Applegate and Samantha Who Land Full Season
October 30, 2007

It looks Christina Applegate may have the biggest comedy hit of the fall season as her new sitcom, Samantha Who? has been renewed for a full season by ABC. As other shows struggle and everyone fears the pending strike that could happen this Thursday, the team behind Samantha Who?, including Christina Applegate, Barry Watson, Jean Smart, and Jennifer Esposito have a reason to celebrate this week. It seems likely that the writers and actors will strike this week, but when they do return to work Samantha Who? will be sticking around through the end of the season.

According to Zap2It, Samantha Who? has picked up a full season, in part due to its incredibly good scheduling, appearing on the same night as ABC's smash Dancing With the Stars. ABC ordered the extra nine episodes of Samantha Who? this week, bringing its total to the standard 22 and guaranteeing the show at least one season. This hasn't been the best crop of fall shows with only a few series breaking through and it could be argued that Samantha Who? is the biggest new hit of the season.

On the strength of Christina Applegate's excellent lead performance, ABC's Samantha Who? has averaged a very impressive 14.5 million viewers through its first three airings, more than enough for a full-season order. Heck, if the numbers remain this high, you could see a renewal order for this show before the end of the year. Even better than the average total viewers, Samantha Who? also has appealed to the demographic that advertisers love, the 18-49 year olds who have given the series a healthy 4.6 rating, once again according to Zap2It.

The numbers for Christina Applegate's Samantha Who? are the highest for any new series for total viewers and second only to Private Practice for the coveted demo. With so many new series like Chuck, Reaper, and Bionic Woman appealing directly to that youth demo, it's kind of amazing that Samantha Who? has become the break-out hit of the season.

While Christina Applegate deserves a lot of credit, the time slot, right after Dancing With the Stars on Monday nights, can't be undervalued. But it should be noted that Samantha Who? has maintained more of the Dancing audience than anything that's aired in its wake and that last night's episode actually built on its lead-in in the 18-34 demo. That's unbelievable and combined with series-high numbers for total viewers (15 million) and 18-49 (4.9) made it clear that ABC had to give the show a full-season order this week. A show like this building viewers in its third week is a rarity, proving that word of mouth on Samantha Who? must be very strong. Samantha Who? is the third ABC series to get a full season after Private Practice and Pushing Daisies.