tricia okelley

(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.

(S05E09) I'm so glad Hank sucked, because it allowed me to establish a new two-hour block of comedy on Wednesday nights. Just substitute Christine for Hank, and then flip over to The Middle and ABC for the rest of the night. What a satisfying night of laughs.

There was no Thanksgiving trimmings for Christine this year; instead it was date night. And while the episode did fall victim to some predictable set-ups, it was still a lot of fun to watch. I particularly liked the twists and turns of Barb's date with Dave. She dragged Christine along to make sure Dave didn't propose to her.

Meanwhile, now that New Christine is pregnant, Richard is ready to woo her as well. But he needn't worry about cleaning up or even trying. Just get her into bed: that's where he really shines.

(S05E06) Little Ritchie is growing up so fast! This week he's going to a school dance ... with the most popular girl in school!? Could Christine's whole world be changing? How can the meanie moms be mean to her if her son is dating the most popular girl in school? How can Christine screw this up? By being herself.

Meanwhile, Richard realizes he can no longer live at New Christine's house -- which is really his house -- so he starts to look for a new place to live, and finds a place where I'd sure as hell want to live. But there's a major problem with it, and he and Matthew have to tackle that before anyone can move in.

All in all, I think Christine is continuing a solid run of quality episodes. It helps that of the shows on ABC's Wednesday night comedy block, this veteran is up against Hank. And Louis-Dreyfus and friends are doing a fine job of beating it week after week.