Julia Louis-Dreyfus makes return

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- "We have an audience," proclaims Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

The Emmy-winning actress is referring to how "Watching Ellie," her series about struggling Los Angeles club singer Ellie Riggs, is being recreated this season. The show returns to NBC Tuesday, April 15 at 8 p.m.

Unlike last spring's 10 episodes, which were filmed drama-style with a single camera, a half-dozen new "Ellie" shows have been shot in front of a live audience in the multi-camera style of a typical sitcom.

Also dropped is the on-screen clock that ticked off real-time minutes, although some new episodes will still be structured as real-time events.

Meanwhile, the cast remains intact, with British actor Darren Boyd as Riggs' guitarist and sometime lover, Ben; Steve Carell as her ex-boyfriend, Edgar; and Louis-Dreyfus' sister, Lauren Bowles, as Riggs' sister, Susan.

"It's a hybrid, much as 'Seinfeld' was toward the end," says Louis-Dreyfus, who played the outspoken Elaine Benes on the groundbreaking sitcom.

Her husband, Brad Hall, is the creator and executive producer of "Watching Ellie." He says the first season was "really fun for her because it was so different, so unSeinfeldy."

Making a return

But this year is "like returning to the arms of a great lover," Hall said. "She really does come alive in front of an audience and she's very good at gauging how to get right on the edge of being very big and very funny, but never losing the reality."

Although initially excited by the "cool and classy" one-camera concept, Louis-Dreyfus says she enjoys being in front of an audience: "I actually kind of prefer it. ... Yeah, I love it."

When "Seinfeld" ended its nine-season run in May 1998, Louis-Dreyfus devoted most of her time to her family. She and Hall have two young sons, Henry and Charles.

She was the voice of the ant princess, Atta, in the 1998 animated feature "A Bug's Life" and the Blue Fairy in the TV movie "Geppetto," starring Drew Carey, in 2000.

Then Hall created Riggs, a flashy, thirtysomething, single woman pursuing her dream while living in Los Angeles surrounded by dysfunctional relationships.

Looking for an angle that could drive the Riggs character, Louis-Dreyfus remembered a neglected aspect of her own talents.

"I thought, 'Oh God, she could sing' and she could be sort of mediocre and that way there wouldn't be pressure on me," Louis-Dreyfus said, laughing.

The range of singing styles is all over the place because, "the truth be told, somebody who is struggling to be a singer would be willing to sing anything, any style at any point," said Louis-Dreyfus. "So you're in a club singing jazz one night and the next day you are singing music for a douche commercial!"

Although sitcoms starring "Seinfeld" alums Michael Richards and Jason Alexander weren't successful, Louis-Dreyfus doesn't feel weighed down by the expectations now put on her. "It just goes with the turf. That's OK. What ev', what ev'."

She appreciated the good reviews "Ellie" got last year, and "the ones that we got that weren't nice, I didn't pay attention to," she said. "How can you? You are just trying to entertain people and you are trying the best you possibly can, and, hopefully, it will work."

NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker says Louis-Dreyfus is "the greatest female comedian of her era."

"She's got great physical ability, great timing," he said. "She's clearly always been a huge television star, and I think will continue to be so."

In an early morning interview at a coffee shop near her Santa Monica home, Louis-Dreyfus, 42, looked much like any local mom who'd just done a school car pool.

"I think I'd do anything for a laugh as a kid," she recalled. "Well, almost anything. I stuck raisins up my nose to try to get my mother to laugh. I ended up in the emergency room of the hospital with that one, but I did get the laugh. Yeah."

She began acting professionally while at Northwestern University, where she met Hall.

"I was mad (about him) and I still am," she said. "It's nice to have a shared sensibility."

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On the Net:

NBC Web site: http://www.nbc.com/Watching--Ellie/about/index.html