Fall TV: Samantha Who?

In a new ABC sitcom, Christina Applegate stars as Samantha Newly, a woman who has forgotten her whole life after being hit by a car. The show begins with Samantha voicing the thoughts in her head as she is in a coma. She notes the positive things, such as no fattening food and lots of rest, but notes the negatives, such as hearing what people have to say about you when they think you can't hear. Her mother (played by Jean Smart) defends Sam, saying that even if no one liked her, she's still her daughter. Mom is also videotaping the hospital scene, hoping to get on extreme makeover.

After eight days in a coma, Samantha awakens with a case a retrograde amnesia. Her loved ones are of course so happy when she awakens, only to realize that she has no idea who they are. They try to jog her memories; for example, they get her to kiss her live-in boyfriend, thinking that might spark her memory, but it only makes her uncomfortable. Her dad suggests electroshock and then is quickly shushed by her mother.

Samantha goes home with her parents. She tries to play the piano, realizing she can't after a brief disastrous attempt. Her mother tells her that she can just ask about some things. She is greeted by her best friend Andrea, who has to reintroduce herself. It is Andrea who tells her that she hasn't spoken to her parents for two years. Her mother of course thought that was best forgotten. When Sam tells her that she needs to know the truth about them and her relationship with them because they made her who she was, her mother takes it as an insult.

Sam goes to stay with her boyfriend Todd (played by Barry Watson), though she insists on sleeping on the couch. Actually, it's her apartment too, but of course she doesn't remember it and in fact goes to the wrong one at first, possibly causing a serious relationship problem for some other guy when she says she'll stay there. With his permission, she listens to some of his phone messages and finds out that his friends hated her. Then, Andrea calls her and convinces her to come to a party for her friend "Renee." She assumes that Renee is a girl, but finds out that it's actually "Rene" and that she was cheating on Todd with him. She is also told that Dina, the supposed friend who came to see her every day in the hospital, actually hadn't been her friend since they were in seventh grade, when Sam got popular and Dina didn't. Oh, and Andrea had neglected to tell her that she was an alcoholic. So she leaves the party, after already having a drink, to go to an AA meeting. She's kicked out of the AA meeting for behaving bizarrely.

She goes home to Todd and confesses to him that she had been cheating on him with Rene. She learns that Todd had actually broken up with her before the accident. Kicked out of her apartment, she is forced to go home to her parents.

This is a funny and rather unique sitcom. Jean Smart has some great lines. I am thinking it may not have longevity because there is only so much mileage you can get out of the amnesia factor. However, it's interesting and funny enough to be worth checking out.