Helen Hunt & Paul Reiser Chat with Hoda Kotb about 'Mad about You' Reboot and the Motto They Had for Each Episode

With the first six episodes of the "Mad About You" reboot already available, Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser discussed the inspiration behind reprising their roles, as the time approaches for the next six episodes' release.

Paul and Helen popped back up on television in a reboot of "Mad About You" in November as the married couple Jamie and Paul Buchman. The original sitcom aired from 1992 until 1999, and the reprisal picks up the lives of the New York City couple as if they have lived it all along.

WHERE THE REBOOT IDEA CAME FROM

The idea to give the show another go came from a conversation between Paul and Helen. Their real-life children had flown the nest, and the actors realized that their onscreen child in the original show, would now be at the age where she left home as well.

"I have my own empty nest thing going on right now, and Paul just went through it, so we were excited and motivated to write about that," Helen explained during a recent visit to the "Today" show.

THE NEW STORYLINE

Paul and Helen loved working together back in the day, and with the reboot, they face the same situation other parents face. When a couple marries, it's just the two of them, and when their children grow up and leave the house, the couple is back to the same place. Except for being older and not being able to hear so well.

When the idea materialized into a workable project, Helen and Paul incorporated their "please don't let this suck" motto while they kept focus by only thinking about one batch of shows at a time, as Helen added:

"We looked at each other after every episode and said I think that didn't suck."

THE EASE OF FAMILIARITY

For the reboot, Helen took the reigns as director. Since Paul and Helen developed a shorthand of sorts in the years they worked together; Paul felt that it was "really easy" to follow her lead.

Nonetheless, being back on the same set decades later brought a comforting sense of familiarity that enabled them to "hit the ground running."

With the reboot, the network doesn't want to stray too far from the characters the audience came to know and love back in the day. But they did take creative cues from the successes and failures of other reboots like "Will & Grace."

Abby Quinn joined the cast as Paul and Jamie Buchman's 18-year-old daughter, Mabel, leaving for college, and the next six episodes of the Buchman's dealing with their empty nest will drop on Spectrum Originals on December 20.

Relatedly, Helen Hunt shared that she is doing well after her car accident on October 16 in Los Angeles. The actress went to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center afterward, complaining of pain.

Thankfully, Helen only sustained minor injuries during the "scary" accident, and the hospital released her later that evening to recover at home.