Paul Reiser is, unfortunately, not joking: The much-hyped "Mad About You" revival may not make it to the screen after all.
The 62-year-old actor told the Tampa Bay Times that the project is "kind of stuck in the business end of it now."
It was reported in April that Reiser and co-star Helen Hunt had officially signed on to reprise their roles as Paul and Jamie Buchman from the hit '90s sitcom.
"Sony is trying to figure out from their end; that’s where I just walk away and go, call me when you figure it out," said Reiser. "I don’t know what happens at that level. They make their deals with whoever they make their deals with. So we’ll see if it happens. It may not happen. It likely won’t happen.
"My guess is it won’t happen."
It seemed the climate was ripe for a return of "Mad About You" — especially considering the success of other revivals of classic shows like "Gilmore Girls," "Roseanne" and "Will & Grace."
"Mad About You" boasted a loyal following over its seven seasons on NBC — a run that netted 12 Emmy Awards.
Reiser had even come up with a viable premise for a revival, based on the feelings he felt as a parent readying his youngest son to go to college this year.
"People said ‘empty nest,’ and it’s such a cliché word," Reiser told the Tampa Bay Times. "But I started realizing what it actually means, when suddenly, the thing that you’ve kept busy with for the last 20-X years, raising your children — when that’s gone, suddenly you’re back and you have just each other again. In a way, we thought, ‘Oh, that’s actually a pretty cool parallel.’ So we started playing with ideas and we said, ‘Wow, this could be fun.’”
Only now, all the uncertainty makes the process a lot less fun.
“We signed up, and then it’s gotten stuck in the business end of it," said Reiser. "It’s like, ‘You know, guys, I was very happy not doing it for 20 years, and then you invited us back. And now if you can’t make it happen, it’s not a big deal.’”