There will never be another Seinfeld. It's a cold, hard fact that TV fans and the actors who starred on that show -- Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Richards, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jason Alexander -- have spent the years since Seinfeld's conclusion discovering. Not long after NBC bade the bickering New Yorkers farewell in the late '90s, Richards and Alexander began to attempt TV life after yadda yadda yadda. It, uh, did not go well. In fact, it wasn't until Louis-Dreyfus' mid-season entry The New Adventures of Old Christine, which premiered in the spring of 2006, that anyone considered the mythic "Seinfeld curse" to be broken.

Created by Kari Lizer, Old Christine is a tart, charming comedy that gets a lot of mileage out of Louis-Dreyfus' radiant charisma and ability to wring cringe-inducing laughs out of uncomfortable situations. A newly divorced mom, Christine Campbell shares custody of the precocious Ritchie (Trevor Gagnon) with her occasionally lunk-headed ex-husband Richard (Clark Gregg). As the series opens, he's taken up with a new Christine (Emily Rutherfurd) and the assertive, occasionally goofy "old" Christine must find a way to soldier on, with help from her snarky brother Matthew (Hamish Linklater) and her feisty friend Barb (Wanda Sykes).

By any measure, the character of Christine is miles away from any other work that Louis-Dreyfus has turned in on television previously (yes, I'm talking mainly about the potentially career-defining role of Elaine on "Seinfeld"). It's nuanced and vulnerable in a way that many sitcom characters are not -- Louis-Dreyfus, and by extension, her character -- involve you in the occasionally screwball storylines without resorting to obvious jokes or painfully worn-out puns (OK, well, most of the time). The New Adventures of Old Christine, much like its neighbor "Two and a Half Men," manages to pull off the tricky feat of creating likable, sympathetic and slightly flawed characters, placing them in conventional situations with a bit of a fresh twist and staying out of the way.

So, yeah -- The New Adventures of Old Christine is, by and large, standard sitcom fare and it's to the credit of the polished, accomplished cast (Dreyfus snagged an Emmy for her performance here) that much of it works as well as it does. With only 13 episodes in its first season, the series more or less hits the ground running, but quickly finds its footing, assisted in part by terrific cameos from the disparate likes of Matt Letscher and Andy Richter. The show's distinctive voice, a blend of sass and heart, sinks its hooks in and keeps you watching -- Old Christine is due back for its third season on Feb. 4, 2008.

The New Adventures of Old Christine's 13 episode first season is spread across two discs, housed in a double-disc Amaray keepcase tucked inside a slipcover. In a nice touch, episode summaries are provided in the enclosed booklet.

The Video:

Presented as originally broadcast on CBS, The New Adventures of Old Christine's first season arrives on DVD with its 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen image intact. Befitting a recently filmed program, the show looks immaculate throughout, with no discernible flaws. Blacks are rich; crisp, vivid colors are present and there's no other hiccup.

In a nice touch, the series arrives with a Dolby Digital 5.1 track, which is, of course, mostly superfluous with a TV sitcom, but it gives the score and audience laughter a chance to fill in the surrounds. Optional Spanish and Portuguese Dolby 2.0 stereo tracks are on board, as are optional English, French, Spanish, Chinese and Portuguese subtitles.

I still cannot fathom why some studios put together exhaustive season sets, regardless of a show's popularity and others just make a cursory effort. The New Adventures of Old Christine, while technically excellent, seems half-hearted when it comes to the supplements. No behind-the-scenes? Not even a single commentary track on only 13 episodes? Really? To make matters worse, what is offered is split between the set's two discs. The first disc houses an eight minute, five second gag reel (presented in fullscreen) and eight minutes, 55 seconds of unaired scenes (also presented in fullscreen). On the second disc, the 17 minute, 42 second featurette "The Real Christine" (presented in fullscreen) relies on interviews with cast and crew while two minutes, nine seconds of unaired scenes (presented in fullscreen) completes the set.

The New Adventures of Old Christine is a tart, charming comedy that gets a lot of mileage out of star Julia Louis-Dreyfus' radiant charisma and ability to wring cringe-inducing laughs out of uncomfortable situations. By and large, it's standard sitcom fare and it's to the credit of the polished, accomplished cast (Dreyfus snagged an Emmy for her performance here) that much of it works as well as it does. Recommended.