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''Samantha Who?'' is an American television
sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...
that originally aired on
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
from October 15, 2007, to July 23, 2009. The series was created by
Cecelia Ahern Cecelia Ahern (born 30 September 1981) is an Irish novelist, known for her works like '' PS, I Love You''; '' Where Rainbows End''; and '' If You Could See Me Now''. Born in Dublin, Ahern is now published in nearly fifty countries, and has sold ...
and Donald Todd, who also served as producers. Although highly rated during its first season, the sitcom lost viewers throughout its second season, and ABC canceled the show in May 2009 before the remaining seven episodes were burned off the 2008–09 TV schedule. The series was produced by
Brillstein Entertainment Partners Brillstein Entertainment Partners (formerly known as Brillstein/Grey Entertainment and Brillstein/Grey Communications) is a talent management firm and television production company formed by the 1986 addition of Brad Grey to The Brillstein Compan ...
and
ABC Studios ABC Signature was a production arm of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a sub-division of the Disney Entertainment business segment and division of The Walt Disney Company. The studio's ...
and executive produced by
Christina Applegate Christina Applegate (born November 25, 1971) is an American actress. With a career spanning five decades, her accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award, along with nominations for four Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award. After appearing in se ...
, Donald Todd, Peter Traugott, Bob Kushell, Alex Reid, and
Marco Pennette Marco Pennette (born July 9, 1966) is an American television writer and producer. Early life Pennette was born in Greenwich, Connecticut where he grew up loving theatre: "I want to go into theatre; TV sort of lured me away." He attended New Yor ...
.


Plot

The show centered on Samantha Newly (
Christina Applegate Christina Applegate (born November 25, 1971) is an American actress. With a career spanning five decades, her accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award, along with nominations for four Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award. After appearing in se ...
), a vice president of a real estate firm who develops
retrograde amnesia In neurology, retrograde amnesia (RA) is the inability to access memories or information from before an injury or disease occurred. RA differs from a similar condition called anterograde amnesia (AA), which is the inability to form new memories f ...
after a
hit and run In traffic laws, a hit and run or a hit-and-run is the criminal act of causing a traffic collision and not stopping afterwards. It is considered a supplemental crime in most jurisdictions. Additional obligation In many jurisdictions, there ma ...
accident. After awakening, she progressively realizes to her dismay that she had been selfish and unlikable before her accident, and therefore sets out to make amends and become a better daughter to her somewhat dysfunctional parents, Howard (
Kevin Dunn Kevin Dunn (born August 24, 1955) is an American character actor who has appeared in supporting roles in numerous films and television series since the 1980s. Dunn's roles include White House Communications Director Alan Reed in the political ...
) and Regina (
Jean Smart Jean Elizabeth Smart (born September 13, 1951) is an American actress. Jean Smart filmography, Her work includes both comedy and drama, and List of awards and nominations received by Jean Smart, her accolades include six Primetime Emmy Awards a ...
), a better friend to self-centered Andrea (
Jennifer Esposito Jennifer Esposito (born April 11, 1973) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in the feature films ''Summer of Sam'' (1999), ''Don't Say a Word'' (2001), ''The Master of Disguise'' (2002), ''Welcome to Collinwood'' (2002), ''Crash (2 ...
) and needy but well-meaning Dena (
Melissa McCarthy Melissa Ann McCarthy (born August 26, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Melissa McCarthy, numerous accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Award ...
), and a better on-again, off-again girlfriend to her roommate and ex-boyfriend, Todd ( Barry Watson). Wryly observing her transformation from "Old Sam" to "New Sam" is Samantha's bemused doorman, Frank (
Tim Russ Timothy Darrell Russ (born June 22, 1956) is an American actor, musician, screenwriter, director and amateur astronomer. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Commander Tuvok on '' Star Trek: Voyager'', Robert Johnson in '' Crossroads'' ...
).''Samantha Who?'' a
The Futon Critic
Retrieved June 13, 2007.


Production history

Produced by
ABC Studios ABC Signature was a production arm of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a sub-division of the Disney Entertainment business segment and division of The Walt Disney Company. The studio's ...
, Donald Todd Productions, and Brillstein-Grey Television, the series was officially
greenlit In the context of the film and television industries, to greenlight is to give permission to proceed with a project. It specifically refers to formally approving its production finance and committing to this financing, thereby allowing the project ...
and given a thirteen-episode order on May 11, 2007. The show was originally named ''Sam I Am'' until ABC renamed it ''Samantha Be Good'' due to conflicts with the estate of
Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel ( ;"Seuss"
'' TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...
'' later reported that
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
had changed the title of the series once more to ''Samantha Who?''. Early television promotions for the series, playing off of the concept of its lead character's amnesia, appeared without stating any specific title. The lack of stated title (with a question mark shown instead) was attributed in promotions to Applegate's character not remembering the name of the series. The series premiered on October 15, 2007, at 9:30PM Eastern/8:30PM Central and moved to 9:00PM Eastern/8:00PM Central on Mondays on November 26, 2007. On October 25, 2007, ABC ordered six additional scripts for ''Samantha Who?''. On October 30, 2007, ABC ordered a full season of 22 episodes for ''Samantha Who?''. However, due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, only 15 episodes were produced for season one. On February 11, 2008,
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
picked up ''Samantha Who?'' for the 2008–09 television season. On October 31, 2008, ABC ordered seven more episodes of ''Samantha Who?'' bringing the total number of episodes for the show's second season to 20. The announcement came in advance of mandated budget cuts at ABC Studios, which produces the series. The series, which was filmed in the
single-camera In filmmaking, television production and video production, the single-camera setup or single-camera mode of production (also known as portable single crew, portable single camera or single-cam) is a method in which all of the various shots and c ...
format, went on
hiatus Hiatus may refer to: * Hiatus (anatomy), a natural fissure in a structure * Hiatus (stratigraphy), a discontinuity in the age of strata in stratigraphy *''Hiatus'', a genus of picture-winged flies with sole member species '' Hiatus fulvipes'' * G ...
during the 2008–2009 television season and returned in a new timeslot on Thursday, March 26, 2009, following '' In the Motherhood'' before being pulled. On May 18, 2009, ABC announced that they would not be renewing ''Samantha Who?'' for a third season. ABC burned off the final episodes on Thursday nights at 8:00PM Eastern/7:00PM Central from June 25, 2009, until the finale on July 23, 2009 (with additional episodes airing Thursday, July 2 and Thursday, July 9 at 8:30PM Eastern/7:30PM Central).
Pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...
began rebroadcasting the series in September 2011.


Cast and characters

*
Christina Applegate Christina Applegate (born November 25, 1971) is an American actress. With a career spanning five decades, her accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award, along with nominations for four Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award. After appearing in se ...
as Samantha "Sam" Newly *
Jennifer Esposito Jennifer Esposito (born April 11, 1973) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in the feature films ''Summer of Sam'' (1999), ''Don't Say a Word'' (2001), ''The Master of Disguise'' (2002), ''Welcome to Collinwood'' (2002), ''Crash (2 ...
as Andrea Belladonna *
Kevin Dunn Kevin Dunn (born August 24, 1955) is an American character actor who has appeared in supporting roles in numerous films and television series since the 1980s. Dunn's roles include White House Communications Director Alan Reed in the political ...
as Howard Newly *
Melissa McCarthy Melissa Ann McCarthy (born August 26, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Melissa McCarthy, numerous accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Award ...
as Dena *
Tim Russ Timothy Darrell Russ (born June 22, 1956) is an American actor, musician, screenwriter, director and amateur astronomer. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Commander Tuvok on '' Star Trek: Voyager'', Robert Johnson in '' Crossroads'' ...
as Frank * Barry Watson as Todd Deepler *
Jean Smart Jean Elizabeth Smart (born September 13, 1951) is an American actress. Jean Smart filmography, Her work includes both comedy and drama, and List of awards and nominations received by Jean Smart, her accolades include six Primetime Emmy Awards a ...
as Regina Newly


Episodes


U.S. television ratings


Standard ratings

In the following summary, "
rating A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of a metric (e.g. quality, quantity, a combination of both,...). Rating or rating system may also refer to: Business and economics * Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness ...
" is the percentage of all households with televisions that tuned to the show, and " share" is the percentage of all televisions in use at that time that are tuned in. "18–49" is the percentage of all adults aged 18–49 tuned into the show. "Viewers" are the number of viewers, in millions, watching at the time. "Rank"; how well the show did compared to other TV shows aired that week. Unless otherwise cited, the overnight rating, share, 18–49 and viewing information come from ''Your Entertainment Now''. The weekly ranks come from ''ABC Medianet''. This episode started at 9:45PM, so the ratings are estimated and are the average of the 9:30 half-hour and the 10:00 half-hour. :*For the first six episodes of ''Samantha Who?'', the show held the title of highest rated
sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...
, a title which was held consistently by ''
Two and a Half Men Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn that aired on CBS for 12 seasons from September 22, 2003, to February 19, 2015. The series originally starred Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper, a hedonis ...
'' for the previous two television seasons. :*''Samantha Who?'' was, for its first seven episodes, the highest rated sitcom which debuted during the 2007–2008 television season. Without a strong lead-in (provided by ''
Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...
'' in its first season) and paired with another failing ABC comedy '' In the Motherhood'', the ratings for ''Samantha Who?'' dropped to lows of around 4 million in its second season.


Seasonal ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of ''Samantha Who?'' on ABC: Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September (sometimes in early October) and ends in late May, or occasionally early June, which coincides with the completion of May
sweeps Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...
.


Ratings competition

''Samantha Who?'' first aired against fellow freshmen show '' K-Ville'' on
FOX Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...
. It also aired against '' Rules of Engagement'' on
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
, ''
Heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...
'' on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
and '' The Game'' on
The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...
—each in their second season. This was for the first six episodes ''Samantha Who?'' aired at 9:30pm. On November 26, 2007, ''Samantha Who?'' shifted to the 9pm time slot. Its competition shifted from '' The Game'' to '' Girlfriends'' on
The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...
and from '' Rules of Engagement'' to ''
Two and a Half Men Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn that aired on CBS for 12 seasons from September 22, 2003, to February 19, 2015. The series originally starred Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper, a hedonis ...
'' on
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
. Sophomore sitcom ''
Notes from the Underbelly ''Notes from the Underbelly'' is an American sitcom that was aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from 2007 to 2008, originally debuting as a mid-season replacement. The series is based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Risa Green, and ...
'' assumed the 9:30pm position.


DVD releases

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment) is the home entertainment distribution arm of the Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, a ...
released the entire series on DVD in Region 1. They also released season 1 on DVD in Region 2 & Region 4 (Australia). Both seasons contain several special features including bloopers and deleted scenes. The Region 1 releases have been discontinued and are out of print. On February 9, 2012, it was announced that
Lionsgate Home Entertainment Lionsgate Studios Corp. (simply known as Lionsgate Studios) is a Canadian-American film and television production and distribution conglomerate, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, and primarily based in Santa Monica, California. It was f ...
had acquired the rights to the series and plan on re-releasing it. Seasons 1 and 2 were re-released on May 1, 2012.


Awards and nominations


Broadcast

In the United Kingdom the series was broadcast on E4 and
Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...
. The series aired in Ireland on
TG4 TG4 (; , ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was initially known as (TnaG), before bein ...
. In New Zealand the series ran on TV 2, and in Australia the series aired on
Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...
and 7Two. The series later reran on
Pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...
and currently reruns in
Logo TV Logo TV (often shortened to Logo, and stylized as Logo.) is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Media Networks, a division of Paramount Global. Launched in 2005, Logo was originally dedicated to lifestyle and entertainment progra ...
.


References


External links

* *http://insidetv.ew.com/2008/12/05/florence-hender/ {{People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Comedy 2007 American television series debuts 2009 American television series endings 2000s American romantic comedy television series 2000s American single-camera sitcoms Fiction about amnesia American English-language television shows Primetime Emmy Award–winning television series Television series by ABC Studios Television shows set in Illinois Works by Cecilia Ahern American Broadcasting Company sitcoms