# The New Sitcom of Old Elaine
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 14, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267 "2006-03-14T03:02:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/1 "2006-03-14T03:02:24Z")
Well, it didn’t actually _suck_. I guess I’ll give it another try next week.
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### Author:  [@milquetoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milquetoast)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/2 "2006-03-14T03:13:56Z")
> [@Eve](#):
>
> Well, it didn’t actually _suck_. I guess I’ll give it another try next week.
I disagree on both points.
I’m basing that on the last 5 minutes of the pilot and the first 5 minutes of the second episode. But that 10 minutes combined had so much tripe that tried to pass for writing that I have no plans to give it another chance. Those 10 minutes were banal and worthless in my opinion.
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### Author:  [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/3 "2006-03-14T04:40:49Z")
I am amazed by the accuracy of the Google ads. This thread had one overt reference to its star’s most memorable predecessor show (in the thread title), and an allusion to the new one and yet the Google ads have zeroed in on it. I guess “Elaine” + “new sitcom” + “suck” + “banal” + “tripe” + “worthless” + today’s date = All Google needs for DVDs of the old show.
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### Author:  [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/4 "2006-03-14T07:59:36Z")
This the Seinfeld Elaine?
Linkage?
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### Author:  [@milquetoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milquetoast)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/5 "2006-03-14T13:17:55Z")
> [@Eleusis](#):
>
> This the Seinfeld Elaine?
>
> Linkage?
[The New Adventures of Old Christine](http://imdb.com/title/tt0462128/)
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### Author:  [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/6 "2006-03-14T13:32:55Z")
> [@milquetoast](#):
>
> [The New Adventures of Old Christine](http://imdb.com/title/tt0462128/)
Thanks. So there’s not really any correlation with Elaine?
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### Author:  [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/7 "2006-03-14T13:45:43Z")
My DVR skipped the pilot but recorded the second episode. I thought it was enjoyable enough to go back next week.
Of course, my opinion on this is tainted as the only episode I saw had Andy Richter in it.
I’ll give it another look. I like JLD and I am always looking for a new sitcom to enjoy.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/8 "2006-03-14T14:03:40Z")
Major suckage. Trite, unfunny and boring. I couldn’t take more than ten minutes of it. Ms. Louis-Dreyfus should go back to being daddy’s little rich girl, or work on her jazz singer licks (which she’s not bad at), and get out of television before she becomes a bad joke.
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### Author:  [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/9 "2006-03-14T15:30:56Z")
I didn’t realize it started yesterday or I would have given it a shot. Anyway, the TV columnist in the Post said it gets a lot better with Ep. 3.
–Cliffy
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/10 "2006-03-14T16:28:21Z")
> [@Cliffy](#):
>
> I didn’t realize it started yesterday or I would have given it a shot. Anyway, the TV columnist in the Post said it gets a lot better with Ep. 3.
>
> –Cliffy
My TV reviewer said the same thing, so I guess I’ll watch Ep. 3.
But it better get _a lot_ better really fast.
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### Author:  [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/11 "2006-03-14T18:50:07Z")
I missed the Pilot, but caught the second. 15 minutes into it I was so bored I left the room and didn’t come back until Meduim came on.
I’ll give it another try next week, since ep 3 marks a change. But if an episode with Andy Richter in it can be that bad – I don’t hold much hope.
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### Author:  [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/12 "2006-03-14T18:53:25Z")
The ratings were great for it. The Pilot episode improved on King of Queen’s #s and the second episode held most of Two and Half Men’s audience, winning its timeslot.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/13 "2006-03-14T19:04:58Z")
The Christine character is pathetic without any positive qualities to compensate. She’s loud and shrill and every other character gets better lines than she does.
It’s hard to imagine what could happen in episode 3 that would turn this around, unless they junk the character from the first two shows and start over.
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### Author:  [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/14 "2006-03-14T20:13:26Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#):
>
> The Christine character is pathetic without any positive qualities to compensate. She’s loud and shrill and every other character gets better lines than she does.
>
> It’s hard to imagine what could happen in episode 3 that would turn this around, unless they junk the character from the first two shows and start over.
She could develop a spine and a personality. Liking the main character can help a show succeed, but an unlikeable main character with the right supporting cast can do well. (I’m not saying this has the right supporting cast).
Look at how well Reba has done. Granted she’s not pathetic, but man is she a controlling Beyotch at times. I’m not sure I’d care to meet her character at all. Hasn’t it been a consistent ratings winner for the WB (I know that’s practically an oxymoron)?
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### Author:  [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2006, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/15 "2006-03-15T00:28:47Z")
Going on the _Everybody Loves Raymond_, \*Nobody Loves Arrested Development \* principle, this is going to be a huge hit.
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### Author:  [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2006, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/16 "2006-03-15T00:55:04Z")
I thought it was alright, better than Joey at least.
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/17 "2006-03-15T00:56:45Z")
I thought it started off _really_ badly, but the scenes with Andy Richter showed promise, and the ones with her brother and in the grocery store . . . Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a good comic actress when she’s given good material and direction . . .
Still, even at its best, it’s only “feh.” I’ll give it another week or two. Unless I have a really good library book.
(And you have to give me some credit for the thread title . . .)
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2006, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/18 "2006-03-15T01:29:53Z")
I only saw the last part of the second episode (I forget why I ended up on that channel.)
Anyway, I can’t speak to its objective, overall quality – but what I saw was painfully mediocre, and made much _more_ unbearable by the inclusion of the over-the-top laugh track.
I can forgive a stale old joke. I can’t get past a stale old joke with a fake laugh track implying that the joke is unbelievably funny that a studio audience somewhere suffered multiple hernias and was compelled to crap in their collective pants from mirth.
OMG, she’s humiliating herself in front of the other parents by being conspicuous about her rejection! She actually said, “But you did me!”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HO! HO! HO!
_pisses self and has aneurysm_
If they weren’t hitting me over the head with the laughtrack to convince me that I was looking at something hilarious, I might have cracked a grin, instead of just being annoyed.
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### Author:  [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2006, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/19 "2006-03-15T01:45:25Z")
Very Creative Thread Title Eve.
It was OK for a Pilot and a first. Really, I would say it was better than 80% of the sitcoms on the air now & if it gets better …
I am a fan of JLD tho and I want her to do well.
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### Author:  [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2006, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-sitcom-of-old-elaine/348267/20 "2006-03-15T01:52:08Z")
> [@irishgirl](#):
>
> Going on the _Everybody Loves Raymond_, \*Nobody Loves Arrested Development \* principle, this is going to be a huge hit.
I just noticed that the show’s creator is named “Lizer.” Ah… happier times.
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