The New Adventures of Old Christine is one of my favorite sitcoms and last night's episode included what I saw as a tribute to TV icons Lucille Ball and Mary Tyler Moore, as well as Seinfeld. Yes, Julia Louis-Dreyfus had a true Elaine moment that was not only hilarious, but a real wink to her Seinfeld fans.

The CBS sitcom came up with a doozy of a situation, although it felt familiar to me, which I'll explain why in a moment. Christine was determined to prove that she was not afraid of living alone and wound up locked out of her house. She climbed back in through a bathroom window and got her foot stuck in the toilet bowl!

Familiar, right? I immediately thought of Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance stuck in the shower full of water on The Lucy Show. Remember that one? I also flashed on Mary Tyler Moore with her big toe stuck in the drain on a very memorable Dick Van Dyke Show. It was a ridiculous site to see Julia splayed out on the tile with her foot in the toilet but very, very fun -- just like Lucy and Viv and Laura Petrie.

But there was more. As Christine bemoaned how dependent she's become, she recalled a time when she was a tough cookie, strong and forceful. To illustrate, she remembered a time when Christine confronted a strange guy who she thought was stealing the newspaper from the doorstep of someone else's apartment. It was like a scene right out of Seinfeld! Christine even looked like Elaine, including the bigger hair, shoulder pads and black and white saddle shoes (you can see them in the picture above).

This was one of the few times on Christine that I can recall Dreyfus tipping her cap to Seinfeld. I love it when there are homages like this in current TV shows, especially when it's done as well as this one was. It was a really good one.