(S05E15) As much as I don't want to compare Julia Louis-Dreyfus' new show to her old one, I can't help but notice some similarities with this week's installment. Much of what made 'Seinfeld' work was in the way people outside of that core four reacted to just how deplorable those people really were. When we were in that inner circle with them, it all sort of worked and we didn't really realize how bad they were.

Now, Christine Cambpell is far more obviously a terrible person than Elaine Benes, but as with 'Seinfeld,' we often don't realize just how horrible she is. Even moreso, when put in the context of Christine, Richard and Matthew, Barb often comes across as the only sane and rational one. And yet, when you put these people out and on display in front of so-called normal people, they simply look awful.

(S05E10) When a bully is revealed at the school Little Ritchie attends, Christine is clearly worried that her son is being victimized. But while Old Christine followed the traditional sitcom formula for a bit at the beginning, by the time we reached the end of the episode, it had gone somewhere only Christine Campbell can take it.

Even better we got a surprise return, though it's something I've kind of been waiting for all season, and a hilarious guest appearance by Amy Sedaris. I can't understand why Sedaris hasn't blown up even bigger than she has. If Michael Strahan can get a big network comedy built around him, why they hell can't Amy Sedaris?

She took what could have been a pretty ordinary guest appearance, and turned it into a powerhouse performance all on its own through sheer force of will and talent.

(S05E08) Ah, Dave Foley. His sad sack Tom has been good for a laugh more than a few times, and he was used to good comic effect again this week. In the double blind-date scenario with Christine and Richard, his counterpart was the lovely Jennifer Grey, real-life wife to Clark Gregg.

The New Adventures of Old Christine is a rare comedy in that it can work in guest stars like this without it detracting from either the ongoing character moments, or taking the spotlight away from the main cast. Too often when a show gets deeper into its run, like Will & Grace in its final years, it becomes a cavalcade of celebrity guest-stars, as if the writers have run out of ways to keep things fresh with their own core group.

Christine has mixed things up just this season by breaking up Richard and New Christine and having Matthew move in with Richard in a swinging bachelor pad. And they shook it up again this week.

(S05E07) I guess the fate of Marion Ross was handled off-screen, because Matthew and Richard are settling into her old digs, and she was nowhere to be seen this episode. Now that I think about it, though, she could be shacking up in Matthew's old digs out in the backyard. It would make for a pretty funny callback to have her character pop back up. Maybe even act as if Christine didn't even know she'd moved in back there.

I wasn't as impressed with the forced obligatory "we're different but now we're roommates" storyline for Matthew and Richard. Hopefully, now that it's out of the way, the writers have some ideas of some fun things they can do with the mismatched pair. In five seasons, we've not seen a great deal of interaction between them, but their differences could make for some good comedy.

(S01E13)  I adore Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She really turned on the charm in this episode. It had the perfect combination of physical comedy and... facial... comedy. What do I mean by that? Louis-Dreyfus' face is so expressive. I guess that's physical comedy. Anyway, this was definitely my favorite episode of the season. It even had some Matthew and some of the 'meany moms'.

(S01E12)  This episode had a great twist, didn't it? Christine is tired of feeling like an outcast with the rich mommies who don't work. She finally finds a friend who drives a Prius, is divorced, and works for a living... and it turns out her new friend is the maid for one of the 'mean moms' (by the way- that's one high-priced maid if she can afford a Prius).

I really felt humiliated for Christine when she was visiting her maid-friend at the mean mom's house. She was forced to serve drinks and make hummus for the 'mean moms' while her maid-friend had sex with her boss' wife. Yikes! It was a nice, clean ending with Christine having justification for dropping her new friend.

Just an OK episode for me. I did enjoy the jokes about Christine's cheap $60 haircut and her $40 shoes. And, the whole Portugal bashing was laughable.

(S01E11)  Darnit, CBS! The schedule says Old Christine starts at 9:31 but the network keeps starting it early, so my TiVo always cuts off the first joke of the episode. Maybe I'll start caring enough to change my TiVo to a manual start at 9:30.

There were two good things about this episode: Matthew (Hamish Linklater) and the box office guy. I missed the first joke from Matthew, but I did dig the game where he had Christine guess what people in the obituaries were asking for 'in leiu of flowers'. I sure hope the writers make more use of Matthew when Christine returns for season two. And, the guy in the box office did a bang-up job with his scene. He played the sarcasm very well, making Christine think she can get into the Rolling Stones concert at the last minute-- not once but twice. That could've been played over-the-top but he took a more even approach to it.

(S01E10)  This week we find out more about what led to Christine and Richard's divorce. All along, Christine has been under the assumption that they both had their issues, but everyone else (including her couples' therapist and Wanda Sykes' character, Barb) thinks Christine is the one who ended it. Christine gets all upset but, in the end, her ex-husband tells her that the marriage was doomed and he didn't have the guts to end it, but she did. So, now we know. Oh, and Richard slept with the marriage counselor after they divorced. Did anyone else think that marriage counselor was actually a man, baby? Yeah!

Well, this episode totally aired out of order. Ritchie hasn't met old Christine? Hello? Is anybody at the network even watching this show? Ritchie, Richard and new Christine all went to a movie together two episodes back. I think this was meant to be the second episode of the series.

It felt like the second episode of the series, anyway. The one-liners were uncomfortably delivered and old Christine was still having issues with new Christine and her husband dating. I thought we were way past that. And, I actually really felt bad for old Christine in this episode, with her son being so excited about his sugar-filled "fun" day with new Christine.

Overall, I say this episode was... eh. I'm not sure why the network held onto this one for May ratings but it wasn't a stellar edition of this show. I much prefer the Supertramp episode where Christine ends up sleeping with Andy Richter, or when she tries to combat racism at her son's school and it backfires.

(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).

(S01E07) Ew! That title is gross! Especially because we all know 'Stan' is really Andy Richter with a moustache. *shudder*

I was very thankful that this week's episode wasn't about the pet rat that Christine brought home from Richie's classroom. I kind-of expected the story to go along the lines of losing the rat or the rat dying. Why, exactly, was that rat even in the story? Just for the one joke about it staying the night? That's an awful lot of set up. Anyway, that's why I appreciate this sitcom. It doesn't go the direction of other sitcoms by dealing with stupid problems like a lost rat. Instead, it deals, in a very funny way, with big issues like loneliness.

(S01E06) This week Christine is on a mission to make her son's private school more racially diverse. She doesn't really know anything about civil rights issues but why should that stop her? So, she sponsored a black family to get into Richie's school.

I was happy to see that Christine brought her brother Matthew along on her dinner date with her "black family", as she calls them. Matthew's always good for a laugh, like when he touts Christine's voting record by saying that she voted more than 200 times in the American Idol finals last year. Obviously, Christine's token "black family" was going to turn out to be a nightmare and, sure enough, the dad lands two big, offensive remarks about homosexuals (the F word). So, she gets a gay couple to offset the "black family's" bigotry. Of course, the two men say they don't like all the Jews at their child's former school. So, instead of diversity, she has introduced hate to her son's school.

I am so tired of the fat jokes that Christine constantly makes about her body. She's fit. She owns a gym. She's tiny. Shut up, already. The show is funny enough with out that whole woman's-poor-body-image-thing.

Finally, we get to see a lot more of Christine's ex-husband, Richard. It turns out he's jealous of Christine's new boyfriend. Hypocritical? Oh yes, considering he is dating a 28-year old woman, also named Christine. And he's been flaunting young Christine in front of old Christine for the last few episodes.

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.

This episode was definitely better than the pilot. There was only a tiny bit of interaction with her son in the beginning and, to tell you the truth, I think that's what made the difference. In the pilot, she behaved like she had only just met the little boy and not like she gave birth to him. There was no familiarity there. This episode had fewer kids, more adults, sex, and... Andy Richter!

In this episode, Christine realizes she hasn't had sex for three years. So, she tries to figure out how to go have a one night stand. It turns out there aren't any singles bars anymore, and the best place to meet a guy is at the grocery store.