Paul Reiser's wife hand-picked Helen Hunt for 'Mad About You'

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated 6/10/21

Paul Reiser created Mad About You loosely based on his marriage with his wife, Paula Ravets, so it would only make sense that Ravets had the chance to choose who would play Reiser's television wife.

"She was actually instrumental in finding Helen Hunt," Reiser said on The Kelly Clarkson Show. "My wife and Helen had a mutual friend, and they had a dinner party, and this was just when I was writing the first episode. ... I had no actress in mind. And I met Helen, and she was just funny and smart and just kooky enough and off-balance enough and smart. We left, and I said to my wife, 'What do you think about her as you?' She went, 'She'd be great.'"

The 65-year-old added: "I wouldn't have cast somebody if my wife said, 'Oh, I hate that person.'"

Mad About You originally ran for seven seasons from September 1992 to May 1999 on NBC. The series earned 12 Primetime Emmy Awards, including for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series trophies for Hunt. Spectrum Originals was home for a 12-episode reboot limited series, again featuring Hunt and Reiser, that lasted from November to December 2019.

Reiser has had a recurring role in Chuck Lorre's Netflix series The Kominsky Method, starring Michael Douglas, since 2019. The third and final season hit the streamer May 28. He chatted with Clarkson about the series as well as he spent the pandemic in the interview below.