Lack of good storyline.

Just so...so bad

Absolutely Fantastic

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Watching late night re-runs of a show I never watched, and after a week of ennui, I have to throw in the towel. I was hoping I had stumbled across a hidden gem, but boy, this thing is a disappointment. I think the cast is good, but the show is ......OK, after re-watching for quite some time, I am changing my review and opinion a little from my original all out 'bashing' review. I do like the actors, I like some of the outre dialog, it's often a bit outrageous and cleverly written. It's certainly not a show for everyone, as Christine and her brother are promiscuous, ditzy, and borderline incestuous. Plus the brother's sick relationship with their mother. And I like Wanda Sikes a lot, but she is badly miscast in this show, I don't think IRL she would be such a friend and enabler to a mess like Julia Dreyfuss portrays. The show is often quite cringe-making. (that can be fun, depending on your tolerance for watching someone make an amazing spectacle of themselves.) And it seems if I'm up awake watching in the middle of the night, I am seeing the same handful of episodes over and over and over. Maybe it wasn't on that long, but come on!

This show is a mixed bag, its likable characters managing to prop up its dramatic emptiness an often flat writing.Julia Louis-Dreyfus has aged well, and still can steal a scene with smile or eye roll. Her character here is raunchier than the refined Elaine of Seinfed days. Hamish Linklater and Clark Gregg provide likable foils as Christine's brother and ex-husband. Both have a knack for allowing space for Dreyfus's out sized overacting. The other characters are less successful. Emily Rutherfurd'a new Christine character is somewhat undefined and largely unlikeable. I would have thought the show would center around a counterpoint of new and old Christine, but new Chistine seldom interacts with Louis-Dreyfus at all, and often seems a dramatic after thought. Wanda Sykes plays old Chistine's friend and business associate. Her classic black sitcom stylings seem a little out of place in this white bread comedy. But she gets good lines and proves a likable--if not lovable-- curmudgeon. Its not Seinfeld, but its not bad either.

I am an idiot! I, apparently like many viewers, did not give this show a chance during its first run. I recently discovered it in reruns at 11:30 p.m. and fell in love with the show. Have you seen any of the current sit-coms? None of them (at least with my minimal cable access) can even elicit a smile out of me, and I'm a fairly easy audience. "Christine" is so refreshing, and now it's gone! I can't find it on anywhere, but I couldn't let it go without giving it my applause in print. What this show had was a great comedic cast, and what made them great was their dialog AND delivery. Few entertainers have what I call good comedic timing. It's the difference between Johnny Carson and Jay Leno, and I don't think it can be taught. For the actors on "Christine," the comedy seemed to come naturally, and the timing was perfect. I'm sorry it took me so long to pay attention, and I'm so grateful for all the laughs. If I can buy these shows on DVD, I'll just have to re-re-re-re- run them all.

Someone wondered why this show has such low ratings; if you look at the demographics, you'll see that it gets the lowest ranking from over 45 year old males, which is no surprise since they have been educated in a more traditional environment and are usually very keen on their puritan values; and also, from adolescent males, which is also of no surprise, since their manhood is still fragile.This show is witty and almost addictive, not to mention the obvious comedic talent of Julia Louis Dreyfuss and the can't-do-without artistic responsiveness of Hamish Linklater.Treating this as a niche would be a mistake. Anyway, if the show gets canceled in US, I'd sincerely advise Julia Louis Dreyfuss to visit Europe.