Samantha Who?

LA WeeklyRobert Abele

Beyond its title, I have no quibble with this well-made, sly, heartwarming and at times giddily funny show.

The New York TimesGinia Bellafante

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.

Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd

Samantha Who? is as perfectly realized a comedy as the fall has to offer.

Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker

The show employs a terrific cast and runs with a promising premise.

Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin

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.

NewsdayDiane Werts

Samantha Who? which is not nearly as cool a title, but still a sparkling comedy that treats its viewers as--gasp!--actual grown-ups.

Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf Smith

It's a bit old-fashioned, which in today's TV universe makes it seem light and fresh--like the entrancing Ms. Applegate herself.

Detroit Free PressMike Duffy

It's actually good ... and genuinely funny.

USA TodayRobert Bianco

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.

Baltimore SunTim Swift

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.

Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart

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.

New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley

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?

New York PostAdam Buckman

As appealing as Applegate is, the show itself struggles to produce laughs.

Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray

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.

Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm

Samantha will battle against past unremembered sins, as the writers battle to bring their scripts up to Applegate's talents.

San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman

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.

Chicago Sun-TimesDoug Elfman

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).

Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron

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.

Seattle Post-IntelligencerMelanie McFarland

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.

VarietyBrian Lowry

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.

Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall

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.

Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen

But like so many other shows in recent years, this concept would work better as a one-shot movie than as a weekly series.

Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert

Halfway through the premiere, the basis for the entire show is already worn thin.

Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan

The jokes that spring from that laborious setup aren’t all that funny.

Washington PostTom Shales

The two Samanthas are simply irritating and hyper in different ways, and don't add up to one complete, compelling kook.