What I’m Watching: Samantha Who?

Samantha Who: Season 2, Episodes 17 & 18 “The Dream Job” & “The First Date” (C)

This week’s episodes don’t get me too excited about the end of “Samantha Who.” There’s a very strong sense of the show fading fast, and the fact that the episodes appearing to be airing woefully out of order doesn’t help matters. “The Dream Job” picks up seemingly right after “The Debt,” the last episode shown in the spring. Three episodes have aired since then, and therefore Sam’s excitement at starting her new dream job is understandably diminished, and lacks an emotional punch the show could really use. Billy Zane is a fun recurring guest star, but it’s not as if he’s used terribly well. The same should be said for Jennifer Esposito, whose fairy tale wedding planning and feuding with Sam is uninteresting and far less than what the actress deserves. Both Sam and Andrea are forces to be reckoned with, but in this case, they just look preposterous in silly dresses and throwing around meaningless jobs since neither of them seems to care too much about their long-term employment. Dena had a good moment in the first episode, when she noticed Todd’s ring (another antique plotline) and, when asked whether she could keep a secret, responded honestly. Regina and Howard’s storyline is good for a few laughs, but both Jean Smart and Kevin Dunn used to be so much better. I shouldn’t really be depending on this show to be good at this point, but I’d like to think it still could be okay. The second episode, which continued in the same vein as the first but reintroduced Sam and Todd’s dating a bit suddenly, wasn’t much better than the first. Regina and Howard’s differing views for retirement weren’t terribly funny. Andrea’s new reality show would be a good gimmick for her, but here it’s too much. Andrea was a good enough character before Tony Dane ever entered the picture (or rather, didn’t, since he’s barely appeared on the show), and the writers should have kept that in mind. Regarding Sam and Todd, it would be great for them to get together, but it seems that the writers are intent on keeping them apart and using cliché plotlines to do so. Next episode, if it actually follows the chronological order the episodes are being shown in, should have Andrea finally realizing that Winston actually told her flat-out that he was giving Todd his dream job, and then they’ll reunite. But Todd has already been through this – getting a job he thought he deserved which he only actually got indirectly because of Sam – and it was only a few episodes ago (I can’t keep track with the way the episodes are being shown). Recycling plot directions in the same season is not a good idea, and I suppose it’s a further sign that this show didn’t have 9 or 10 seasons in it like past comedies like “Friends.”