Who do you think you are?
Television
is never one to let reality get in the way of a good comedy -
and nowhere is that more evident than in Seven’s likeable
new series, Samantha Who.
I mean, who gets run down by a car and suffers a
head injury causing a multi-day coma and not have a scratch on
them, much less lingering pain from the trauma? Still, this is
a sit-com in the classic mould, and the humour comes from the
show’s time-tested (but perhaps medically dubious) premise
that the title character is suffering from amnesia following her
run-in with vehicular danger. So, let’s move on people;
and not worry too much about little details like plausibility.
The show is the TV comeback vehicle for Christina
Applegate, who’s been doing movies for a few years now.
She seems very comfortable in the role, which I guess is a pretty
much a grown-up and successful (financially, at least) version
of her character on Married… with Children all
those years ago.
Samantha – having woken from her coma –
finds that she has no memory of her former life. She doesn’t
know who she is, or what has happened to her to this point. She
doesn’t recognise her parents (Jean Smart and Kevin Dunn);
her best friend Andrea (Jennifer Esposito) or her boyfriend Todd
(Barry Watson). And she certainly doesn’t realise that Dena
(Melissa McCarthy), who turns up claiming to be her friend in
fact hasn’t seen her since primary school. It seems that
not only has the head knock wiped her memory, but it’s re-set
her moral compass as well, as she’s shocked to discover
that before the accident, she was a “bad girl”.
The old amnesia ploy is a stock-standard writer’s
tool; but the series manages to breathe some new life into it.
The whole wipe-the-slate-clean scenario is a neat set-up for some
pretty good laughs as Samantha struggles to come to terms with
who she is – and perhaps more tellingly, who she was. There’s
a bit of a yin-and-yang, light-and-dark thing going on here, played
out via the supporting characters of Andrea and Dena. While it’s
a pretty obvious device, Andrea provides glimpses into Samantha’s
dark side, and Dena plays on her more “gentle” side;
even if Dena is a slightly scary character in her own right.
What
makes this tick isn’t the hackneyed base idea, but the zippy
writing that keeps the gags coming thick and fast. It’s
fairly mindless stuff, but on a Sunday night, with a new work
week looming, many will be well pleased to slip the ol’
brain into neutral and enjoy the show’s kookiness. It’s
all a bit screwball comedy, and I sometimes question whether the
whole show is a politically correct disguise for a series of blonde
jokes.
Christina Applegate certainly holds the show together,
and it would be difficult to see it flying without someone like
her in the lead role. She’s not really called upon to do
a lot of emoting, but the part requires expert coming timing,
and Applegate has that in spades. Jennifer Esposito and Melissa
McCarthy seem to have a lot of fun as the duelling friends; but
Barry Watson seems to be there primarily as window-dressing. Kevin
Dunn and Jean Smart manage to forge some great moments as Samantha’s
rather manic parents.
Samantha Who won’t be the greatest
show on TV this year, but it’s a pleasant enough diversion
in an undemanding timeslot. Whether it can survive next to Seven’s
marquee comedy Ugly Betty on Sunday nights remains to
be seen; but it’s good to see Applegate back in form. This
is largely inoffensive comic fare that has its share of funny
moments, and for that at least, we should probably be grateful.
Phil James
