Christina Applegate (Married, with Children) is wonderful as the title character. She displays a level of talent, maturity and humor that wasn’t evident in her previous work. It’s obvious from the first few minutes of the series’ pilot that Applegate enjoys playing Samantha Newly. Applegate’s body language and facial expressions give her character a vivacity that is fun to watch. It’s easy to see why she was nominated for an Emmy for this role.
Hit by a car, Samantha awakens to find her mother, Regina (Jean Smart), standing 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 paid much attention to her, 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). She assumes she’ll be living with him, but it seems they’re on the outs because she was also seeing a guy named Rene (William Abadie) on occasion. It seems Samantha led a pretty interesting life before the accident.
As Samantha uncovers displeasing evidence of her former self, she is confronted with the chance to face head on the tenor of her past. Dramatically, the concept is ripe with possibilities but, intriguingly enough, it satisfies quite nicely as a less than traditional sitcom in an age where ‘sitcoms’ are becoming rare. Some of the usual conventions are here; friction among former lovers, selfish friends, oddball family members and a lead with a penchant for getting herself into socially uncomfortable positions. Christina Applegate and her fellow cast members are able to take these different situations that are otherwise fairly standard sitcom fair and make them fresh. This is due in part to the series’ unique idea to have the main character suffer from amnesia and the talented cast.
A great cast, unique premise and strong writing set Samantha Who? apart from a majority of the sitcoms currently on the air. Christina Applegate is a wonderful; talent who make every episode of the series a worthwhile viewing experience. Samantha Who? – The Complete First Season offers all fifteen episodes of the series first season, and is worth a look for any fan of sitcom television.
Samantha Who? – The Complete First Season is presented in widescreen format (1.78:1) and enhanced for widescreen televisions. With a reasonable sharpness and an appropriate bright tone, the image quality on this season one DVD release is good but not great. There is a level of graininess that I haven’t seen in other recently released ABC titles. The colors are bright, but if your one to see such things, you’ll notice some bleeding around the edges.
The audio is available in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.
Samantha Who? – The Complete First Season has some fairly standard special features:
• Audio Commentary for ‘Pilot Episode’ by the Show’s Producers and Christina Applegate – This is a lighthearted commentary track from two producers and lead star. It’s packed with comments, sometimes everyone talking at the same time, but the information shared is good and the participants clearly are enjoying themselves.
• Samantha Whoops? – Blooper Reel (1:09) – Flubs, giggles.
• Deleted Scenes – Seven deleted scenes from the 15 episodes of season one, available with optional introduction by series executive producer Donald Todd.
