Thursday, May 13, 2010

Old Christine headed for new adventures?

    Last night began the first of this year's season premieres.  First up for review is the CBS sitcom, The New Adventures of Old Christine.  The episode was titled "Get Smarter", with Christine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Seinfeld) feeling dumb next to her fiance, Max (Eric McCormack, Will & Grace).  She feels that way because it turns out that Max's ex-wife is a super genius.  Of course, as Max points out, she has no room to be jealous that he still hangs out with his ex-wife, as her ex-husband, Richard (Clark Gregg, Iron Man and the other upcoming Marvel movies), is one of her best friends.

     Perhaps, because it was the series season finale, the other main characters didn't have their own subplots.  New Christine (Emily Rutherfurd) and Ritchie (Trevor Gagnon) didn't even make an appearance, although the two have seemed less visible this past season.

     This sitcom has the ensemble down pat, and the characters fully fleshed out by this time.  It is consistently funny, without being too obnoxious.  Should the show get a sixth season (it has yet to be picked up, but CBS will announce the fall schedule next Wednesday), hopefully Christine will finally grow, get married, and head back to college, as she announced she would in the finale.  More likely, though, things with Max will full apart, and she will drop out of college even more quickly.  The status quo is what works for the series and I wouldn't expect any serious, permanent changes until the series comes to an end, should they have time to write a proper ending.

     Which begs the question, why don't all long-running shows get to do a proper send off?  After give years, Christine has plenty of fans.  But it could easily be among the number of series that are pulled without closure.  At this point in time, it would be rotten for a network to do such a thing.  At least give them a handful of episodes next fall to end things right.

     The New Adventures of Old Christine is far from the best sitcom on television, or even on it's channel, but it has a certain charm and enough humor to earn a season pass on my TiVo.  Please give it a second chance.

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