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Video -- Samantha Who? Returns Tonight on ABC

Don't you just love Christina Applegate? I would watch her sip tea and read the Sunday New York Times if they would air it. Fortunately, what they do air involves clever writing and direction, a great cast and outstanding performances.

And, our semi-friend of the blog co-exec prod Bob Kushell (haven't heard from him since the WGA strike last year), is one of those clever people doing so behind the scenes.

And although that guy in Entertainment Weekly didn't like the season premiere, there's nothing that would stop me from watching the show.

Everyone's back, and this season Sam will actually live in that really nice Chicago condo she owns. No word on whether Todd (Barry Watson) will remain living there.

You can read the show's official blog at this link.

And the clip, in a widget from ABC with other applicable video, is after the jump.

Tonight, after the ridiculously inappropriate lead-in, that ballroom dancing show, at 9:30 on ABC.

SAG TV Comedy Awards For Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, The Office, The Sopranos Sweeps Drama

I gotta tell you, and I think I said it just the other day for the Globes, I would have gone for Christina Applegate, who just charms the socks off of you in Samantha Who! (and of course has the words of people like our pal Bob Kushell to do that with).

And yes, I love Tina Fey, I don't want you all sending me hate mail or starting a campaign where you buy eyeglasses at thrift stores and shatter one lens and send that to me in protest, but I really do think she's right when she makes mention of her performance being elevated by Alec Baldwin's, now that's a deserving award.

Get it? Elevated? And I wrote that even before finding this pic. I love Serendipity!!!

And the other thing is that Tina Fey is in a true ensemble at 30 Rock but Christina carries that show on her back, she's in almost every scene.

There's a clip after the jump.

Charmed Out of My Shoes by Samantha Who?

And if you are not, you must be dead inside. Everything about this show just makes me smile.

And, more important because it's a comedy, I actually laugh, you know, out loud, which is not something that you can say about some things that are purported to be comedies these days on the tube.

Last week's attempt by Sam to find out about sex was just the best. And everyone in the cast had great lines. Jean Smart is a treasure and Jennifer Esposito is spot on, but the two people I'm most surprised by in the supporting cast are Barry Watson and Melissa McCarthy, I guess because although I've known of them for a while, I've never watched them more than the once or twice 7th Heaven and Gilmore Girls have crossed my TV screen on my way to something else.

And Christina? What's not to love? She is so charming and so good at finding that word or phrase that unlocks the funny in a scene. She is a consumate TV comedy pro.

This episode was written by Bob Kushell and directed by a great comedy director, Barnet Kellman(76 episodes of Murphy Brown can't be wrong).

I don't know how many more new episodes there are left, but you can be sure that they will rerun everything they've got in the can, so I strongly encourage you, especially if you're watching either Heroes or Rules in that timeslot, to eventually check it out.

Samantha Who? -- This Week's Great TV, Chapter One

I have to say, finally people are flocking to a show that I can really get behind, because it's funny, charming, the premise seems to be holding up (at least through these two eps, I know it's early) and Christina Applegate is so incredibly likeable in this part that you just can't help but watch.

(And yes, there is something about Christina's delivery that really really -- I mean really -- reminds me of Jennifer Aniston, but I keep reminding myself that Applegate is a proven vet who has been working a joke to perfection for a long, long time, longer in fact than our fave Rachel.)

Parents played by the incomparable Jean Smart (can do anything, anything I tell you) and Kevin Dunn are spot on and Jennifer Esposito and Melissa McCarthy act like the devil and angel sitting on Samantha's shoulders for funny effect.

This past week we met some of Samantha's office inhabitants, and the guy playing her boss is a riot, played by a guy whose name I can't find that always cracks me up (timing, it's all timing). This is also the first thing I've ever seen Barry Watson in. I was not a 7th Heaven fan. He's very good.

I would never pretend to know what will happen to the audience for this show after Dancing With the Stars ends in November (Help Me Help You last year faded after the dancing show left), but I certainly hope they stick around, because this is a show that I would like to see have some legs. Applegate and Smart are among the best performers in their field and they deserve to work and we deserve to see them.

Cross your fingers. Here's a clip from this coming week's show that involves Samantha getting even more bad news from her answering machine, which interestingly has some great lines in this show.

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