The New Adventures Of The Old Christine – The
Complete First Season (Warner DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: B-
When you
are an established movie star, it is easy to have more hits, but when you are
an established TV star, you can get stuck in one role and never escape that
situation. Many TV stars have tried for
new success in both mediums and fallen on their faces, as the cast of the
overrated Friends continue to prove
again and again and again. It does not
help when they continue to play the same role under new names, which is why
they ought to consult Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Originally
a cast member of Saturday Night Live,
where she was grossly underused, she finally found paydirt as the crux of the
success of Seinfeld as Elaine. It was a role that put her in the same
position historically as Lucille Ball, Marlo Thomas, Mary Tyler Moore, Jean
Stapleton, Carol Burnett, Isabel Sanford and Tracy Ullman as the comedienne of
the moment. Like those great talents,
she had even more to offer and with her new hit TV comedy The New Adventures Of The Old Christine may have broken the
typecast barrier and proven to be the greatest TV funny lady in a generation.
As the
recently divorced title character, single mother trying to get the best for her
son Ritchie (Trevor Gagnon) and now lives along with her brother (Hamlisch
Linklater) who lives in the house in the back.
Her ex (Clark Gregg) is dating a new young lady (Emily Rutherford) who
happens to share her first name (thus, the shows somewhat ironic title) and
that is just the beginning of what she has to juggle. The 13 shows here are some of the funniest we
have seen come from American TV in a very long time, with some of the most
progressive humor from a live action sitcom in years. Bolder in ways than her previous hit show, it
joins 30 Rock as a pair of huge
surprise sitcoms that are among the best the networks have recently featured.
There is
chemistry in the cast, solid teleplay writing and a mix of energy and timing
that makes each show really move the way sitcoms used to at their best. But it is ultimately Louis-Dreyfus
reinventing herself enough to do something new, yet be enough of herself to
remain appealing. No wonder it is an
instant critical and commercial success.
This is also the best debut season of a U.S. sitcom in so long, the
“golden age” label recent overrated U.S. shows were being given may seem like a
joke if this is any evidence of a new surge of great programming we might
finally be getting.
We don’t
want to get our hopes up, but after seeing these shows, you would too.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image has more softness than expected and I
would have liked, as well as motion blur, but its other consistencies help that
out and make the flaws more tolerable.
However, I expect this to be one of Warner’s TV on Blu-ray releases soon
enough and for a new show, would be the best since Smallville. The Dolby
Digital 5.1 mix is not very active, sticking the dialogue more in the center
channel than one would like, but is a clean new recording and you can hear all
the jokes just fine. Extras include
deleted/unaired scenes on both discs, a gag reel and interview featurette
called The Real Christine.
The
second season arrived without any strikes getting in the way and you can read
about it at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7729/The+New+Adventures+Of+The+Old
- Nicholas Sheffo