The New Adventures of Old Christine: Open Water

Yeah! Wanda Sykes! We've been seeing her in previews for Old Christine since before it launched and this week she finally made her first appearance. She played Christine's friend, Barb, of Barb and Pete. And she didn't have much of a role, did she? Well, hopefully she'll get some more appearances because she is one funny lady.

This episode, Christine let Barb set her up on a blind date. When she arrives at the restaurant, she meets a man she thinks is her date, and nervously admits to him that she got a Brazilian wax and it "feels like I slid down a sandpaper banister." Funny stuff. He admits that he got a salt scrub, ahem, down there. And then it turns out they're not set up with each other after all. Christine's real blind date ends up being a short man without any social skills, but with a phobia about eating food that other people have touched. The other guy's date is Barbie.

We see Christine go on a series of bad blind dates with a really young guy, a divorced man who's obsessed with his ex-wife, and with another woman (with whom Christine's mom set her up!). It's all laughable, but at the end, she reunites with the guy she thought was her blind date. I saw it coming from a mile away but they had such great chemistry that I was happy to see that ending.

The sub-plot about her son and her brother at swimming lessons was pretty weak.

Overall, this wasn't my favorite episode. I didn't get the big laughs I got out of the first two episodes, but I still really dig the Christine character, so I'm definitely sticking around for more.