Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica | |
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Titlecard
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Starring |
Nick Lachey Jessica Simpson |
Opening theme | "This I Swear" by Nick Lachey |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 3 |
No. of episodes | 41 |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) |
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Running time | 23 minutes |
Release | |
Original network | MTV |
Original release | August 19, 2003 | – March 30, 2005
Website |
Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica is an American reality television series that aired on MTV. It followed the marriage of then husband and wife Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson. The show premiered on August 19, 2003, and ran for three seasons, with 41 episodes in total. The last season started on January 26, 2005, and the show concluded on March 30, 2005.
Simpson and Lachey were married on October 26, 2002 and filed for divorce on December 16, 2005. On June 30, 2006 Jessica and Nick's divorce was finalized.
Part of the show's gimmick involved displaying Simpson's naive personality, playing on the popular stereotype of "dumb blondes". Perhaps the most famous example comes from the first episode, in which Simpson, confronted with a can of Chicken of the Sea tuna, asked Nick "Is this chicken, what I have, or is this fish? I know it's tuna, but it says 'Chicken... by the Sea' [sic]."
The show was originally intended for Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley after their marriage in 1994, but the couple decided not to continue with the project after the start of pre-production. It was shelved until 2002, when Jessica's father and manager, Joe Simpson, contacted Dave about producing a show starring his daughter and her new husband.
When Simpson was originally asked why she chose to do such a show for MTV, she replied that it was good promotion for her new album [In This Skin]. The reality show, which coincided with the release of the album, at first did not help Simpson's album sales, as it debuted at #10 on the Billboard Charts and quickly fell down. Constantine Paraskevopoulos was asked to come in and direct Sweetest Sin and help sculpt an image breakthrough for the couple depicting them in a way that would break the boundaries of her conservative church going base. The video helped raise an over-all awareness and sex appeal for both Jessica and Nick, and was strongly featured in season one's top episode "the Video shoot". During this time, Constantine was also asked to direct Nick Lachey's video Shut Up, featuring Dax Shepard from Punk'd. This was also highlighted on the series.