Applegate turns in an Emmy-worthy performance as a lovable amnesiac out to reclaim her life.
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His name is Earl. Her name is Samantha. Or so they tell her.
ABC's answer to the popular "My Name is Earl" is "Samantha Who?", a situation comedy about a young woman who wakes from an eight-day coma to discover that she has absolutely no recollection of who she is or how many people she's trod upon in her thirty-some years. Every day is a revelation, and what she discovers about herself isn't pretty. "I did that?" becomes a refrain that ends up driving Samantha to see her amnesia as a positive thing, a chance for a "do-over," like Earl. Only instead of a list of those she's wronged that she has to make good on, it's a gradual revealing of her past and the people from her past that gives her the chance to make amends . . . or not. Traces of the old Sam slip out, which raises the question, can a leopard really change its spots? Can the new Samantha be the good person inside that she would rather be?
Christina Applegate ("Married, with Children") takes her acting to a whole new level as the title character, displaying a maturity and range that's just plain fun to watch. Her facial expressions, her body language, and the modulation of her voice provide nuances of character that I hadn't seen before.
Applegate received an Emmy nomination for her role, but she's got some pretty stiff competition for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: Tina Fey ("30 Rock"), America Ferrera ("Ugly Betty"), Mary-Louise Parker ("Weeds"), and Julia Louis-Dreyfus ("The New Adventures of Old Christine"). I can't predict who will win tonight, but I can tell you with confidence that Applegate belongs in this company and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if she won. That she was able to shed the broad comedic style she developed during the "Married with Children" years (1987-97) is nothing short of miraculous. In a way, "Samantha Who?" is her second chance, and she makes the most of it.
A hit-and-run victim, Samantha snaps out of her coma to find her sarcastic mother, Regina (Jean Smart), hovering over her for the first time in years--though, of course, Samantha assumes they have a normal, loving relationship. Her wisecracking dad, Howard (Kevin Dunn), never gave her the attention she craved, but she doesn't know that either. She's surprised to learn that she had a live-in photographer boyfriend named Todd (Barry Watson), whom she cheated on with a married man (Timothy Olyphant as Winston Funk). Though she assumes they're going to live together still, it turns out that they're estranged now, because Sam led quite the life before that nasty whack on the head. She finds out that she was also having an off-again-on-again thing with a guy named Rene (William Abadie)--well, at least she's not bisexual.
Like the old cartoon that had poor confused Pluto influenced by a good angel whispering in one ear and a little devil trying to get his other ear, Samantha finds herself befriended by two women. One of them was her best friend from childhood whom Samantha jettisoned after Dena (Melissa McCarthy) gained weight and wasn't nearly as "cool." Though she hasn't seen her since then, Dena's wanting to reconnect, and she turns up at the hospital after hearing about Samantha's accident. Dena is a "good girl" who, of course, can only reconnect with her old friend if her old friend turns over a new leaf. Rasping away at her other ear is Andrea (Jennifer Esposito), a colleague from the real-estate firm she works at who loves to party as much as she does . . . did . . . might still. Andrea just wants her friend to snap out of it and get back to her old, trendy, lascivious self. What makes the show fascinating, apart from Applegate's winning performance and the "do-over" chance that she gets, is the whole underlying idea that drives this premise: nature versus nurture. Can a leopard change its spots? Anyone who's ever had friends try to influence them will identify with this show.
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