Barry Watson on the Return of Samantha Who?

It's back!

Tonight, ABC's Samantha Who? returns to the tube with an all-new episode that is one of the series’ best so far. Not only do we get some good, quality Sam (Christina Applegate) and Todd (Barry Watson) time, but the writers make good use of the girls who often steal the show: Jean Smart (Regina) and Melissa McCarthy (Dena).

To celebrate, I checked in with Barry, who tells me the cast and crew are relieved to be back after the strike put the freshman hit in a holding pattern. “I feel like we were just starting to get some momentum going when everything had to stop," he said. "But things run so smoothly on this show. Everyone’s having a great time. Except for Jean. She and I just don’t get along. They have to separate us during table reads.”

Oh, if only that were true! Then SW could also be a scandalous reality series. But for better or worse, Barry was only joking and said he's hoping to branch out and work with some of the rest of the cast. “I think there is an effort to get Todd in some scenes with Jean and Kevin [Dunn] later this season, and hopefully I’ll get to spend time with the doorman too, since he does stand right outside my building.”

And is there hope for young Todd and his ex, Sam, now that he’s got a new lady, played by Lost’s Kiele Sanchez? “I think so,” said Barry. “More so now that Sam is good, instead of the [awful person she was pre-amnesia] whom he’d probably been trying to break up with for quite some time.” Christina's title-role character and series-regular status should help out, too!

—Reporting by Korbi Ghosh