First TakeTHEY MAY HAVE CALLED THE SERIES FINALE “THE FINAL
Frontier” in a nod to the show’s theme song, but it turns
out that, 20 years later, Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt are
still mad about each other. So Spectrum Originals is
serving up a limited-series revival of the award-winning
rom-(sit)com Mad About You. The first six episodes in
the continuing adventures of Paul and Jamie Buchman
will drop Nov. 20, with another six episodes appearing
Dec. 18. In EW’s exclusive first look (above), we see a
black-and-white snap of the still-married New Yorkers
that echoes the original opening sequence showing
the couple out and about in New York City. “That image,
among several others, will be used in the opening cred-
its,” says showrunner Peter Tolan (Rescue Me, The Job).
“Some of those pictures were taken in some of the
same locations as the original, and some are totally
new.” Tolan knows what die-hard fans are thinking:
What about that series finale that flashed far into the
future? “Believe me, there was a lot of discussion about
that final episode, and how we were going to conve-
niently ignore it,” he says. “There’s things we wanted
the latitude to explore without committing to that
[version of the narrative]. So I think there will be some
true fans who will go, ‘What the hell just happened?’
But for everybody else, I think they’ll be perfectly fine
Paul Reiserwith how it lays out.” —Sarah Rodman&
Helen HuntMadAboutYo uYOU HAVE
TO COME!
ELIZABETH
IS COMING.”
A GUEST RECALLS GETTING A PHONE CALL
FROM CARRIE FISHER URGING THEM TO ATTEND
HER PARTY TO SEE ELIZABETH TAYLOR
was often an attendee. Says Bruce Vilanch,
“I remember at one party, where there was
Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis, and maybe
Timothy Leary, and Carrie said, ‘Excuse me,
I have to go and feed Elizabeth.’ Carrie would
give her special treatment. She would trot
over to fix Elizabeth a plate and clear a spe-
cial area where she would dine. Carrie talked
about it as if it were her duty.”
Another guest remembers this: During one
party, “Elizabeth was talking with her hands,
and she noticed everyone staring at her huge
ring from Richard Burton, the one that went
almost straight to her knuckle. So,” in a showy
gesture to all the gawkers, “she popped her
finger in her mouth and theatrically took the
ring off with her teeth.” Another time, Carrie
telephoned a friend in advance of the party
and said, “You have to come! Elizabeth is
coming in her wheelchair, and Eddie [Fisher]
is coming in his wheelchair. And Debbie”—
no wheelchair! sweet justice—“will be at the
door greeting them!” When the guest arrived,
the friend recalls, “that is exactly what hap-
pened. Debbie Reynolds—the queen of the
world—still standing!”
↑ The stars re-create the original show’s opening sequenceEXCERPTED FROM CARRIE FISHER: A LIFE ON THE EDGE
BY SHEILA WELLER. PUBLISHED BY SARAH CRICHTON
BOOKS, AN IMPRINT OF FARRAR, STRAUS AND GIROUX,
NOVEMBER 12, 2019. COPYRIGHT © 2019 BY SHEILA WELLER.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
↓ Fisher with mom Debbie Reynolds in January 2015,
just 23 months before they died one day apart