Blair Times Three

Blair Underwood is in three TV roles. Three? Three at once? Why it's a full-fledged trend! He's Simon Elder on "Dirty Sexy Money," Mr. Harris on "The New Adventures of Old Christine," and Alex in HBO's forthcoming "In Treatment."

His strangest turn is on "Old Christine," which is back with new episodes on Feb. 4. He pretty much plays a hunk of manmeat, a nice teacher who all the school moms have a crush on. The strange part about his character is that he's so smitten with Christine. He thinks all her flaws -- her narcissism, her inappropriateness, her falsity -- are just adorable. Go figure. I guess that's part of the joke.

But I have grown quite fond of "Old Christine," even though it is so stubbornly conventional -- punchline, laughter, punchline, laughter. Julia Louis-Dreyfus makes it all work, as far as I'm concerned. Her Christine has a comic cruel streak like Elaine Benes in "Seinfeld," but she's also extremely insecure. In fact, she's perversely absorbed by her own insecurities -- the kind of person who's very funny to watch FROM AFAR. Louis-Dreyfus has great chemistry with the ensemble, too, notably Hamish Linklater as her ever-traumatized brother, Clark Gregg as her everpresent ex, and Wanda Sykes as her everspikey friend, most appropriately named Barb.