Julia Louis-Dreyfus Premieres Sitcom on NBC

By
ABC News
September 7, 2017, 1:05 PM ET
2 min read

Feb. 26, 2002 -- Is there life after Seinfeld? Julia Louis-Dreyfus now has a chance to prove she can carry her own sitcom.

Other stars of the landmark sitcom tried to make it on their own and they were off the air faster than you can say "Yada-yada-yada."In Watching Ellie, premiering tonight on NBC, Louis-Dreyfus plays a struggling Los Angeles lounge singer, and the character isn't completely unlike Seinfeld's Elaine. "Ellie looks like Elaine, same shoe size," Louis-Dreyfus jokes. "I think she's funny. I think Ellie is a more realistic character than Elaine was. Ellie is a good woman, a kind woman, who makes bad choices sometimes."

‘I’m Keeping My Fingers Crossed’

Watching Ellie is actually similar to the Fox drama 24, in that each episode takes place in real time, over the course of 22 minutes, which is the running time for a sitcom, minus the commercials.

The viewer will see a little clock on the lower left corner of the screen, counting down each episode, which aims to be "a peephole into this woman's life," Louise Dreyfus says.Michael Richards and Jason Alexander, who created Seinfeld's Kramer and George characters, saw their heavily-hyped sitcoms quickly crash and burn. Like stars in other popular TV shows, the Seinfeld gang has had trouble translating their success into a new show. Larry David, the co-creator of the hit show, is currently enjoying a successful run on HBO's critically acclaimed Curb Your Enthusiasm. But outside of providing the voice of George's onetime boss, New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, he wasn't an on-screen presence. Still, Louis-Dreyfus isn't complaining. "The fact of the matter is because of the success of Seinfeld, it's given me a certain amount of cash and for which I am eternally grateful," she said. "And you got to try new things and that's what I'm doing and I'm keeping my fingers crossed."Of course, if Elaine, George and Kramer can't make it on there own, we can always turn to Newman. But wouldn't that just burn Jerry? ABCNEWS Radio and ABCNEWS.com's Buck Wolf contributed to this report.