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PEARSON: Forget premise, 'Samantha' works

Published October 15, 2007 at midnight

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Prime choice

Samantha Who?

• When and where: 8:30 tonight, KMGH-Channel 7

Here's a lesson in never judging a show by its press release.

When word arrived in early summer that Christina Applegate (Married with Children) was returning to series television in a sitcom about an amnesiac trying to rebuild her life, I, among others, scoffed. Could the idea be any sillier?

Now Samantha Who? arrives, and the surprises are mostly pleasant.

The series opens with Samantha Newly (Applegate) awakening from a coma after being hit by a car. She doesn't recognize anyone around her hospital bed, including her cloying parents (Jean Smart and Howard Dunn), her so-called best friend (Melissa McCarthy) or live-in boyfriend Todd (Barry Watson).

Things get worse as the blanks in her life fill in. It turns out she hasn't spoken to her parents in two years, she and Todd broke up right before the accident, and she's a vice president at a shady real estate company.

Worst of all, someone intentionally tried to run her down. It seems Samantha is a universally hated woman. (She has flashbacks to her nastier self.)

She vows to start anew and be kinder to people. Alas, her old ugliness emerges at the oddest times.

OK, so the premise is far-fetched, but Applegate's likable perkiness, keen supporting performances from Smart and Watson and sharp writing make the premiere episode winning.

Can it keep up the enjoyable charade? Who knows, but out of the gate it's already better than it has a right to be.

Tuesday

Frontline

The show: Cheney's Law, the 26th-season opener of this PBS show, examines how, after 9/11, Vice President Dick Cheney and others in the Bush administration have pushed to expand the power of the presidency. Included: comments from former Assistant Attorney General Jack L. Goldsmith and former Justice Department attorney Marty Lederman.

Wednesday

Storm Chasers

• 8 p.m., Discovery Channel

The show: Each spring, across 700,000 square miles of mid-America flatlands, changing weather patterns and colliding air masses create a recipe for disaster. It's also a rite of spring for scientists and storm chasers who flock in hopes of piercing a tornado. Discovery transports viewers to Tornado Alley in the new series Storm Chasers. It joins research meteorologist Josh Wurman, who, from the turret of his self-designed Tornado Intercept Vehicle, drives into a deadly twister.

Thursday

Run Granny Run

• 7 p.m., HBO

The show: At 89, Doris Haddock walked 3,200 miles across the country to draw attention to campaign- finance reform. At 94, she waged a quixotic campaign for U.S. Senate. Run Granny Run depicts Haddock's 2004 decision - with no money and no campaign experience - to go from an activist for voter registration to actively seeking votes in a campaign against powerful incumbent Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.).

Friday

The Next Great American Band

• 7 p.m., Fox-31

The show: The producers of American Idol offer this battle of the bands that has the potential to be as entertaining as its smash-hit predecessor. It could prove far more musically interesting, if a half-hour highlights preview for critics is any indication: a rousing rock version of the gospel standard This Little Light of Mine. A dozen-strong big band offers a plush rendition of I'm a Believer. And there's Bluegrass goth.

Saturday

Endurance: Fiji

• 9:30 p.m., Discovery Kids

The show: In an episode called Memory Race, the 12 players compete to determine who their partners will be. Tune in to see if Highlands Ranch teen Jackie Wei defied elimination.

Sunday

Masterpiece Theatre

• 9 p.m., KRMA-Channel 6

The show: The 37th season begins with Part 1 of the five-part Amazing Mrs. Pritchard, the story of a British supermarket manager (Jane Horrocks) who, fed up with politicians, decides to run for parliament - and winds up prime minister. Kind of like the fantasy scenario of Run Granny Run (see Thursday).



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