2008 Winter TV Preview: The New Adventures of Old Christine

The New Adventures of Old Christine - Season 3

Premieres: Monday, February 4 at 9:30 p.m. EST

Network: CBS

Creator(s): Kari Lizer

Starring:: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hamish Linklater, Trevor Gagnon, Clark Gregg, Emily Rutherfurd, Tricia O’Kelley, Alex Kapp Horner

Website: CBS.com

Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars as Christine Campbell, a divorcee who juggles motherhood and work by dosing on Nyquil and dictating to-do lists into her voice mail. All this while maintaining a fantastic relationship with her ex-husband, Richard (Clark Gregg).

Well, it was fantastic until her ex’s perky new girlfriend (Emily Rutherfurd) enters the picture. Her name is Christine, too, which makes Christine Campbell the “old” Christine. Got it?

Still, Old Christine has a good life. She owns a women's 30-minute workout gym, and her 8-year-old son, Ritchie (Trevor Gagnon), was accepted into a posh private school. It’s all swell, except for snooty moms Marly (Tricia O’Kelley) and Lindsay (Alex Kapp Horner), who can’t seem to grasp the concept that Christine actually works.

The always-funny Wanda Sykes has a recurring role, and Hamish Linklater stars as Christine’s slacker brother who lives with her. He’s considering med school, but in the Season 3 premiere, “The Big Bang,” he rethinks that idea after discovering that his cadaver is a former neighbor. You can’t make this stuff up. Ok, you can, but it’s so wacky it seems real.

Also, Christine decides she’s ready to consummate her relationship with Richie’s teacher, Daniel Harris (Blair Underwood). And wouldn’t we love to see that! Of course, there are problems, not the least of which is Christine and Richard’s crazy relationship.

I’m working my way through Season 1 of this show and loving it. Here’s the thing: Julia Louis-Dreyfus is seriously funny, but not in that annoying “Look! I’m funny!” way. She doesn’t try to be funny. She just is funny. I actually laugh out loud while watching this show, and that just doesn’t happen all that often. Hardly ever. And there’s a limited supply of MST3K movies, so I’m looking for an LOL replacement and this might come darn close.

Another thing I love about this show: the writers don’t take the easy way out. What I mean by that is the characters don’t always act the way you expect them to act. And really, that’s rare in TV World where you can usually see storylines coming two miles away.

So, all this is to say I’m really crushing on this show so far and plan to work my way through the first two seasons into the current one. Or I might start watching the current season while catching up on Seasons 1 and 2. Then again, my brain is still wonky from trying to watch three seasons of 24 at the same time, so maybe that’s not such a good idea.