A “Seinfeld” alumna has actually come up with an enjoyable starring vehicle.

Get out!

No, it’s true. Julia Louis-Dreyfus shines in her new sitcom, “Watching Ellie,” which premieres at 8:30 tonight on NBC.

Louis-Dreyfus must have learned something from the shockingly bad series of her former cohorts Michael Richards and Jason Alexander. First, she put her show in the hands of her talented husband, Brad Hall (“Saturday Night Live,” “Brooklyn Bridge”).

Second, unlike Richards and Alexander, she knew enough not to reincarnate Elaine as a new character, although she did choose a similar name. In “Watching Ellie,” she plays club singer Ellie Riggs, a single woman living in Los Angeles.

Ellie doesn’t have her life together, not by a long shot. She’s had a string of loser boyfriends (one is a series regular), and is involved with the married Brit guitarist in her band. She lives in a broken-down apartment building, the Swedish superintendent of which is in love with her. Her main confi-

dante is her married younger sister, whom she regularly talks with by phone in split-screen.

“Watching Ellie” is well-cast with indie-film actors, including Lauren Bowles (“Ghost World”) as her sister, Peter Stormare (“Chocolat,” “Fargo”) as super Ingvar and Darren Boyd (“Smack the Pony”) as her guitar-playing beau. This is an inventive cast, and that shows in the finished product.

Intriguingly, the series is shot in real time, capturing 22 minutes of Ellie’s life on a given day. Fortunately, Hall and Louis-Dreyfus have chosen to focus on the frantic moments rather than Ellie painting her nails, so the concept works.

“Watching Ellie” isn’t a finished product yet, as the supporting characters need to be better developed. But it shows immense promise. Remember, no one thought “The Seinfeld Chronicles” would last, either.