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There will be no new adventures for Old Christine on ABC or anywhere else. After several attempts to make a deal for the cancelled CBS comedy series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus at ABC, producer Warner Bros. TV has pulled the plug. The show’s fifth season finale, which aired on CBS last month, was indeed the series finale. Starting in the fall, fans of The New Adventures of Old Christine will be able to catch old episodes on Lifetime and on broadcast stations, which will launch the series in syndication. As for ABC, the network had showed strong interest in picking up Old Christine for the past three years. But when the show finally became available this year, a deal proved impossible to make as ABC was said to be unwilling to pay the high license fee needed to keep the veteran comedy series going. ABC also passed on picking up the cancelled CBS drama Ghost Whisperer, while TNT declined to extend the life of NBC’s Law & Order.
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Could they have thought of a worse title for a show?j
BRING IT back!!
Nooooo???!!! Really??? They’re letting go of the unfunny butt-biscuit of a show starring a kvetching and unfunny-without-Seinfeld-cohorts Julia Louis Dragface???
Der, that was a no brainer.
That’s a real shame. Dreyfus is one of the most talented comedic actresses of our time. The show has great writing, a fantastic supporting cast and was performing reasonably well.
And the Seinfeld curse continues…
i don’t think it still counts as a curse if a show gets 5 seasons and is syndicated.
Hardly a curse. Old Christine did very well- 5 seasons is pretty good, not to mention pretty good ratings, and oh yeah, an Emmy for Julia. ABC and CBS both just dropped the ball on it, in my opinion. Hopefully she gets a new gig soon.
I find it astonishing they would let that go! Instead they want to spend tons of money developing shows that won’t be good and the sure thing, that has a following, they cut loose! So short sighted and so stupid!
CBS cancels this show while giving more seasons to sitcoms like Rules of Engagement and Two and a Half Man (and handing Charlie Sheen his giant paycheck even with the accusations against him). Then ABC, after talking up their love for it multiple years running, pulls away when given the chance to stand by what they said.
Was the cost really that much greater than last year, guys? I know the ratings were only a little bit worse, and could have easily gone up if you’d actually promoted the show the way CBS never did. I wonder if you ever meant what you said. Oh, ratings machine. Karma’s a bitch, too, but at least it has good taste.
Julia, Seinfeld curse aside, should be fine, and Wanda can keep doing stand-up, but I really hope the supporting cast can find more work depsite never becomming huge names. The show lost some of it’s quality towards the end, but the actors were always top notch.
I’m sad for the crew. Not so sad for others on that series. They had a good run and be grateful for that.
It’s a shame that ABC didn’t buy “Christine” and put it in place of the Courteney Cox rip-off. “Christine” is everything “Cougar Town” isn’t – for instance, funny. As much as I enjoy Courteney Cox, she’s no Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Then again, who is.
As for a Seinfeld curse, Julia is the only one to beat it: “Christine” has run longer than “The Honeymooners,” as long as “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and one year less than “I Love Lucy.” Not bad at all.
Five seasons really flew by. But then again, I was busy laughing.
I completely agree.
I guess they’ll take her funny face photo montage down off the WB studio wall on Olive. Wonder what will go up there instead?
Out of curiosity, does anyone know of any examples of a TV program that switched networks, cut their budget considerably, and prospered creatively? The assumption is that shows in this position usually try to continue with the same game plan (only cheaper), and the magic goes away. But after a few decades if TV history, there should be some exceptions to that, I’d think. There should be some show where an actor blossomed or a character became fully realized only after the first cancellation. Or the writing became often quite exceptional, or something like that. At some point…
- – - – -
Come to think of it, if Law and Order isn’t picked up by a significant network now, here’s what *I* think they should do: Regroup for next year. In the meantime, take 3 or 4 unproduced inventory scrips (they gotta have ‘em) and re-work them as 1-hour live mystery dramas, and pitch the ‘season’ to PBS. If they’re worried about branding fallout for future use, they can use a different cast.
I bet if the L&O team spent a bit of time on a project like that, they could produce an enjoyable compelling 21st Century experience with a certain “Golded Age” quality. It could keep their season-streak alive and provide some learning experiences for everyone as well.
(But instead, they’d probably dos something like just import some of the British L&O episodes and dub them into American English.)
So ABC has been after this show for years now and as soon as they can get their hands on it, they don’t grab it? CHRISTINE has had pretty good ratings and a nice following. It would have fit perfectly in their Wednesday night comedy block and ABC would not have to waste money developing a new show to replace Kelsey Grammar’s terrible one that got canceled. Makes no sense to me.
If ABC was unwilling to pay the high licensing fee, couldn’t WB have lowered it? Wouldn’t people getting less money be better than them getting no money?
Always liked JLD and the other actors. But the stories, not so much. I stopped watching after awhile. I guess everyone else did, too.
Well the good thing is Wanda Sykes gets to do a comedy tour with two canceled shows.
As for Julia, well if you get depressed and decide to dump the hubby call me. But since we all know with your bubbly personality and ca- ching before and after Seinfield you will stay happily married and by next Spring will have a new TV series ( movies are so Friends cast). Let’s just call it
Julia- you can play a nurse and I know it will be better then MASH, let’s give you a son too, named Corey and neighbor pilot like in the Bob Newhart show. Premise- I work 12 hour shifts and cannot get a date over 40, but I ‘m still trying.
Sort of like Old Christine but with more sex jokes. You and the neighbor (male or female) like each other but can never seem to hook up ( The Mary Tyler Moore show-2010)
If they hadn’t gotten so political this year with immigration and healthcare – this wouldn’t have happened. I was a pretty loyal viewer until they started trying to jam their extreme liberal agenda on us… I watched the show to laugh not find out their politics… They will never learn..
This really sucks, I truthfully never thought that Christine was in jeopardy because even if CBS cancelled it, i thought that ABC would pick it up without question. Maybe that’s why CBS ultimately cancelled because ABC was no longer interested at the time.
It is such a shame, this is still one great comedic series that had so much more life in it — even worse is that even with its supposed low ratings — it still has higher ratings that anything that NBC has — Why wouldn’t NBC be interested in this show? Big bang is gonna blow away their nbc lineup.
This is such terrible news.
Christine — you will be missed. One of the most underappreciated sitcoms ever — so glad you got the emmy for Best actress for this show, Julia — and you deserve to get it again this year.
Julia should have done an Arrested Development spinoff starring her “blind” lawyer character.
Stupid CBS! Stupid ABC! This was a good a show with a great cast. It would have been a great addition to the MODERN FAMILY/MIDDLE/COUGAR TOWN night on ABC.
dumbasses!
A five-year run hardly qualifies as a “curse.” And when “Christine” debuted I didn’t think it would last six weeks.
Talent pricing has to play a role here too. For a lot of premium name-brand actors who made their bones 10, 20, 25 years ago, the TV economics just aren’t there anymore to support their putative price point. (The sole exception seems to be Charlie Sheen.)
People like Julia are going to have to choose between working for less or hanging out in Malibu.
CBS renewed Sheen because the show is one of the highest rated on tv. Pretty much third in the deo among scripted shows. Not at all comparable to Christine.
From a strictly business sense, this, unfortunately, makes sense. “Christine” really needs to get away from under the dysfunctional umbrella of WB Television. That whole company suffers terribly from ineffectual management in almost every operating center. IMHO, of course.
WB goes blind and deaf in a crisis. They won’t fight for their shows. It makes them look “weak” not smart in their minds. The only thing they’ve ever fought for was Charlie Sheen. Very old boy, very sexist. They use their “license fees” as the excuse for everything they are unwilling to accomplish.
It is so pathetic. Frustrating to work with the mentality over there.
Julia is a major talent who can do anything she wants.
5 years, 0 laughs. The show was unwatchable.
Never seen the show, but sad that it couldn’t find a new home for the fans.
CBS renewed Sheen because the show is one of the highest rated on tv. Pretty much third in the deo among scripted shows. Not at all comparable to Christine.