''Watching Ellie'' is an American television

sitcom A sitcom, a Portmanteau, portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troup ...

that stars

Julia Louis-Dreyfus Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus ( ; born January 13, 1961) is an American actress, comedian, and producer who worked on the comedy television series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1982–1985), ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998), '' The New Adventure ...

and was created by her husband,

Brad Hall William Bradford Hall (born March 21, 1958) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is best known as a ''Weekend Update'' news anchor on ''Saturday Night Live'' and for creating the sitcoms '' The Single Guy'' and '' Watching Ellie''. ...

and aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

from February 26, 2002 to May 20, 2003. Sixteen episodes were broadcast before it was canceled due to low ratings.

Premise and formats

There were two incarnations of ''Watching Ellie''. Both focused on the character of cabaret singer Ellie Riggs (Louis-Dreyfus), with markedly different approaches. The first was directed by

Ken Kwapis Kenneth William Kwapis (born August 17, 1957) is an American film and television director, screenwriter, and author. He specialized in the Single-camera setup, single-camera sitcom in the 1990s and 2000s and has directed feature films such as '' ...

, known for his innovative work in

single-camera The single-camera setup, or single-camera mode of production, also known as portable single camera, is a method of filmmaking and video production. The single-camera setup originally developed during the birth of the classical Hollywood cinema i ...

sitcoms such as ''

The Larry Sanders Show ''The Larry Sanders Show'' is an American television sitcom set in the office and studio of a fictional late-night talk show. The series was created by Garry Shandling and Dennis Klein and aired from August 15, 1992, to May 31, 1998, on the HBO ...

'', ''

Malcolm in the Middle ''Malcolm in the Middle'' is an American family television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for Fox. The series premiered on January 9, 2000, and ended on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons and 151 episodes. The series follows a dysfunctiona ...

'' and ''

The Bernie Mac Show ''The Bernie Mac Show'' (often shortened to ''Bernie Mac'' in syndication) is an American sitcom television series created by Larry Wilmore, that aired on Fox for five seasons from November 14, 2001 to April 14, 2006. The series featured Berni ...

''. Each 22-minute episode was meant to portray a 22-minute slice of Ellie's life, in real time. In the earliest episodes, a clock was even shown in the corner of the screen. Louis-Dreyfus stated in 2003 that the clock was

Jeff Zucker Jeffrey Adam Zucker (born April 9, 1965) is an American former media executive. Between January 2013 and February 2022, Zucker was the president of CNN Worldwide. Zucker oversaw CNN, CNN International, HLN, and CNN Digital. He was previously ...

's idea. Thirteen episodes were filmed, but only ten aired before the series was put on indefinite hiatus (the remaining first-season episodes have never aired). Nearly a full year later, the show reappeared as a more traditional sitcom, with multiple cameras and a live studio audience plus an added

laugh track A laugh track (or laughter track) is a separate soundtrack for a recorded comedy show containing the sound of audience laughter. In some productions, the laughter is a live audience response instead; in the United States, where it is most commonl ...

. This version fared even worse than its predecessor and was canceled after six episodes. The show also cast Lauren Bowles as Ellie's sister, Susan. In real life, Bowles is Louis-Dreyfus' half-sister (they have the same mother).

Cast

– Ellie Riggs * Lauren Bowles – Susan *

Steve Carell Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He played Michael Scott in '' The Office'' (2005–2011; 2013), NBC’s adaptation of the British series created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, where C ...

– Edgar *

Darren Boyd Darren John Boyd (born 30 January 1971) is a British actor who starred in the Sky 1 series '' Spy'', for which he won a BAFTA Award. His work in television and film spans comedy and drama. Early life Boyd began acting at age 17 in amateur thea ...

– Ben *

Peter Stormare Rolf Peter Ingvar Storm (born August 27, 1953), better known as Peter Stormare (), is a Swedish actor who holds both Swedish and American citizenship. He played Gaear Grimsrud in the film ''Fargo'' (1996) and John Abruzzi in the television serie ...

– Ingvar *

Don Lake Donald Lake (born November 26, 1956) is a Canadian actor, writer, and television producer. He is frequently cast by director Christopher Guest, and is also a close friend and the collaborative partner of Bonnie Hunt. He had a role in '' The Bon ...

– Dr. Zimmerman

Production

Louis-Dreyfus and Hall earned salaries of $350,000 each per episode and their contracts stipulated 15 episodes per season, rather than the usual 22.

Carsey-Werner-Mandabach Productions The Carsey-Werner Company (previously known as Carsey-Werner Productions and Carsey-Werner-Mandabach Productions, before that, Carsey Productions and also known as Carsey-Werner Television) is an independent production company founded in 1981 by ...

, the original production company, dropped out because of the high costs and was replaced by NBC Studios. The show was pitched to ABC, CBS, Fox and HBO, who all turned down the series.

Episodes

Season 1 (2002)

Season 2 (2003)

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0306410 2002 American television series debuts 2003 American television series endings 2000s American sitcoms NBC original programming Television series by Universal Television English-language television shows