Samantha Who?: The Complete First Season

Customer Reviews

I LOVE THIS SHOW

WHO is funny!

samantha who

Sweet Christina

Funny and original

A. Gammill 2008-10-13

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

As a lifelong t.v. fan, I just don't know what we did before shows were available in complete seasons on DVD. Like a lot of people, I missed SAMANTHA WHO? during its initial run. And thanks to DVD, I can now rectify that mistake.

The premise is simple enough: After waking from an 8-day coma with retrograde amnesia, a woman (the often-underrated Christina Applegate) sets about finding who she is. But the catch is that, who she WAS before her accident was not a nice person. At all. With the at-times dubious support of her family and friends, Samantha sets out to become a better person with the second chance she's been given.

Like I said, simple enough. But the writers don't use amnesia as a cop-out for cheap laughs (an early episode makes an in-joke to this effect, referring to amnesia as a tool for "lazy writers"). It is instead used to illuminate the human condition, albeit with some very funny stumbles along the way. When Samantha starts having flashbacks to what will aptly become known as "bad Sam," Applegate really gets to open up. As funny and innocent as she plays Sam in the present, the Sam of the past is a complete 180 turn into an evil, mean-spirited, backstabbing opportunist.

It's an addicting journey (again with the DVD sets...I watched the entire series in 2 days) that's both funny and real. It's not perfect, though, and the latter half of this abbreviated (15 episodes) season seems a bit unfocused. Still, Applegate--who also serves as a producer on the show--surrounds herself with an equally-adept cast, including Jean Smart, Melissa McCarthy and the somewhat underutilized Tim Russ as Samantha's sage, dry-witted doorman.

The only extra features are a far-too-brief montage of outtakes, and some deleted scenes. But there's a nice foldout booklet included, in which the various characters offer advice to Samantha.

The best thing about this season one set is that it made me a fan, hungry for the next season of Samantha's story. There's not that many sitcoms out there these days, and even fewer that one could call original. But SAMANTHA WHO? is quite refreshing. I know I won't forget to watch it now. Ha ha...won't forget, did you see what I did there?

Buena Vista Home Entertainment

tbd, Samantha Who?

10 reviews

release date: 2008-09-23

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Product Description

UPC: 786936754261
DESCRIPTION: What if you had the chance to start over, to do it all again? For Samantha Newly, this fantasy becomes a reality after a hit and run accident leaves her in an eight day coma. When she awakens in the hospital, she is surrounded by family and friends. The only problem is that she has no idea who they are or who she is. In medical terms, Sam has retrograde amnesia, which allows her to fully function in the world but leaves her with no personal memories. Most people would deem this disorder a curse. But Sam may come to call it a miracle. As she sets out to rediscover herself, Sam is forced to rely on the only people who can help her an eclectic bunch of friends and family. Although now strangers to Sam, it s not long before she begins to get an idea of who she was before the accident. END

Amazon.com

An ingenious and funny sitcom, Samantha Who? stars Christina Applegate as a selfish and crass businesswoman who gets amnesia during a car accident. Getting acquainted with her old life, Samantha receives a second chance at being a decent and thoughtful friend and daughter, but often stumbles in her strained efforts to be a force for good. Applegate's Samantha is initially shocked at her pre-amnesia reputation for cruelty, random displays of power, meanspiritedness to co-workers, a lack of compassion for her boyfriend Todd (Barry Watson), and brutality toward a childhood friend, Dena (Melissa McCarthy). More than any of that, however, Samantha is pained by her apparent, longtime estrangement from her mother (Jean Smart) and father (Kevin Dunn), wondering how on Earth she could have done without them in her life.

The first 10 or so episodes of Samantha Who? find the new-and-improved heroine trying hard to capitalize on a different personality and perspective on things. She apologizes for old slights and unintentional, new mistakes, and leaves a lot of goodwill and some confusion in her wake. But with time and flashes of remembrance of her old life, Samantha slowly becomes a hybrid of her new sweetness and vintage schemer. Both devil and angel, she becomes a more balanced survivor and pretty funny character. The show's creators and writers give the superb cast great material and lines on the theme of rampant dissatisfaction in relationships and hope for the future. The scenes between Applegate and Smart, especially, are the stuff of an instant classic. The second half of Samantha Who: The Complete First Season loses a bit of steam, generating a little less laughter, though story ideas are still fresh and original. But on the whole, this is a series to embrace. --Tom Keogh