This Week on TV: Christina Who?

Jake Brooks — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:13:44 -0400

Christina Applegate’s Samantha Who? (9:30 PM, ABC) debuts tonight, sandwiched in between Dancing With the Stars and The Bachelor. She plays a woman who wakes from an eight-day coma with retrograde amnesia only to slowly come to the realization that she was a total bitch. Perhaps a little amnesia is necessary on the part of viewers, who will need to forget Surviving Christmas in order to give this show a shot. (Who am I kidding? Nobody saw that to begin with.) Warm up with How I Met Your Mother (8:00 PM, CBS). Last week, the David Schwimmer (but cooler!) manqué—we’re all about manqués this week!—almost had a threesome with Winny Cooper from The Wonder Years and Katie Holmes’ annoying roommate—y’know, the one who wanted to be an actress—on Dawson’s Creek. It can only go up from there.

The Boston Red Sox will take on the Cleveland Indians (8:00 PM, Fox) on Tuesday night, destroying the night for House fans (Who will win the competition to be House’s new coterie? I wonder if one of them will be the hot chick from the OC that kissed Mischa Barton. Hmm …) opening the door for ABC’s revamped Tuesday night lineup. This would all be good news for their two new comedies, Cavemen and Carpoolers, if Larry Craig wasn’t going to be playing footsie with Matt Lauer on Dateline (8:00 PM, NBC).

Oh, Mandy! Since Mr. Patinkin left Criminal Minds Wednesdays just haven’t been the same. They’re better! CW just firmed up its Wednesdays by ordering a full season of its breakout hit Gossip Girl (9 PM, CW). With its America’s Next Top Model lead-in, the network finally has one solid night of TV. But the strongest Wednesday night line-up has to go to ABC, whose Pushing Daisies (8 PM, ABC) attracted 13 million viewers for its premiere and Grey’s Anatomy spin-off, Private Practice (9 PM, ABC), has the top ratings for a new show. Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (9 PM, Fox) and Bionic Woman (9 PM, NBC) fight over the leftovers.

CBS plans on going after the only soft spot in the highly competitive Thursday night network line-ups with Viva, Laughlin (10 PM, CBS), an adaptation of the immensely popular British show Viva, Blackpool. Executive produced in part by Hugh Jackman, it’s a crime/drama/musical hybrid. (Yes, you read the correctly: musical.) Reviews have been mixed, to say the least. While many are happy to give CBS credit for not just making another CSI spin-off, they are not quite so forgiving when it comes to their enjoyment of it, or lack thereof.

And Women’s Murder Club (9 PM, ABC) is the new queen of Friday nights, beating out Friday Night Lights (9 PM, NBC), which has the more appropriate title, but less of the market share. This week’s episode of the Angie Harmon vehicle features murder and mayhem on the Subway. Yay!

Observer » This Week on TV: Christina Who?

This Week on TV: Christina Who?