CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine

Being away from the US, I have averaged about 30 minutes of television watching per day so I am a bit out of practice (not that this is such a bad thing) and with this being the time of year that network's cut their losses on the shows that bombed, I watched this new show starring Julia Louis Dryfus, of Seinfeld fame.

I think my dad gave it the right description, "it may have potential...we'll just have to see."

You know what takes away from it... takes a lot away from it? The stupid laughtrack. When something is funny, just let the studio audience laugh...naturally. Someone makes a "heh" worthy comment and "they" explode. Having more laugh track doesn't increase the funny factor of a show. This is particularly distracting when they film outdoors.

This is why I love shows like Arrested Development, The Office (which btw, I think I saw BJ Novak walking out of the men's room in JFK last weekend), Family Guy, the Simpsons et al. They broke that school of thought that doesn't trust the viewer to know what is funny. Hint: we do.

That said, this show may be worth a shot, but it is still early on. It seems like the laughtrack problems maybe a CBS problem because the vastly overrated Everyone Loves Raymond (I am still mad they beat out Arrested Development at the Emmy's*) would use it like the sound files came with expiration dates. The next show I am looking forward to is Teachers on NBC which costars (can you use that for ensemble casts?) the hilarious Phil Hendrie.

--Joey

*Arrested Development was able to take Best Writing only because no one could, with a straight face, compare the genius that is Arrested Development to the mediocrity that is Everybody Digs Ray.