a lot of people say my project died, but I just knew my project was hibernating,” she said. “And then NBC called in November of 2025 and said, ‘Hey, let’s do that show,’ and we were off to the races.”

Lerner gave NBC props for “reinvesting in multi-cam and bringing back Must See TV.” 


Curtis also stressed the fact that Newlyweds is on a broadcast network that is accessible to anyone.

“It’s also must see free TV,” she said. “You have to remember, a lot of people don’t have any money anymore, people are really struggling, and cable and all of the things you have to spend money on. This is network television, and I actually think this whole nostalgia of what sitcoms bring you into your house, things do come around. And my guess is that NBC’s decision to pick up a show that’s going to make a block of comedy on Friday nights ‑‑ ‘Fridays: We Are In Love On NBC’, I mean, that’s an advertising feed. That’s how you build something.”

The Friday sitcom block Newlyweds will be part of is anchored by the Reba McEntire comedy Happy’s Place. NBC set a goal this past development season to find a companion for its breakout multi-camera hit, greenlighting two pilots, one of which, Newlyweds, went to series.

“The reason we are here is because Happy’s Place became such a happy place and people wanted to go there that they needed to, like, pair it with a show about love and friendship,” Curtis said. “I just think people want to have a good time in the comfort of their own home, and they want to turn on a network show and have laughs and have feelings. If that isn’t what sitcoms can do well, then I’m not sure what they do; but that’s what they do, and that’s why we love them.”

With multi-camera comedy in retreat across broadcast, Curtis hopes Newlyweds will help the genre make a comeback that will extend beyond Fridays on NBC.

“My guess is then Thursdays are going to start being that, and the next thing you know, NBC is going to look like they were geniuses of bringing back the thing that real people really want, and they want it for free,” she said. “They want to turn their television on and have that level of entertainment and laughter and a good feeling about who we are as a society. And I just think that it’s exciting that we get to do, and we are grateful to NBC for doing it.”

Daly chimed in to “slightly dispute the characterization that people in general think [sitcoms are] old‑fashioned,” noting that young people come to him to talk about his classic sitcom Wings which they had discovered and loved.

“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,” he said.”

Demi Lovato will appear in “Camp Rock 3” after all.

After months of speculation whether Lovato, who starred as Mitchie Torres in the original movies, would reprise her role in “Camp Rock 3,” Disney has confirmed that the pop star will indeed be making an appearance in the new movie.

While Lovato is attached as an executive producer on “Camp Rock 3,” her cameo will see her reprise her role as Mitchie, joining the Jonas Brothers, who also reprise their roles as band Connect 3, with Joe Jonas returning as Shane Gray, Nick Jonas returning as Nate Gray and Kevin Jonas returning as Jason Gray.

Details regarding Lovato’s cameo will be revealed when “Camp Rock” premieres Aug. 13 on Disney Channel and the next day on Disney+.

Original cast member Maria Canals-Barrera also returns as Connie, Mitchie’s mom. 

The original cast members join newcomers Liamani Segura (Sage), Malachi Barton (Fletch), Lumi Pollack (Rosie), Sherry Cola (Lark), Hudson Stone (Desi), Casey Trotter (Cliff), Brooklynn Pitts (Callie) and Ava Jean (Madison).

The official synopsis for “Camp Rock 3” is as follows: “When Connect 3 loses their opening act for a major reunion tour, they return to their beloved Camp Rock to discover the next big thing. As campers vie for the chance to open for their favorite band, tensions rise and friendships are tested — leading to unexpected alliances, revelations and romances.”

Lovato and the Jonas brothers executive produce alongside Tim Federle, Betsy Sullenger, Spencer Berman and Gary Marsh.

The movie, produced by Disney Kids & Family, is directed by Veronica Rodriguez (“The Slumber Party”) and written by Eydie Faye (“The Slumber Party”). The movie features choreography by Jamal Sims.

“Camp Rock 3” premieres Aug. 13 on Disney Channel at 8 p.m. ET/PT and streams next day on Disney+.

Camp Rock just wouldn’t be the same without Mitchie Torres.

Just days ahead of the Camp Rock 3 debut, Disney has revealed that Demi Lovato is not only executive producing the franchise’s return but she will also make a cameo in the iconic role.

It only makes sense given the callbacks to the original two movies that were already confirmed for the third film, including the return of the Jonas Brothers as Shane, Nate and Jason Gray of Connect 3 and Maria Canals-Barrera as Mitchie’s mom Connie, who is now the camp director.

Audiences won’t have to wait much longer to see how Mitchie finds her way back to Camp Rock, since the film premieres on Disney Channel on August 13 and will be available to stream the next day on Disney+.

See a still of Lovato in the new film above.

Camp Rock 3 begins after Connect 3 loses their opening act for a major reunion tour. Desperate to find a new opener, they return to their beloved Camp Rock to discover the next big thing. As campers vie for the chance to open for their favorite band, tensions rise and friendships are tested — leading to unexpected alliances, revelations, and romances. 
 
Joining the franchise are Liamani Segura (Sage), Malachi Barton (Fletch), Lumi Pollack (Rosie), Sherry Cola (Lark), Hudson Stone (Desi), Casey Trotter (Cliff), Brooklynn Pitts (Callie) and Ava Jean (Madison).
 
Directed by Veronica Rodriguez and written by Eydie Faye, the movie is produced by Disney Kids & Family and features choreography by Jamal Sims. Tim Federle executive produces, along with Joe Jonas, Nick Jonas, Kevin Jonas, Demi Lovato, Betsy Sullenger, Spencer Berman and Gary Marsh.

Camp Rock first debuted on Disney Channel in 2008 and, along with the sequel Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam two years later, swiftly became some of the most popular Disney Channel Original Movies of all time. Both were the No. 1 cable movie premiere in the years they launched.

Nearly two decades later, Disney says the films have together been watched for more than 535 million hours across linear and streaming.