TV
2009-10 Midseason
2009 Fall Season
2009 Summer Season
2008-09 Midseason
2008 Fall Season
2008 Summer Season
Best Of 2009
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Recent/Upcoming
Movies & Specials
84
Temple Grandin
HBO, 2/6
83
Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America
VH1, 2/6
52
A Family Is a Family Is a Family: A Rosie O'Donnell Celebration
HBO, 1/31
40
Live for the Moment
CBS, 1/28
38
The Pregnancy Pact
Lifetime, 1/23
76
Return to Cranford
PBS, 1/10
64
The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special: In 3-D! On Ice!
Fox, 1/10
Recent/Upcoming
Series Premieres
44
Past Life
Fox,
Tuesday
56
Celebrity Fit Club: Boot Camp Season Seven
VH1,
Monday
59
Undercover Boss
CBS,
Sunday
44
The Michael Vick Project
BET,
Tuesday
44
Kell on Eath
Bravo,
Monday
82
Damages Season Three
FX,
Monday
60
La La Land
Showtime,
Monday
72
The Inbetweeners
BBC America,
Monday
77
Emma
PBS,
Sunday
71
Caprica
Syfy,
Friday
54
Spartacus: Blood and Sand
Starz,
Friday
40
The Deep End
ABC,
67
24 Seaon Eight
Fox,
Monday
70
Human Target
Fox,
Wednesday
78
Archer
FX,
Thursday
70
Big Love Season Four
HBO,
Sunday
73
Chuck Season Three
NBC,
Monday
51
Demons
BBC America,
Saturday
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed shows.
My Own Worst Enemy
EMAILPRINTSERIES: NBC, Monday 10:00p (60 minutes)

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 47 votes
Read user comments
Rate this show >
Show Info
Genre(s): Action / Adventure, Drama
Created By: Jason Smilovic
First Air Date: October 13, 2008
Summary
Starring Christian Slater, Mike O'Malley, Saffron Burrows, Alfre Woodard, and Madchen Amick
Harry lives the stereotypical suburban life, but he also is Edward, a trained spy. The worlds start to merge as the carefully constructed wall between the two breaks down.
Episode Guide & More Info: More about this show at TV.com
Also On The Web: Official Show Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
NewsdayVerne Gay
Far, far, far and away NBC's best new pilot of the season and one of the best new shows of the season, on any network -- commercial or cable.
Read Full Review >Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin
My Own Worst Enemy is by far the best drama of the fall season, a bold and brainy spy thriller that practices a sort of armed existentialism.
Read Full Review >New York PostLinda Stasi
The action is pretty non-stop, the stars terrific and, if you're willing to do the work to follow the complicated plot, the show can be lots of fun.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-TimesAndrew Herrmann
If you can buy into the fantasy, Slater delivers on his part of the deal, playing both characters with just enough unique quirks so viewers can tell them apart. Usually.
Read Full Review >Hollywood ReporterRay Richmond
My Own Worst Enemy holds our interest despite its utter preposterousness because if there is anything Slater knows how to do, it's present a believable head case.
Read Full Review >Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
My Own Worst Enemy sets up what could be an overly complicated premise and miraculously makes it all seem perfectly acceptable and clear by the end of the first hour.
Read Full Review >The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley
Worst Enemy has a convoluted premise that is cleverly wrought and holds up well, and Mr. Slater does a remarkable job of only subtly signaling each personality
Read Full Review >Los Angeles TimesMary McNamara
[Christian] is in rare form here. Which is a good thing since the show's success or failure rests solely on his dramatic agility and general appeal.
Read Full Review >SalonHeather Havrilesky
While you do have to wonder where the show will go from here, since it has the plot of a two-hour movie, not a 20-hour series, it has the benefit of being far more original and unpredictable than 90 percent of the new shows to hit the airwaves this fall.
Read Full Review >LA WeeklyRobert Abele
The show’s biotechnological twist on the double life of spies--or any superhero/alter ego construct--certainly satisfies the popcorn-thriller needs of My Own Worst Enemy, but I wasn’t expecting it to be as thematically resonant as it was.
Read Full Review >New York MagazineJohn Leonard
Slater, whose career has gone pretty much downhill since "Heathers" (1989) and "Pump Up the Volume" (1990), is surprisingly perfect as both of them, adjusting not much more than the brow of an eye, the curl of a lip, and the hiss of a sibilant to indicate the seismic shift from James Bond to Willy Loman.
Read Full Review >Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan
The first episode of Enemy ended up being a relatively compelling hour of television. As competent as it is, though, it’s hard not to think that the premise contains some holes.
Read Full Review >VarietyBrian Lowry
The pilot gingerly lays out most of the elements My Own Worst Enemy will need to survive--leaving it to the show to either make its strange case or live down to its name.
Read Full Review >PopMattersMarisa LaScala
My Own Worst Enemy looks like it’s been assembled from the leftovers of other pop-culture heavyweights.
Read Full Review >Entertainment WeeklyKen Tucker
Slater plays out spy-story clichés that were campy on "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." 40 years ago.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray
It's a subject that was explored more deeply, and even a touch more believably, in BBC America's "Jekyll," a nail-biter of an update in which James Nesbitt inhabited both personalities so completely they barely even looked alike. Slater, by contrast, just seems like a guy in need of a good night's sleep.
Read Full Review >SlateTroy Patterson
The show's success may depend on whether the public's fascination with Slater trumps its collective attention-deficit disorders.
Read Full Review >San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman
Bad, then decent, then confusing. That's not exactly the trajectory you're looking for in a pilot.
Read Full Review >Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker
The two halves don't add up to an engrossing whole. The show's worst enemy? The perplexing, cynical writing.
Read Full Review >TV GuideMatt Roush
Reminiscent at times of "The Bourne Identity" or "Face/Off," to name a few movie influences it does not improve upon, the beyond-high-concept Enemy asks us to believe Christian Slater as a cold-blooded assassin named Edward who doubles, when a switch in his brain is flipped, as a milquetoast family man named Henry.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm
My Own Worst Enemy's worst enemy is all the murky mumbo-jumbo mechanics the writers have introduced to support their stupid split-personality thesis.
Read Full Review >USA TodayRobert Bianco
You might be able to forgive the sloppiness of the premise if something else in the episode worked, but it's all a contrived, derivative mess.
Read Full Review >Washington PostTom Shales
My Own Worst Enemy can be recommended only to people who can imagine themselves saying, "I'm in the mood for a mediocre version of a fairly good spy movie."
Read Full Review >Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall
There isn't a series here; just the pitch meeting for a very expensive, very loud, very dopey action movie.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this show is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 47 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Trudi F gave it a10:
Fantastic show. At last something intelligent on tv. Exciting, origional and amazingly gripping. Are all the people who decided to cancel it temporarily insane...?
John B gave it a10:
Finally, something worth watching.
Monica N gave it a10:
I love Christian Slater. He is such a good actor. I was very happy that he decided to return to the screen! Why would they cancel it. They didn`t even give it a fricken chance! Christian, don`t get discouraged! Push for another season or get a role in a movie. I will definatly go see it!
Javario F. gave it a10:
I notice that either the alias or the actual news reviews actually responded. With the garbage in the media via musical or visual, it was great to see something interesting on television. The television show had more style, depth, and intrigue than a lot of movies. Anything movie-worthy should have a chance on t.v. With all that being said... "Bring it back @ NBC!" What if NBC had a show as huge as Alias? Oh wait, wasn't that My Own Worst Enemy? I believe it was, but what happened? It was canceled! I think the main flaw was probably character depth. I think the problem was that the simple minded couldn't follow the intricate story-line. Maybe if the show builds in depth, maybe it could possibly return. 10 all the way, just needs more location, and breaking down the events to the simple minded low rating reviewers. I see more garbage in the media that would be the stepping stone for the late show that previously passed away. Key points.. i think some people may feel the show was rushed..Maybe it was, but it was still great in it's short life span. If revived, take consideration of the criticism so the appeal shall grow. But, I as long as many other wish for it's return... bring it back, bring it back!!!
Brent C. gave it a10:
The end of Episode Nine Season One of "My Own Worst Enemy" Has potential for at least one more season with that cliff-hanger of who caused the deletion of the computer program that could reliably switch between Edward and Raymond. Why don't you finish the series properly? Let the story run its course.
Merilyn C gave it a10:
I'm afraid that this excellent series will go the way of "Nowhere Man", which was canceled in spite of a loyal viewer following. I'd rather not watch TV at all than be stuck with the sappy pap being pumped out these days by the networks. What next -- "Fringe"?
Richard B. gave it a10:
Bring it back.
