Samantha Who?
ABC | Release Date: October 15, 2007
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
9
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
L.A. WeeklyRobert Abele
Season 1 Review: Beyond its title, I have no quibble with this well-made, sly, heartwarming and at times giddily funny show. Read full review
80
The New York TimesGinia Bellafante
Season 1 Review: The show works because Ms. Applegate is the kind of comic actress who could never be completely believable as a goody-two-shoes. She puts a healthy ironic distance between herself and that dreaded entity, the better person her character must become. You look in her eyes, and, happily, you see a recidivist. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd
Season 1 Review: Samantha Who? is as perfectly realized a comedy as the fall has to offer. Read full review
80
Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker
Season 1 Review: The show employs a terrific cast and runs with a promising premise. Read full review
80
Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin
Season 1 Review: Samantha Who? is not only a sitcom but a pungently funny one about self-discovery, reinvention and the possibility that beauty may be only skin-deep, but bitch goes right down to the bone. Read full review
80
NewsdayDiane Werts
Season 1 Review: Samantha Who? which is not nearly as cool a title, but still a sparkling comedy that treats its viewers as--gasp!--actual grown-ups. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf Smith
Season 1 Review: It's a bit old-fashioned, which in today's TV universe makes it seem light and fresh--like the entrancing Ms. Applegate herself. Read full review
75
USA TodayRobert Bianco
Season 1 Review: Convincing both as the terrible woman she used to be and the nicer woman she's trying to be, Applegate holds the character together even when she's yelping or collapsing in a dither--though in the long run, less of that would be more. Read full review
75
Detroit Free PressMike Duffy
Season 1 Review: It's actually good ... and genuinely funny. Read full review
70
Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart
Season 1 Review: Samantha Who? actually gets better as it goes along. There’s a lot of table-setting in this first episode, but I found myself enjoying a later episode, and Applegate is a big reason why. Read full review
70
Baltimore SunTim Swift
Season 1 Review: The clever conceit is mostly successful in the series' opening episodes. But having it both ways has its costs, making Samantha smart and serendipitous, but never truly great. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley
Season 1 Review: Samantha Who? plays the discovery parts nicely. The question for this show, as it gets a few episodes in, is a trickier one: Once Sam starts recognizing everything and everyone around her, and makes the necessary adjustments, what's left? Read full review
63
New York PostAdam Buckman
Season 1 Review: As appealing as Applegate is, the show itself struggles to produce laughs. Read full review
60
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray
Season 1 Review: Samantha Who? could easily be a complete mess. That it isn't is almost entirely due to Applegate, who brings sweetness, sarcasm and a steely edge to this story of a woman doing everything she can not to become the person she's always been. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron
Season 1 Review: Samantha leaps from place to place as if its rapid pace could conceal the bumpy story line or at least suppress the observation that none of this makes much sense. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesDoug Elfman
Season 1 Review: Samantha is more of a smiler than a laugher. That's fine. But the comedy straddles straight-up storytelling with clumsy moments of broad comedy (no insulting pun intended). Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman
Season 1 Review: Applegate is charming, adorable and funny. But she's going to need that plus a car battery or a purposeful dip in the bathtub with a hair dryer to get much spark into this series. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm
Season 1 Review: Samantha will battle against past unremembered sins, as the writers battle to bring their scripts up to Applegate's talents. Read full review
40
Seattle Post-IntelligencerMelanie McFarland
Season 1 Review: The only person with untainted clues as to the person Samantha really was is the doorman to her apartment building, Frank (Tim Russ), and the combination of all these factors creates a premiere that is as pathetic as it is occasionally funny. Read full review
40
VarietyBrian Lowry
Season 1 Review: As is, though, the series seeks a tone of whimsy and settles for irritating, leaving Applegate to look perpetually baffled and perhaps longing for the subtlety of "Married ... With Children," without doing much to humanize her character. Read full review
40
Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall
Season 1 Review: Samantha Who? isn't remotely as bad as the worst of this season's rookie class ("Cavemen," "Big Shots," CBS' upcoming "Viva Laughlin"), but it's ultimately forgettable in a way that a show about an amnesiac would probably want to avoid. Read full review
40
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
Season 1 Review: But like so many other shows in recent years, this concept would work better as a one-shot movie than as a weekly series. Read full review
30
Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan
Season 1 Review: The jokes that spring from that laborious setup aren’t all that funny. Read full review
30
Washington PostTom Shales
Season 1 Review: The two Samanthas are simply irritating and hyper in different ways, and don't add up to one complete, compelling kook. Read full review
30
Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert
Season 1 Review: Halfway through the premiere, the basis for the entire show is already worn thin. Read full review
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