Julia Louis-Dreyfus is Great on ‘Veep’, But She Was Even Better on ‘The New Adventures of Old Christine’

Julia Louis-Dreyfus continues to slay each and every week on Veep. She can hurl an expletive-laced insult at anyone and everyone in the world, and at the same time, can convey a million emotions in just one single blink. While the freedoms of HBO allow her to cement her place at the top of every best comedic actress list, it was the limitations of a network sitcom that just might be responsible for her best work to date.

The New Adventures of Old Christine ran for five seasons on CBS (Seinfeld ran for nine, Veep is currently airing it’s fifth, just for a little reference). Over the course of those five seasons, Louis-Dreyfus went places so very few comedic actresses have had the balls to even tip-toe near. Lena Dunham brings Girls’ Hannah Horvath to some bold, interesting places, and Tina and Amy are breaking molds on the reg. But Louis-Dreyfus as Old Christine had so many “Oh damn, she went there,” moments, they’d be impossible to count.

Christine is a selfish, semi-delusional business owner and single mom who was pretty irresponsible about her own life, but less so when it came to her son’s. While the “meanie moms” at her son’s private school might not agree, Christine is a dynamic character that shows the struggles of being a single mom, while staying true to yourself and balancing your own life. She’s also a bit of a self-absorbed hot mess, and the kind of person you would normally want to avoid both knowing and being in your own life. But wow does Louis-Dreyfus make her not only likeable, but funny as hell.

Christine makes declarations with the same authority Selina Meyer does on Veep, except that Christine is just barely the authority in her own home, let alone the entire country. Her physical comedy game would make the Three Stooges jealous, from falling down to inflating her life vest on a plane, she just GOES there. She’s not worried about looking bad; in fact, she’s probably worried about looking GOOD. Louis-Dreyfus gives a fearless and flawless performance that network TV was not worthy of. But viewers are—it’s worth seeking out the sitcom to witness for yourself what a dynamic talent we have on our hands here. Just in case you weren’t already 150% percent sure.

Louis-Dreyfus is a true force all on her own, and the supporting cast really helps her to shine on Old Christine. Between balancing her ex-husband Richard (Clark Gregg) and his new girlfriend, New Christine (Emily Rutherfurd), and her gym business with her partner and best friend Barb (Wanda Sykes), Christine is surrounded by people unafraid to clue her in to how clueless she really is. Her brother Matthew (Hamish Linklater), has a blank stare for every occasion and together, they really put the “fun” in dysfunction, when it comes to both their relationship with each other and with the rest of their family and friends.

Another highlight that Old Christine provides for viewers is the chance to watch Louis-Drefus stumble through dates with a variety of men, all so, so right and so, so wrong for her in number of ways. Her on-off relationship with her son’s teacher Mr. Harris (Blair Underwood) contributes some spectacular moments, as do her relationships with New Christine’s father, Papa Jeff (Scott Bakula) and a father from the school, Stan (Andy Richter). While her relationship with her therapist (Eric McCormack) was super fun in season 5, it was Richard’s friend Tom (Dave Foley) who really brought some magical moments to the series. Luckily, this holds true for Veep as he reoccurs as the husband of the prime minister of Norway.

Selina Meyer struggles to remain composed and professional at (almost) all times, while Christine is rarely ever worried about being those things. This brings a joyous level of subtle comedy to Veep, but the fact that Louis-Dreyfus could let loose and portray an openly clueless person on Old Christine affords her comedic skills to shine through unlike any role we’ve seen her in before. Christine is the version of all of us that we’re afraid to be. When Selena messes something up, it’s cringe-worthy and we’re worried it might have some major consequences and we pity her. She’s supposed to know better, she’s supposed to be smarter and we’re much less forgiving. But Christine is all of us, only maybe a little crazier. We’ve all fired off a joke email by accident, we’ve misread signals from a guy (maybe not our therapist, but still) and most importantly, we’re all just trying to figure it out. We learn from Christine what not to do, and we root for her because we identify with her. And while we’re pretty sure we’re rooting for Selina, is it because we like her or because we’re afraid of how mortified both she and we will feel if things go badly?

So is Christine more watchable than Selina? Christine would say yes, Selina would say no. So the politically correct answer is: well, they’re different! So watch them both. Because when it comes right down to it, thankfully and luckily, there is enough Julia Louis-Dreyfus for everyone.

To start your new adventures with Old Christine, go with these episodes:

1. “Supertramp” (Season 1, Episode 2): Christine is bummed that Richard already has a new girlfriend so she sets out on a mission to meet a man. And does she ever. This is the first, but certainly not the last, appearance of “Sad Dad” Stan (Andy Richter).

2. “Sleepless in Mar Vista” (Season 2, Episode 15): If you think it’s fun when you take a sleeping pill, just wait until you see what happens to Christine when she does.

3. “He Ain’t Heavy” (Season 4, Episode 20): Christine tells Matthew she will be his trainer, and you’ll lose weight just from laughing at this episode.

4. “Bahamian Rhapsody” (Season 5, Episode 1): Matthew and Christine must travel to the Bahamas to help Barb. Watch this before you get on a flight and have comfort in knowing you won’t ever have a seatmate as terrible as Christine.

5. “Revenge Makeover” (Season 5, Episode 18): Christine gets a makeover and by now you probably understand how well that ends up going.

[Where to stream The New Adventures Of Old Christine]