CBS clearly had a sadomasochistic relationship with the sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine for the entire five season run of the show before finally putting the often hilarious show out of its misery earlier this year.
The show, centering on Julie Louis-Dreyfus in a role even better than her iconic Seinfeld character, has her as a single mom still close with her ex-husband (Clark Gregg), and her clueless brother (Hamish Linklater). Wanda Sykes, brilliant as ever, plays her best friend.
Despite a stellar cast and some of the best comedy writing on a network show, CBS was remarkably clueless having no idea what to do with this show, building it up and then tearing it back down, renewing the series then hop scotching it across the schedule, just to bring it back as a mid season fill in.
The third season, the shortest coming in at just 10 episodes, is also one of the best with plots like Christine’s attempt to get stoned and her edict that her brother and friend not have sex with her best friend.
Though it adheres pretty close to conventional classic sitcom rules, The New Adventures of Old Christine succeeded where most fail: by paying attention to solid writing. Despite that, it didn’t stop CBS from killing the show and replacing it with God knows what (likely another season of Big Brother).
The New Adventures of Old Christine – The Complete Third Season (DVD)/2 DVDs/2010/Warner Bros./220 Mins./http://bit.ly/WBS_Christine3
Rating 8 out of 10