‘Captain’ boosts lineup, but only slightly

Monday night on CBS has long meant comedy.

That continues this winter, despite the writers strike.

Thankfully, Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ delightful “The New Adventures of Old Christine” returns at 9:30 tonight, replacing the Neanderthals on “Rules of Engagement.” Consider that a definite upgrade.

Also tonight, the new sitcom “Welcome to the Captain” joins the schedule at 8:30.

“Welcome to the Captain” follows the misadventures of Josh Flug (played by Fran Kranz), a screenwriter whose career has come off the fast track. He’s about to move back to New York when his accountant-to-the-stars best friend Marty convinces him to move into his legendary apartment building, the El Capitan.

He soon meets the offbeat residents: Uncle Saul (Jeffrey Tambor), a former “Three’s Company” writer who is the building’s expert on everything; aging sex kitten Charlene (Raquel Welch); gossipy doorman Jesus (Al Madrigal) and young actress Astrid (Valerie Azlynn).

Josh also encounters and falls for Hope (Joanna Garcia), an aspiring acupuncturist who enlists him as her practice patient. Josh decides that “The Captain” is just the fresh start he needs for his writing.

As Josh, Franz is the straight man around whom the lunacy revolves. At the heart of this are sitcom veteran Tambor, so good in “Arrested Development” and “The Larry Sanders Show,” and stand-up comic Madrigal, who play the apartment building’s busybodies.

Still “Welcome to the Captain” is the weak sister of CBS’s Monday lineup. It’s an improvement on the show it replaces, the comedic black hole “The Big Bang Theory,” but that’s truly damning with faint praise.