Drescher and “Cheers” star Ted Danson discussed the future of sitcoms in a new interview.
Television icon Fran Drescher has given a sad update on her future in the medium, years after courting fans at the center of the beloved sitcom The Nanny.
In a new interview with Cheers star Ted Danson on his Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast, the Marty Supreme star admitted that she probably won’t perform on the small screen in a way that fans are used to seeing from her.
“Well, I don’t see myself doing another sitcom,” the 68-year-old said, while Danson, 78, added, “Nor I — at least the three-camera live. That takes a lot.”
Drescher, who starred on CBS’ The Nanny sitcom from 1993-99, added, “You know, it’s just the idea of going into the soundstage every day” that largely influenced her stance.
“The last one that I did wasn’t my show. I played the mom in it, and I really didn’t… I loved the people, but I didn’t enjoy the experience that much because we were shooting it over the winter months,” Drescher said. Though she didn’t name the project, the last sitcom she was a series regular on was Dan Levy’s 2020 NBC comedy Indebted, on which she played Adam Pally’s mother across one season before the show was canceled.
Drescher lamented, “It was pretty dark when I entered the stage and it was dark when I left it,” leading her to feel like “I just lost the whole day.”
She asked, “Was this worth it Is this how I would have wanted to spend the day if it turned out to be the last day of my life? And it wasn’t.”
Still, Drescher said that there’s a world in which she might return to television, but it would have to be under her specific terms.
“Now, maybe when I’m writing and executive-producing, directing, all of those hats that I wore in my own shows, maybe it would be more stimulating and, you know, gratifying,” Drescher elaborated. “But in this situation, I think just playing the mom in it, it just wasn’t enough for me. And I felt like I could’ve been doing other things during my day.”
While she voiced concerns about returning to sitcoms in the future, Drescher reunited with her Nanny costars in last September, with Charles Shaughnessy — who played Drescher’s love interest on the program — sharing a reunion photo on Instagram, writing, “Getting the band back together….?!” he wrote in his caption. “A great night out with Susan and The Nanny gang!!”