''My Own Worst Enemy'' is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

that aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

from October 13, 2008 and ended on December 15, after 9 episodes, with its cancellation announcement after the fourth episode.

Overview

The series was produced by

Universal Media Studios Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a predeces ...

Jason Smilovic Jason Smilovic is an American writer and executive producer, as well as the creator of the television series ''Karen Sisco'', ''Kidnapped'', '' My Own Worst Enemy'', and ''Condor''. He also wrote the film ''Lucky Number Slevin''. Smilovic gradua ...

was the executive producer;

David Semel David Semel is an American film and television director and producer. His television directing credits include ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'', '' Person of Interest'', '' Ally McBeal'', ''Boston Public'', '' 7th Heaven'', '' No Ordinary Fami ...

was the director and executive producer. The final episode ended with a cliff-hanger, and the major plot lines ended without resolution. The series followed the life of American

secret agent Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

Edward Albright and his

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

, Henry Spivey, who had no knowledge of his double life. Albright, played by

Christian Slater Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor and producer. He made his film debut with a leading role in ''The Legend of Billie Jean'' (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakthrough role as Jason "J.D." D ...

, was implanted with a chip allowing his handlers to physically switch Albright's personality to that of his cover. However, in the

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

, there was a malfunction which caused Albright's personalities to switch at random, revealing his secret life to his alias. Henry was then thrown into the highly dangerous life of Edward, with no real way for the two to communicate except through short cell phone video messages.

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

was a promotional sponsor of the show, and the then-new SUV model

Chevrolet Traverse The Chevrolet Traverse is a full-size crossover SUV with three-row seating built by General Motors. It is built on the same platform as the GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave, known as the Lambda platform for first generation, and the C1XX for seco ...

, along with the 2010

Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro share ...

, appeared as cars for the program's characters via a

product placement Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of th ...

agreement.

Characters

*Henry Spivey/Edward Albright (Both played by

) – Henry is a middle-class efficiency expert living a humdrum life in the suburbs with a wife, two kids, and a dog. Edward is an operative who speaks 13 languages, runs a four-minute mile, and is trained to kill. Henry and Edward are polar opposites who share only one thing in common—the same body. When the carefully constructed wall between them breaks down, Henry and Edward are thrust into unfamiliar territory where each man is dangerously out of his element. The first names match those of the two dueling spirits that shared a body in

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

's novella ''

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' is a 1886 Gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series of strange occurrences between his old ...

''. *Angie Spivey (played by

Mädchen Amick Mädchen Elaina Amick ( ; born December 12, 1970) is an American actress and television director. She is known for her starring role as Shelly Johnson on the television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991), its prequel film '' Twin Peaks: Fire ...

) – A

housewife A housewife (also known as a homemaker or a stay-at-home mother/mom/mum) is a woman whose role is running or managing her family's home—housekeeping, which includes caring for her children; cleaning and maintaining the home; making, buying an ...

who lives with her loving husband Henry Spivey and two children, Jack Spivey and Ruthy Spivey. *Ruthy Spivey (played by

Bella Thorne Annabella Avery Thorne (born October 8, 1997) is an American actress, singer, and writer. She first received recognition for her roles as Margaux Darling in the series ''Dirty Sexy Money'' (2007–2008) and as Ruthy Spivey in the drama series ...

) – Daughter and younger child of Henry and Angie Spivey. *Jack Spivey (played by

Taylor Lautner Taylor Daniel Lautner (; born February 11, 1992) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Therianthropy, shapeshifter Jacob Black in ''The Twilight Saga (film series), The Twilight Saga'' film series. Lautner began his acting caree ...

) – Son and older child of Henry and Angie Spivey. *Mavis Heller (played by

Alfre Woodard Alfre Woodard (; born November 8, 1952) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including four Primetime Emmy Awards (tying the record for the most acting Emmys won by an African-American performer, along with Regina King), ...

) – Edward's supervisor in the superspy organization. *Tom Grady/Raymond Carter (played by

Mike O'Malley Michael Edward O'Malley (born October 31, 1966) is an American actor, writer and producer. Born in Boston and raised in New Hampshire, O'Malley hosted the early 1990s children's game show '' Nickelodeon Guts'' before moving to Los Angeles later ...

) – Raymond Carter is a superspy partner with Edward Albright. Tom Grady is Henry Spivey's friend. *Dr. Norah Skinner (played by

Saffron Burrows Saffron Domini Burrows (born 22 October 1972) is an English actress and model who has appeared in films such as '' Circle of Friends,'' ''Wing Commander,'' '' Deep Blue Sea,'' ''Gangster No. 1,'' ''Enigma,'' ''Troy,'' ''Reign Over Me'' and ''The ...

) – Dr. Skinner is the company therapist who helps the employees. At the end of the third episode, it is discovered that she knows about Henry/Edward's secret and is currently carrying on an affair with Edward. *Alistair Trumbull (played by

James Cromwell James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American actor and activist. Some of his best-known films include ''Babe'' (1995), '' Star Trek: First Contact'' (1996), ''L.A. Confidential'' (1997), '' The Green Mile'' (1999), ''The Queen'' ...

) – Trumbull is the chief of operations for Project Janus. He is both cunning and devious, and he places very little faith in Edward's capabilities as he suspects he has broken.

Reception

The first online review of the series said the show was a "snappily written, fast-paced thriller that shows Slater can be a likable TV star." Another critic described the show as follows: "The real fun comes from watching Slater’s sly performance. Blending elements of Memento‘s "who the hell am I?" amnesia theme with the middle-class spy humor of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the actor presents a relatively subtle take on sexy killer Edward Albright, the agent who speaks 13 languages, drives a fast car and lives in a spartan loft stuffed with high-tech weaponry."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave the show a score of 61/100 based on 25 critic reviews.My Own Worst Enemy (NBC) - Reviews from Metacritic
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Episodes

DVD releases

The complete series was released to DVD on April 21, 2009.

References

External links

Official NBC website
*{{IMDb title, id=1217239 , title=My Own Worst Enemy 2000s American drama television series 2008 American television series debuts 2008 American television series endings American spy thriller television series English-language television shows Espionage television series NBC original programming Television series about families Television series by Universal Television