Returning series review: Old Christine
09/17/06 12:23 PM
Julia Louis-Dreyfus sells herself in CBS' "Old Christine"
By ED BARK
Fresh off her best actress Emmy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus shows why she won it in the second season premiere of CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine.
Her oft-befuddled but always bedazzling Christine Campbell gives CBS a potential heir to its three previous queens of comedy -- Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett and Mary Tyler Moore. No, Louis-Dreyfus isn't in their league yet. She's getting closer by the year, though.
Monday's night's return (8:30 central, 9:30 eastern) finds Christine and her ex- , Richard (Clark Gregg), thinking about giving it another go. Recently bounced by "new Christine" (Emily Rutherford), he's been making himself very handy around the house. Some problems persist, though.
"I make him a couple of lists, he does a couple of errands," Christine tells her live-in brother, Matthew (Hamish Linklater). "He falls asleep on the couch, I go to bed, there's no sex. Oh my God, we're totally back together."
Their son, Richie (Trevor Gagnon), just starting fourth grade, thinks a reunion is already a done deal. He blurts this out to his hunky new teacher (guest star Blair Underwood), whom all the moms predictably ogle.
On the home front, making out just isn't working out. So it'll be no surprise to fans of the show to find Christine and Richard amicably back on the outs by episode's end.
All in all, it's a nice beginning to a show that Ms. Louis-Dreyfus has made her own. Comedic acting doesn't get much better these days.
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