Editing Watching Ellie (section)

== Premise and formats ==
There were two incarnations of ''Watching Ellie''. Both focused on the character of cabaret singer Ellie Riggs (Louis-Dreyfus), with markedly different approaches.

The first was directed by [[Ken Kwapis]], known for his innovative work in [[single-camera setup|single-camera]] sitcoms such as ''[[The Larry Sanders Show]]'', ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'' and ''[[The Bernie Mac Show]]''.  Each 22-minute episode was meant to portray a 22-minute slice of Ellie's life, in real time.  In the earliest episodes, a clock was even shown in the corner of the screen.  Louis-Dreyfus stated in 2003 that the clock was [[Jeff Zucker]]'s idea. Thirteen episodes were filmed, but only ten aired before the series was put on indefinite hiatus (the remaining first-season episodes have never aired).

Nearly a full year later, the show reappeared as a more traditional sitcom, with multiple cameras and a live studio audience plus an added [[laugh track]].  This version fared even worse than its predecessor and was canceled after six episodes.