Lisa Helfrich Jackson Movies

When CBS greenlighted the half-hour sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine, it was with the fervent hope that series star Julia Louis-Dreyfus would be the one to break the "Seinfeld" curse that had doomed the actress' Seinfeld colleagues to an embarrassing plethora of DOA TV-series projects. Louis-Dreyfus was cast as Christine, a divorced mother and the owner of Thirty Minutes to Bloom, a quick-turnover workout gym designed for busy professional women. Although Christine enjoyed a friendly relationship with her ex-husband, Richard (Clark Gregg), this status quo was in danger of going south in a hurry when Richard began dating a much-younger woman (Emily Rutherfurd), also named Christine (hence the series' title). Meanwhile, the "old" Christine was carrying on a war of nerves with Marly (Tricia O'Kelley) and Lindsay (Alex Kapp Horner), the pretentious and snobbish room parents at the expensive private school where Christine's son, Ritchie (Trevor Gagnon), was enrolled. Also featured was Hamish Linklater as the series' intended "breakout" character, Christine's slacker brother, Matthew. Created by Kari Lizer, The New Adventures of Old Christine debuted March 13, 2006, with two separate episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first season of Everybody Loves Raymond drew heavily upon the standup routines of comedian Ray Romano, who depicted himself as a loving but befuddled husband and father of three children, bedeviled by his own overbearing Italian-American parents and a jealous older brother who happened to be a policeman. In the series proper, Romano played Ray Barone, Long Island-based sportswriter for New York Newsday. Ray, his wife, Debra (Patricia Heaton), and their three children lived next door to Ray's parents, bombastic Frank (Peter Boyle) and snoopy Marie (Doris Roberts). Frank and Marie in turn lived with Ray's older brother, a divorced cop named Robert (Brad Garrett), who still harbored a childhood jealousy for his younger sibling. In the pilot episode, Ray's three children were played by the Ferreira children: Amber, Drew, and Justin. The youngest kids, twin boys, were named Matthew and Gregory (after Romano's real-life children), while the six-year-old daughter was not identified by name. Thereafter, the children were known as Ally, Michael, and Geoffrey, and were played by members of the Sweeten family: Madylin, Sullivan, and Sawyer. During season one, a handful of semi-regulars were introduced, among them Ray's friend Andy (Andy Kindler), a sports statistician; Nemo (Joseph V. Perry), the owner of the pizza parlor; and Amy MacDougall (Monica Horan), Robert's off-and-on girlfriend. Also firmly established was the intensely combative relationship between Ray's parents, who also had a cute habit (cute to everyone but Ray's long-suffering spouse Debra) of dropping into their son's house unannounced and poking their noses into everyone else's business. More welcome drop-ins occurred whenever Ray's sports-world friends -- usually celebrity athletes and famous TV commentators -- opted to pay a visit to the series. Despite languishing in a low-rated Friday-night slot, Everybody Loves Raymond quickly became a critical favorite, encouraging CBS to move the series to a more advantageous Monday-night berth in mid-season. Though the ratings didn't exactly go through the roof, the series garnered enough of a fan following to warrant a second season. ~ All Movie Guide