Samantha Who? Plays the Duran Duran Card

ABC has this annoying habit of suddenly dropping an underperforming series mid-season (e.g. Pushing Daisies) and then bringing it back in the summer to fill slots not occupied by celebrity competition or water-based embarrassment shows. Tonight, beloved lame duck comedies Samantha Who? and In the Motherhood return as the mouse's network cleans the new episodes out of the closet to make way for the fall line-up.

Samantha Who? [8 PM, ABC]

Simon Le Bon usually gets most of the attention thrown in Duran Duran's attention, so it's a great casting move to throw DD bassist John Taylor into the mix as a former rock star who takes Samantha (Christina Applegate) out on the town. Despite having a lovely and lovable lead actress and strong supporting characters played by Jennifer Esposito and Melissa McCarthy, this comedy never quite found its footing and the through-story of Samantha discovering her identity from her forgotten past was never twisty-turny enough to keep viewers waiting for new revelations. Maybe they should have snagged a Lost producer.

In the Motherhood [8:30 PM, ABC]

This show could have been the next Gunsmoke, persisting for decades telling the stories of strange, neurotic mothers everywhere. The core group of actors (Cheryl Hines, Megan Mullally, Jessica St. Clair, Horatio Sanz) have the ability to play weird suburban parent behavior better than any other on television, and we are sad but not surprised that this show didn't find an audience. Tonight, the trail of tears begins as Jane (Hines) gets annoyed that her boyfriend Shep (Ken Marino) immediately bonds with Horatio (Sanz) and the kids. Meanwhile, Rosemary (Mullally) teaches Emily (St. Clair) about the "cutthroat world of carpooling." Other sitcoms do irreverent family humor, but none do it this well.

Late Show with David Letterman [11:35 PM, CBS]

Guests: Johnny Depp, Megan Fox. Way too much show - in a good way - as Dave sits down with two of the sexier individuals in the world. Johnny pushes Public Enemies and Megan plugs a film that Movieline hasn't really covered at all.

Friends With Money [9 PM, Lifetime]

Nicole Holofcener's film might be a little too subtle for the box of Kleenex & a pint of Chubby Hubby crowd that usually catches Lifetime movies (this includes me), but this is probably Jennifer Aniston's best film. While her performance as a directionless woman surrounded by friends at various stages of familial and economic maturity isn't all that lovely or amazing, the former Friends star can be seen walking and talking like an actual human and occupies the emotional center of the film. This is one of the better scripts of the last decade but not to be watched by married couples going through relationship problems.