Old Christine: Teach Your Children Well

(S01E08)  This week, Christine decides to stick it to the rich parents by throwing her son Richie a traditional birthday party complete with balloons, banners, crafts and potato salad. Of course, the kids think the party totally sucks because there weren't any celebrities like Teri Hatcher or Kelly Clarkson there. Luckily, the kids end up having an impromptu treasure hunt for all the crap Christine has stuffed away in nooks and crannies around her house and they go home happy (and at least one of them with Christine's bra).

This episode had a lot of really terrific jokes, most of them about Christine being poor (compared to the rest of the families that attend Richie's school). And, the storyline with Matthew was, once again, hilarious. The joke at the beginning where he and Christine visit Parties by Kit just killed me. I laughed out loud when he was trying to figure out what the hell 'Kit' was short for. Also, he gets hit on by the mother of one of the kids at the birthday party and ends up being the boy's weekend nanny/mom's boy toy. At the end he says, because she paid him after sex, it's the best relationship he's ever had.

What I really enjoy about this show is the way that Christine doesn't try to fit in with the rich families. I'm so glad the writers aren't going there. Instead, she's being herself, which makes her more of an outcast--and it makes for much better, more realistic comedy.