Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
Thursday's ratings recap:
8/7 CT
Big Brother 11 topped the hour with an audience of 6.42 million total viewers, up 15 percent week-to-week. The final two episodes of Samantha Who? averaged 3.39 million viewers, placing third behind a Bones repeat.
9/8 CT
So You Think You Can Dance's 100th-episode celebration — featuring a blink-and-you-missed-it performance by Katie Holmes — drew 8.42 million viewers, a 20 percent surge from last week.
10/9 CT
A Mentalist repeat was the night's most watched program, with 9.54 million viewers. NBC's final broadcast airing of The Listener delivered 3.38 mil, dropping 500K. (NBC.com will stream the series' final five episodes in August. )
Crave scoop on your favorite TV shows, from this summer or the upcoming fall season? E-mail senior editors Matt, Mickey and Tim at mega_scoop@tvguide.com and follow TV Guide on Twitter.
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Samantha Who?
Samantha Who?
8:30/7:30 CT ABC
The final bell tolls for the Christina Applegate sitcom just when wedding bells are ringing for Andrea and her gay basketball star fiancé, Tony Dane. It's a big day for Sam, too, as she has to decide whether she wants to be with billionaire Winston Funk (Billy Zane) or Todd. Meanwhile, Howard and Regina have a decision to make when they begin to realize their paths are starting to diverge.
Read on for previews of So You Think You Can Dance, Royal Pains, Southern Belles: Louisville and Wild Russia.
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Mark Feuerstein
NBA Draft
7:30 pm/ET ESPN
As if the NBA's worst record in 2008-09 wasn't bad enough for the Kings, they also got the worst pick in the 2009 draft that they could have possibly gotten. Granted, it's only the fourth overall pick, but that is the way the NBA draft-lottery system is set up. Blake Griffin is widely expected to be taken at No. 1 by the Clippers, who managed to grab the top pick in last month's lottery. After the first pick, it gets more murky with Ricky Rubio from Spain and Hasheem Thabeet from UConn.
Read on for previews of So You Think You Can Dance, She's Got the Look, Royal Pains and Samantha Who?.
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Billy Zane
Billy Zane seems sometimes like a product of old Hollywood. His classic-movie star looks helped him land the role for which he remains best-known — Cal, Kate Winslet's diabolical fiance in Titanic — as well as his starring role in 1996's The Phantom, another period throwback. His new role on Samantha Who? lands him securely in the here and now, but the past lingers again: He's playing Winston Funk, a character previously played by Timothy Olyphant, who departed to appear on Damages.
Zane's found an easy way to deal with the ghosts of the past, however: ignoring them. To play Funk, for example, he didn't even watch Olyphant's take on the character.
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Samantha Who?
Thursday's ratings rundown:
8 pm/ET
American Idol played to a special Thursday audience of 22.35 million total viewers, down 650K from last week's results show. CBS' NCAA tourney coverage placed second in every prime-time hour, averaging 10.12 million viewers across the night.
ABC's brand-new In the Motherhood (6.72 mil) and returning Samantha Who? (6.53 mil, down 270 thou from Dec. 1, its last fresh outing) combined for third, but averaged 13 percent less than Ugly Betty's most recent numbers.
Trailing NBC's pairing of Earl (5.87 mil) with an Office repeat, Smallville scored 3.74 mil, surging 14 percent week-to-week.
9 pm
Grey's Anatomy enjoyed CSI's latest bye, topping the hour with 15.8 million viewers, up 10 percent. Hell's Kitchen nipped at basketball's heels, placing third with 10.95 mil. Both NBC's The Office (8.45 mil, +500K) and 30 Rock (7.17 mil, +150K) saw gains, while Supernatural (3.17 mil) was flat. (Be sure to check out next week's high-sterical promo!)
10 pm
With CBS' Eleventh Hour still shot-clock-blocked, Private Practice again claimed No. 1 with an audience of 10.48 mil, up 470 thou. ER gained 700K but still trailed hoops, delivering 10.16 mil.
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Samantha Who?
Christina Applegate had the kind of 2008 she might want to forget, including the death of her ex-boyfriend and a brave fight with breast cancer. But talking to TVGuide.com about Samantha Who?'s return from a long winter break (ABC, Thursday, 8:30 pm) the former Kelly Bundy was all spring and sunshine. She told us about Samantha's lingering issues with amnesia, a fresh Winston Funk (Billy Zane), and what's going on with Samantha and Todd (Barry Watson).
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Grey's Anatomy - Season 5
New releases announced today, March 13:
Brothers & Sisters - The Complete 3rd Season will be coming out September 1
Castle - The Complete 1st Season will be coming out September 22
Desperate Housewives - The Complete 5th Season will be coming out September 1
Grey's Anatomy - The Complete 5th Season (Blu-ray and DVD) will be coming out September 15
Life on Mars - The Complete Series will be coming out September 29
Private Practice - The Complete 2nd Season will be coming out September 15
Samantha Who? - The Complete 2nd Season will be coming out August 25
Scrubs - The Complete 8th Season will be coming out August 25
Ugly Betty - The Complete 3rd Season will be coming out September 22
Visit TVShowsOnDVD.com for the complete stories on these and other news items.
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George Eads (CSI), Adrian Pasdar (Heroes) and Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl)
Senior editors Matt Mitovich, Mickey O'Connor and Tim Molloy answer your questions. Speaking of which, we invite you to drop us a line at mega_scoop@tvguide.com.
Charisma Carpenter on CSI? That is all I need to hear! — Tony
MATT: Really? That's all? Because I was about to supplement my exclusive casting scoop by mentioning a "panty party" that takes place during Charisma's April visit, as Stokes investigates her character, Mink. But I guess you can just skim over that trivial tidbit. Sorry to bother, Tony!
Even if Heroes' ratings are lower than its first season, they're still higher than other TV shows that will be or are already renewed. If they are stable, is it enough to grant the show a renewal? — Nicolas
TIM: Like we said last week, there's no time travel in the latest Heroes volume, "Fugitives" — so we can't ...
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Christina Applegate (Samantha Who), Megan Mullally (In the Motherhood)
Recently and repeatedly bumped by bloated editions of The Bachelor, the amnesiac Samantha Who? will say farewell to her familiar Monday confines and pair with In the Motherhood to form a new Thursday comedy block for ABC.
Starting March 26, Samantha will air Thursdays at 8, where it will lead into In the Motherhood, a new comedy starring Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Megan Mullally (Will & Grace) and ...
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Angie Harmon
Samantha Who? may be taking a temporarily leave of absence to accommodate The Bachelor, but there'll be a fresh face in town when it returns.
Angie Harmon is slated to guest-star as Gigi, the ...
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