Paul Reiser On His New Show, Returning to Low-Rated NBC & Joining Twitter

Paul Reiser was a TV mainstay all through the '90s, earning Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for his work on 'Mad About You.' And then we kind of lost track of him.

Now he's back with a new sitcom, 'The Paul Reiser Show' (premieres Thurs., April 14, 8:30PM ET on NBC), where he plays -- you guessed it -- Paul Reiser. Well, sort of.

Like most comedians, Reiser is working off what he knows, and these days he knows three things: life as a husband, a father and a friend to the other kids' fathers from school. It's definitely not reinventing the sitcom wheel -- in fact, this same show could easily have been on circa 'Mad About You' -- but then again, the network's standards aren't quite so high these days either. (His observation, not mine.)

I caught up with Reiser to hear about his return to primetime and to welcome him to Twitter. (How does he feel about Twitter? His first tweet said it all: "This is my very first tweet and I'll be honest with you - it already makes no sense. I'm typing to myself in a room. I don't see the appeal.")

He also dished about his new castmates, not wanting to make 'Mad About You 2,' reuniting with former TV wife Helen Hunt and having some famous friends come guest star.

And we even got into it about the uncertainty surrounding the show amid continued NBC shake-ups, what he calls the struggling network's "detritus" and his acknowledgement that they might go easy on him, as far as ratings expectations: "The good news is we only have to do as good as the last people!"

Well, at least he's got a sense of humor about it. Keep reading for more ...

First off, welcome to Twitter!
Thank you. It's an interesting little life, isn't it? You know I'm still inching forward -- slowly, reluctantly, fearfully into the 21st century. I still can't quite get how many people are out there listening and have that much to say or have that much interest in what other people have to say. I'm constantly in rooms with people where I'm barely listening to those people, so it's like, "Let me see if someone across the universe has something to say." [Laughs]

But it's a great way to get your fans excited for the new show ...
We actually wrote an episode where I was asked by a company, a corporate sponsor, to blog and tweet. In the show, I was trying to understand, "Why?" "Well because they want to hear what you have to say." "I don't have anything to say." "Well what'd you do today?" "I had a sandwich." "Tell them about the sandwich!" Who gives a sh-- about the sandwich? [Laughs] So cut to last week, I had somebody sitting in the room explaining to me how this works. But it's interesting because everybody [on Twitter] seems more polite -- "welcome to Twitter!" It's like you've come to the other side ... you've joined the cult.

Are you happy to now be part of this cult?
I'm warming to it. I'm not against it, I just didn't understand it, and I'm not skilled at it. I'm still not the kind of person who goes, "Hey I want to write a tweet right now!" I have to be reminded.

This show has been a long time coming, hasn't it?
Yeah, I like to percolate.

[Laughs] Was this something you'd been wanting to do for a while?
No, not at all! I wasn't planning on doing it at all. About two years ago, a very nice guy at Warner Bros. called me and said, "We'd like you to develop a show." And I said sure, because I've been writing and producing pilots -- five or six or so in the last few years. And they said, "No, for you to be in. It's time. We miss you, we want you back." I said, "I would have to wake up early and go to the gym and stuff." And so, because I'm not impervious to flattery and encouragement, I said I'd think about it. I started writing what the show became, which is what my life is: a guy who used to be on TV who takes his kids places and has a bunch of friends that he didn't choose. [Laughs] So much of life as a parent is just waiting for the next shoe to drop. All I want to do it sit down -- I'd like everything to be still and calm, and it never has been. Ever.

And you shot these episodes quite a while ago ...
We did the show and NBC said we were going to be midseason, and I said, "Perfect! That's exactly what I wanted." I didn't know how to get that. I'd ask my agent how to get midseason, and he'd say, "You can't get it -- it's like being Vice President. You can't run for Vice President, somebody has to ask you ... after you fail to be President." But it's a little under the radar, less spotlight ... let's just sneak in, let people get used to it, then suddenly they'll be like, "Hey, I think I like that!" It's not big and flashy -- it's the kind of thing that'll grow on you week after week.

Was there any worry that it wouldn't make it onto the schedule at all, with all the changes at NBC?
We finished in November, and then NBC changes hands. I went, "Oh boy." We've got a new pilot, I'm on the plane and they just changed captains -- this is not necessarily good. But as it turns out, I think it's gonna be great. I have worked with Bob Greenblatt, who is now the new head [of NBC], over at Showtime when I developed something, and really liked and respected him. And he has stepped into a pile of NBC detritus. You don't get into fourth place by making all the right decisions. So he had his work cut out for him, and I'm really grateful that in the midst of that, he said, "Wait a second -- this is really good."

You've got quite a supporting cast here ...
Despite the fact that my name is on it -- which was their choice, by the way, not mine -- it's very much an ensemble show. There's five guys, and each of these guys could, should and have starred in their own shows. Omid Djalili is a huge star in the U.K.; Andy Daly was developing his own show on Comedy Central; Duane Martin had his own show; Ben Shenkman, who's known as a dramatic actor, is hugely funny; and Amy Landecker, who's mostly stage and screen, is just delightful and perfect as my shrink wife. So suddenly this cast gelled and it became this ensemble show, and it feels so right.



Obviously with Amy as your TV wife, there's marriage comedy -- but it's not 'Mad About You 2.'
It wasn't at all ever going to be ... I couldn't ... I wouldn't want to. Those stories are still so fun to write, so the domestic stuff is at the heart of the show, but it's much more about these five guys, who each have their own wives. These guys who don't know how to be friends -- who are just really meeting each other and starting a friendship -- that's where all the comedy comes from. To me, it's everything that was great about 'Mad About You,' plus an unbelievable lot more.

So you think the show has a shot?
We literally only got the announcement that we were going to be on the air three weeks ago, so there's been no time to promote it, there's no posters, there's no bus ads, there's no nothing. It's only promos on NBC, which presumes people are watching NBC, which is not necessarily the case. [Laughs] Could we run an ad on ABC? Because they seem to be doing good. The good news is we only have to do as good as the last people! But yeah, my hope is that people take to the show, and the powers that be look at the show and the response ... to me, it's always been about the long haul. My goal is do six [episodes] and get your feet wet, learn how to do it, learn who the actors are ... we've already got scripts going for next year. There's no end of funny stuff with these actors.

There are also plenty of big-name guest stars ...
Yeah, we've got Larry David and Mark Burnett, we've got Henry Rollins ... you know everybody in my life has to play themselves. If I'm me, I can't suddenly have Jerry Seinfeld playing the dry cleaner -- he's gonna have to be Jerry.

It's funny you mentioned Jerry, and obviously that Larry is in the premiere episode, because you've got straight-to-camera intros to each episode that feel a lot like Season 1 'Seinfeld' with Jerry's stand-up bits.
Yeah. To be honest, those little things were not in the design. When we did the pilot, someone at the testing said, "We liked it, but we didn't realize Paul was playing himself until the end of the show." So it was really like a sales tool, and then they said, "Great, we love it, can you do one every week?" I went, "Really? OK, that's fine." Somebody at the network used that exact ['Seinfeld'] analogy ... as soon as it's time, I'm happy to lose that.

Of course people can't talk about you on TV and not think of Helen Hunt. Any chance she'd stop by for an episode?
Well she directed [an episode], and I'll definitely have her come back and direct some more. But again, if she came on, she'd have to be herself. As happens in life, we'll have a cup of coffee and someone will come over and say, "Oh I'm so glad you guys are still married." And we go, "You know we're not actually married -- we're just two out of work actors having coffee." [Laughs] So there's plenty of fun to be had there.




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