There’s something to be said for comedies without laugh tracks. Thankfully, ABC’s new sitcom “Samantha Who?” is one of those comedies.
Because there’s no laugh track, you can laugh at whatever you find funniest, instead of feeling forced to laugh every time the canned laughter kicks in.
And “Samantha” has plenty to laugh at.
Christina Applegate returns to her comedy roots as Samantha, a woman who wakes up from a coma with amnesia only to discover that her life leading up to the coma was less than satisfactory. And that amnesia puts her in some sticky situations as she tries to sort out her life.
It turns out the clingy girl standing next to Sam’s bed when she wakes up might not really be her best friend, and the random man kissing her in a bar is actually the married man with whom she was having an affair before the coma.
Ah, a day in the life of an amnesiac.
Besides the comic situations, what really makes the show so funny is Applegate. Sam’s unique situation gives viewers the opportunity to see Applegate play Sam in two roles, as both a kind amnesiac and a pre-coma raging bitch. That means her “Oh no, I lost my memory” shtick won’t wear out anytime soon; the tiniest detail could trigger a memory, and the show flashes back to Evil Sam at her finest.
Even when Evil Sam is stealing lattes and cheating on her boyfriend, it’s hard to hate her. She’s just so precious running around the city like an amnesiac chicken with its proverbial head cut off.
The supporting cast is just as charming, in the quirkiest way possible. Jean Smart, fresh off “24,” is perfectly cast here as Sam’s slightly crazy, slightly clingy mother (she couldn’t be any more perfect than when she’s moving around Sam’s hospital room making an audition tape for “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”). Jennifer Esposito finds a use for her overacting as Sam’s best friend with questionable intentions. And “7th Heaven” heartthrob Barry Watson manages not to be boring as Sam’s (ex?) boyfriend.
The cast members have instant chemistry, which makes their jokes seem natural, and the comedy of “Samantha Who?” works best when it settles into its mode of rapid-fire quips like in the show’s first five minutes. It’s not a comedy like “Friends,” where a character walks into the room to utter a witty one-liner every five minutes. But it’s still funny, it works – and, more importantly – it gives all those non-“Heroes” fans something other than “Two and a Half Men” to watch on Monday nights.