Julia Louis-Dreyfus: 'Seinfeld' Cohorts May Visit 'Old Christine'

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, whose "The New Adventures of Old Christine" returns to the tube tonight (3/12), reveals that the hit sitcom might feature a guesting by one -- or more -- of her old "Seinfeld" buddies, if the right script comes along.  She has stayed in touch with Jerry, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards, and says, "I love 'em all."  She also says she was there for Richards when he made headlines after engaging in a highly publicized racial rant from a nitery stage last year. 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus: 'Seinfeld' Cohorts May Visit 'Old Christine'

"The whole thing was heartbreaking and very sad," she says of the Richards' tirade and adds, "I talked to him during that mess to offer my support."  Julia will soon be getting together with all three of her former sitcom cohorts to promote the DVD release of the final season of "Seinfeld." But right now she's concentrating on beating the drum for "Christine."

She says she's never worked as hard at promoting a show as she is now and notes, "We're launching a new time slot (8 to 9 tonight, followed by a weekly 8:30 positioning), and I want to make sure the audience comes along."

After a week filled with meetings with key members of the media -- and capped off by hosting "Saturday Night Live" -- Julia will start concentrating on an upcoming special gig. She'll be giving the commencement address at Northwestern University. At this point, she says, "I'm not sure what I'll be saying. It'll probably be more funny than serious ... ideally, comedy sprinkled with the serious on top."

MAN OF MANY FACES: Gregory Itzin, known to fans of "24" as treasonous former U.S. President Charles Logan, has been logging very non-Logan roles of late. He plays an ice cream store owner who moves in with one of his scoopers after his wife leaves him in the upcoming off-beat buddy flick "Float." And he's an FBI psychiatrist dealing with Lindsay Lohan in "I Know Who Killed Me" -- the film the troubled actress took leaves from rehab to complete.

"Fortunately for me, I managed to get my shooting done right before Christmas -- before Ms. Lohan had to go into rehab, and they all got a longer break than they wanted," Itzin says. "I'd go to work and things would be fine, and then I'd turn on the news and hear what a mess she was," he recalls. "I wasn't privy to breakdowns or other problems. We knew our words. We did our scenes." The Emmy and Tony-nominated actor and drama coach thinks highly of Lohan's capabilities as an actress, and notes, "She's a good listener, which I think is a cornerstone of good acting."

Itzin's on "24" tonight (3/12). He says he wasn't surprised by Logan's return to the scene because "I was in on how they could possibly do it. I sort of proposed a couple of things." Such as? "I thought, 'How about if we let Logan get a little Al Gore-ish on us?' Logan is not like Al Gore, of course, but you know, after Gore was defeated -- rightly or wrongly -- he went away to lick his wounds for a while and got a little dissolute, let his hair grow and put on some pounds, and he went back to his core ideology. In Gore's case, that's the environment. In Logan's, it's his being born again, his religious epiphany."

LAUGHING PLACE: Fresh from its showing at the U.S. Festival of Comedy Arts in Aspen, Colo., the short film "Certifiably Jonathan" is likely on its way to a wider audience, by way of the big screen or small, or both. Described as a "dadamentary," the film has the inimitable Jonathan Winters losing his sense of humor as he advances as a painter -- and includes observations from such Winters-influenced performers as Robin Williams, Tim Conway, Robert Klein, Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman and Winters' longtime pal Gary Owens. Funnyman Owens took time out from penning his latest tome, "Conversations With Gary," to tout the short with Winters for its Aspen showing. Gary's done upward of 15,000 celebrity interviews through the years, from which the radio and TV favorite says he's drawing his material. Rest assured, though, it won't be a simple collection of quotes. Or, as he puts it, it wouldn't be his "without a punchline."

FAMILY COMEDY: Comedian Damon Wayans tells us that with a family full of performers, everyone's always trying to one-up each other with jokes when they get together. But "It's a friendly competition," he notes. "Someone comes up with a premise, and you do the remix. It's embellishing. Someone says one thing that triggers a thought, and it's the same sense of humor with a different sensibility," says Wayans of their playing off one another. "It's just fun as opposed to sitting around not laughing and talking about drama." No wonder they enjoy working together.

(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster)