Creator: Kari Lizer. CBS. Half-hour sitcom, 2006-2010
courtesy flowtv.com
The New Adventures of Old Christine is a sitcom about ‘Christine,’ a divorced single mom played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. In the second season Christine falls in love with and starts dating Daniel Harris (the wonderful Blaire Underwood) – making this one of a very few sitcoms at the time to include a recurring interracial relationship. But our favorite blended relationship on the show is that of Christine and her best friend Barb, played by the hilarious Wanda Sykes. In this counter-hegemonic relationship, it is Barb who is wise and tolerant, and Christine who is righteously liberal and ignorantly racist. In episode #48 “White Like Me,” when Barb invites a number of ‘Black’ women to the gym they co-own, Christine excuses her obvious anxiety saying, “I’m not a racist. I drive a Prius.” Barb’s honest-till-it-hurts responses, and the patience she displays in this cross-cultural relationship force Christine, and the viewer, to think twice about their own (mis)understandings of ‘race.’ You can catch episodes on Lifetime. Let us know what you think! http://www.tv.com/shows/the-new-adventures-of-old-christine/