The New Adventures of Old Christine

The New Adventures of Old Christine
Opening title
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Kari Lizer
Directed by	Andy Ackerman
Starring	Julia Louis-Dreyfus Clark Gregg Hamish Linklater Emily Rutherfurd Trevor Gagnon Tricia O'Kelley Alex Kapp Horner Wanda Sykes
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	88 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Andy Ackerman Ellen Kreamer Jack Burditt Jeff Astrof Kari Lizer Sherry Bilsing-Graham
Producer(s)	Lisa Helfrich Jackson Julia Louis-Dreyfus (season 5)
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	22–24 minutes (excluding commercials)
Production company(s)	Kari's Logo Here Warner Bros. Television
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original network	CBS
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Original release	March 13, 2006 (2006-03-13) – May 12, 2010 (2010-05-12)
Website

The New Adventures of Old Christine (often shortened to simply Old Christine) is an American television sitcom starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Christine Campbell, a middle-aged divorced mother who struggles to keep pace with those around her. Clark Gregg co-starred as her ex-husband Richard, with whom Christine maintains a close relationship despite their divorce, as well as Hamish Linklater as her brother Matthew and Wanda Sykes as her best friend Barb. It originally ran on CBS from March 13, 2006, to May 12, 2010.

The New Adventures of Old Christine was created and produced by Kari Lizer as well as Andy Ackerman (who directed all 88 episodes of the series), and distributed by Warner Bros. Television. The series received generally positive reviews from television critics and was nominated for nine Primetime Emmy Awards, winning one for Louis-Dreyfus' performance in the first season.^[1] In May 2010, CBS canceled The New Adventures of Old Christine after five seasons.^[2]

Background

Christine Campbell (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is a neurotic mother and owner of a women's gym who is in a constant struggle to keep pace with those around her. A fixture in her life is her irresponsible ex-husband Richard (Clark Gregg), whose new girlfriend (Emily Rutherfurd) is also named Christine, hence the nickname "Old Christine".

Christine lives with her son Ritchie (Trevor Gagnon) and her brother Matthew (Hamish Linklater), while best friend and colleague Barb (Wanda Sykes) is constantly a shoulder for Christine to lean upon. Christine also struggles with her inferiority complex with the bitchy "meanie-moms," Marly Ehrhardt (Tricia O'Kelley) and Lindsay (Alex Kapp Horner), at her son's private school.

There are recurring appearances from actors including Blair Underwood, Dave Foley, Eric McCormack, Jason Alexander, Jennifer Grey, Megan Mullally, Scott Bakula, Ed Begley, Jr., Andy Richter, Lee Tergesen, and Jane Lynch.

History

Synopsis

Trevor Gagnon and Julia Louis-Dreyfus in Season 1; Episode 3 "Open Water".

The first season consists of 13 episodes and premiered on March 13, 2006. In this season Christine has only just enrolled her son, Ritchie, at a new posh private school, where she is constantly being humiliated by Marly and Lindsay, some non-working mothers at the school. On top of all this, she has just discovered her ex-husband, Richard, has started dating a much younger woman who is also named Christine. Christine has a brief fling with Burton Schaefer, her on-and-off romantic interest, but they soon break up due to Christine not being able to commit to the relationship. In the season finale, Christine kisses Richard, causing him to tell New Christine, who promptly breaks up with him.

The second season consists of 22 episodes and premiered on September 18, 2006. Due to Richard and Christine's brief kiss, Ritchie believes that his parents have gotten back together, much to his parents' dismay. Christine starts dating an older man whom she later discovers is New Christine's father; this situation causes Richard and New Christine to rekindle their romance once again. Barb decides to start working at the gym with Christine, while Christine falls hard for Ritchie's new teacher, Mr. Harris. The season finale included Richard sleeping with Christine after breaking up with New Christine yet again. This causes a pregnancy scare for Christine, which is soon avoided. Eventually, New Christine takes Richard back and Mr. Harris takes a new teaching job at another school to be with Christine.

The third season was scheduled as a midseason replacement on CBS with 13 episodes scheduled. Due to the 2007 writer's strike, the third season consists of only 10 episodes. The third season premiered on February 4, 2008. Christine and Mr. Harris have a good relationship, until Christine's schedule becomes too hectic midway through the season; so they eventually break up. Meanwhile, Richard and New Christine buy a house together, which coincidentally is Christine's dream house, leaving her feeling jealous and confused. Barb leaves her husband and she has a short-lived fling with Matthew, much to Christine's horror.

The fourth season, consisting of 22 episodes, premiered on September 24, 2008. As she is Bahamanian, Barb faces deportation from the U.S. after her divorce, so Christine decides to marry her in a sham lesbian marriage in order to keep her best friend in the country. Richard and New Christine become engaged while Matthew finds love with one of his clients. Christine has a brief relationship with an obsessive man named Patrick, while she and Barb decide to turn their gym into a spa which they later discover has turned into a brothel. On the day of Richard and New Christine's wedding, Christine briefly gets back together with New Christine's father, but is later left heartbroken when she discovers that he is engaged. This causes Richard to rush to Christine's side, provoking the jealous New Christine to leave him at the altar. Meanwhile, Barb and Christine's sham marriage is discovered by Dave, an INS officer, leaving Barb imprisoned.

The fifth and final season, consisting of 21 episodes, premiered on September 23, 2009. Barb is released from custody due to the efforts of Christine, Matthew, and Dave, who becomes Barb's boyfriend. While Richard tries to win New Christine back, he temporarily moves into a new apartment with Matthew. Christine begins going to therapy, but she is attracted to her therapist, Max. They eventually abandon Christine's therapy and strike up a relationship instead. New Christine announces that she is pregnant, causing Richard to rekindle his relationship with her. New Christine eventually gives birth to a baby girl. Meanwhile, Barb becomes engaged to a reluctant Dave. At the conclusion of the season, Christine also becomes engaged to Max, but she feels intimidated by his very educated friends, so she decides to return to college.

Cancellation

In May 2010, CBS canceled The New Adventures of Old Christine.^[2][3] Afterward, series creator Kari Lizer slammed the network, suggesting the decision to cancel the series was sexist.^[4][5][6] In an interview with TV Guide, Lizer stated: "As far as what happened at CBS, we’ve suffered from a serious lack of support from them since the beginning. I hate to say it, but I’m afraid they don’t care much for the female-of-a-certain-age point of view over there. How else do you explain them squandering the talents of Julia [Louis-Dreyfus] and Wanda [Sykes]?"^[4] With support from Lizer, Warner Bros. Television began negotiations to continue the series on ABC, but a deal could not be made reportedly due to a high licensing fee to keep the series going.^[7]

Cast and characters

Main cast

• Christine "Old Christine" Campbell (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the main character of the series, is a divorced mother who owns and operates a gym for women. She has a number of neuroses: although she suffers from feelings of inadequacy, she can also be highly self-centered and self-obsessed. Christine's bad luck with relationships continued after her divorce. Her age is unknown (although implied born in the mid to late '60s since she is younger than Richard). Her brother constantly teases her about her age. An ongoing joke is her addiction to wine and her obliviousness to it.
• Richard Campbell, Sr. (Clark Gregg), is Christine's ex-husband, who maintains a frequent presence in her life. After divorcing Christine, he found love with another woman also named Christine, who is nicknamed "New Christine". He suffers from commitment issues; taking months to tell New Christine that he loved her and four years to propose to New Christine. Richard's presence in his ex-wife's life caused a strain between himself and New Christine, which heightened when she walked out on their wedding. Richard accepted the fact she doesn't want him back, though he and New Christine reunite when she becomes pregnant.
• Matthew Kimble (Hamish Linklater), is Christine's long-suffering, live-in brother who often acts as the straight man to his neurotic sister. Matthew had trouble finding a career path; he entered and then quit medical school and then pursued a career as a therapist. He suffers from an unhealthy attachment to his mother; whom he kisses on the mouth and speaks to several times daily. His romantic life is less than stellar. He constantly teases Christine's age, usually implying that she is "old". Despite his nerd-like features, Matthew was frequently called attractive by many women. He is also portrayed as a pot smoker, but in one episode, he claims that he has never done drugs.
• Barbara "Barb" Baran (Wanda Sykes), is Christine's sarcastic best friend and colleague at the gym. Barb, who in one episode was referred to as "my black friend, Barb" by Old Christine, is divorced and in the fourth season was revealed to be from the Bahamas and not an American citizen. She has a dry, droll sense of humor and is rarely enthused by any of Christine's plans. Barb and Christine got married early in season four to save Barb from deportation, but their same-sex marriage ended up resulting in them losing ownership of their gym. After they lost the gym, Barb sold her condo to build up a new business and married Richard to stave off deportation. She is fascinated by fire and has both violent and pyromaniac tendencies.
• Christine "New Christine" Liesl Hunter (Emily Rutherfurd), is Richard's "dumb blonde" girlfriend, an often frustrated and confused young blonde who is nicknamed New Christine. She is annoyed by Richard's continued friendship with Old Christine, who treats her with derision, leading to friction between the two women. She is also frustrated with Richard's lack of commitment to their relationship. She walked out on their wedding, and has intense anger towards Richard for ruining it. She also became furious to learn she is pregnant, even though Richard told her he had a vasectomy. They re-kindle their relationship and Christine gives birth to a daughter named Dakota Christine Hunter-Campbell in the season 5 episode "Scream".
• Richard "Ritchie" Campbell, Jr. (Trevor Gagnon), Christine and Richard's son, who attends a posh private school. Often smothered by his mother, his lack of masculine traits had begun to worry his father.
• Marly Ehrhardt^{[notes 1]} (Tricia O'Kelley), is a rich mother from Richie's private school who often puts Christine down for being divorced, having a low income and being a working mother. Christine often calls Marly and Lindsay the "meanie moms". Marly has a daughter, Ashley. She is said to have had much plastic surgery, and can evidently no longer blink. In the fourth season, Marly became pregnant again and her friend Lindsay became so too, so they could do it together. At one point she finds out that her husband has been cheating on her with their maid.
• Lindsay (Alex Kapp Horner), One of the "meanie moms" from Ritchie's school, who is best friends with Marly, although Marly is clearly dominant to the subservient Lindsay, who often does things against her will to earn Marly's approval. They frequently make Christine feel inferior, leading Christine to repeatedly find ways to get back at them. Lindsay has a daughter, Kelsey, whom Marly believes is a lesbian. In the fourth season, Lindsay became pregnant because Marly did so they could do it together. She was stated to previously be a brunette and getting her master's in Women's Studies before she met Marly. On a few occasions, she has been shown to be kind to Old Christine, unbeknownst to Marly.

Recurring cast

• Mike Gay (Tom Papa), Christine's only friend at Westbridge, as he is similar to Christine in that he is not wealthy and is also divorced. (Season 3)
• Stan (aka "Sad Dad"; Andy Richter), divorced father who Christine finds herself unable not to sleep with; she later realizes why she finds him so irresistible. (Seasons 1–3)
• Jeff Hunter (Scott Bakula), also known as Papa Jeff, originally Christine's love interest, but she soon finds out he is New Christine's father. They continue to date for a while after but eventually becomes too much for Christine. At New Christine and Richard's wedding, Jeff and Christine rekindle their relationship. Christine realizes shortly after this he is engaged. (Seasons 2, 4 and 5)
• Tom (Dave Foley), Richard's work associate who is obsessed with Old Christine; for years Christine believed his name was Todd. After he got sick on their disastrous first date, they bonded later in the series, but Christine still refused to see him. Richard set them up yet again, and this time Christine used him for his money, but Tom left her after he thought Christine's attempted seduction of him as "repulsive". (Seasons 2–3, 5)
• Daniel Harris (Blair Underwood), Ritchie's former 4th grade teacher until he gave it up to date Old Christine, who had been in love with him for a long time. Although dating goes well, the relationship eventually fails, unsurprisingly. (Seasons 2–3, 5)
• Ali (Amy Farrington), quiet, shy, but witty gym worker. (Seasons 1–4)
• Mrs. Belt (Jordan Baker), Ritchie's third grade teacher. (Season 1)
• Burton Schaefer (Matt Letscher), Old Christine's on-and-off romantic interest. She always finds herself stupidly splitting them up until Burton had therapy. They dated again but he was so different and strange Christine couldn't take it. (Seasons 1 and 2)
• Ashley Ehrhardt (Lily Goff), Marly's air-headed daughter. (Seasons 1–5)
• Kelsey (Marissa Blanchard), Lindsay's daughter with lesbian tendencies. (Seasons 1–5)
• Mrs. Marcie Nunley (Nancy Lenehan), peppy principal of Ritchie's school. Lenehan, before recurring as Mrs. Nunley, guest starred in season one as a completely different character named Kit. (Seasons 1–2, 5)
• Pete (Anthony Holiday), ex-husband of Barb. Seems to have few emotions. At one point Barb and Pete split up temporarily before Barb realized she didn't like being alone. However, their marriage gradually dissolved off screen which leads to a bitter divorce.(Seasons 1–2)
• Mrs. Wilhoite (Mary Beth McDonough), teacher and mean mom at the school. (Seasons 1–5)
• Ms. Hammond (Jane Lynch), ethics counselor/gym teacher at the school. AKA "The Stork," "Coach Hammond Eggs," "Coach Never Getting Married." She wears shorts year-round. (Season 2)
• Lucy (Michaela Watkins), a former patient of Matthew's who becomes attracted to authority figures. Matthew cannot control himself and, thus the two begin to date. Unexpectedly the two fell in love and began a much more serious relationship. They moved in together but unfortunately both exhibited negative qualities which led to an upsetting break-up. (Seasons 4-5)
• Patrick Harris (Tim DeKay), Old Christine's new boyfriend, who she meets in a video store and starts dating. Patrick turns out to have some serious rage issues when he 'loses' at something, and Christine fearfully broke up with him. (Season 4)
• Todd Watski (Lee Tergesen), Old Christine's elementary school rival. When she discovers he's a fellow parent at the school, she gets revenge. Old Christine later uses him as her date at Richard and New Christine's wedding rehearsal dinner with the intention of showing Richard up, but his 'ass' qualities kick in and the plan backfires. (Season 4)
• Joe Campbell (Charles Esten), Richard's brother. Joe spent the night at Christine's house during a visit and following this came out to her as gay. He lives in San Francisco and returned for Richard's bachelor party where he became jealous he wasn't the best man. (Seasons 2 and 4)
• Amy Hunter (Constance Zimmer), New Christine's sister; she is quite different, in a positive way, from New Christine. She meets Matthew at Richard and New Christine's wedding rehearsal and the two hook up. (Season 4)
• Principal Merrow (Stephen Tobolowsky), Westbridge Middle School's principal, who has very little tolerance for Old Christine's neurotic behavior. (Season 4)
• Max (Eric McCormack), Old Christine's therapist/crush and Matthew's mentor. Christine and Max share a mutual attraction, although Christine is only his patient. He has had his license suspended multiple times for getting too close to patients and the two became engaged but they postpone their engagement and Christine goes back to college. (Season 5)
• Dave (James Lesure), a man Barb met at Richard and New Christine's wedding. Although he originally tried to deport her as he is an INS agent, he later found a way to keep her in the country because of his feelings for her, which later developed into hatred as their relationship progressed. He proposed to her thinking she'd break up with him, but instead the two became engaged. (Seasons 4–5)

Reception

Critical reception

The review website Metacritic.com, which tabulates critics' reviews, gave it a 64—equating to their summary of "generally positive reviews", with 16 out of 26 critics reviews deemed as positive.^[8] A Los Angeles Times review notes that "Louis-Dreyfus makes Christine feel fresh and real" and the show has a "dry charm and a nice tone of affectionate irony."^[9]

Nielsen ratings and broadcast history

The show's initial ratings success was the first example of a show breaking the "Seinfeld curse" (after the failures of The Michael Richards Show, Bob Patterson, Listen Up!, and Louis-Dreyfus' own Watching Ellie).^[10] The series premiere reached 15.1 million viewers. Old Christines time slot was changed mid-way through the second season, with a decline in ratings after losing its Two and a Half Men lead-in.

On May 16, 2007, it was announced that, despite the decline in ratings, CBS would renew the show for a third season 2007–2008 as a mid-season replacement.^[11] On November 6, 2007, CBS said that production of Old Christine had been halted because of a strike by the Writers Guild of America.^[12] On December 13, 2007 CBS announced that the series would return for its third season, which premiered on February 4, 2008, replacing Rules of Engagement.^[13] However, only 10 episodes of the original 13-episode order were produced and aired for the third season because of the WGA strike.^[14]

On May 14, 2008, CBS gave the sitcom a 22-episode order for the 2008–2009 season, where it aired on Wednesdays, opening up a second comedy night for the network.^[15] Only 6.7 million viewers tuned in to the premiere. The following week, despite not having to go up against ratings success Dancing with the Stars, ratings tip-toed up, as it added a few hundred thousand. By the third episode, the show was over 7.5 million and had added more than one million to the premiere audience. Since then, the fourth season Old Christine had ratings close to 8 million viewers, and came first in its time slot multiple times.

The early ratings for the fifth season had been lower than previous seasons, but the 14th episode of the season reached 8.3 million viewers, the highest viewership the show had received in the Wednesday night timeslot. CBS cancelled The New Adventues of Old Christine after five seasons in May 2010.^[2]

Awards and nominations

Adaptation

The New Adventures of Old Christine was adapted in Germany in 2013. The series is named Christine. Perfekt war gestern! and was canceled after its first season.

DVD releases

During the Warner Television and Animation Live Chat on April 5, 2010, executives from Warner Brothers said that they are "evaluating different options for release" regarding the remaining and possibly future seasons of Old Christine on DVD.^[18]

Notes

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: The New Adventures of Old Christine

• The New Adventures of Old Christine 5 days a week
• The New Adventures of Old Christine at the Internet Movie Database
• The New Adventures of Old Christine at TV.com
• MSN review