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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed shows.

My Own Worst Enemy

EMAILPRINTSERIES: NBC, Monday 10:00p (60 minutes)

My Own Worst Enemy
61
9.3 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 46 votes
Read user comments
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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.

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...

100

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.

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90

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.

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75

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.

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75

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.

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70

Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart

Surprise! It’s not nearly as bad as I thought.

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70

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.

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70

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.

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70

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

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70

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.

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70

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.

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70

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.

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70

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.

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63

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.

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60

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.

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60

PopMattersMarisa LaScala

My Own Worst Enemy looks like it’s been assembled from the leftovers of other pop-culture heavyweights.

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58

Entertainment WeeklyKen Tucker

Slater plays out spy-story clichés that were campy on "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." 40 years ago.

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50

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.

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50

SlateTroy Patterson

The show's success may depend on whether the public's fascination with Slater trumps its collective attention-deficit disorders.

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50

San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman

Bad, then decent, then confusing. That's not exactly the trajectory you're looking for in a pilot.

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50

Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker

The two halves don't add up to an engrossing whole. The show's worst enemy? The perplexing, cynical writing.

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50

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.

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40

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.

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37

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.

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30

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."

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30

Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall

There isn't a series here; just the pitch meeting for a very expensive, very loud, very dopey action movie.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this show is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 46 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.

Read more user comments >

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