This may be damning with faint praise, but ABC finally has a decent sitcom, for the first time in years.

“Samantha Who?” debuting at 9:30 tonight, humorously deals with the issue of rebirth. The series begins with Samantha Newly (played by Christina Applegate) awakening after eight days in a coma, caused by her being hit by a car. The problem is that Samantha has retrograde amnesia.

This means she doesn’t recognize her parents (played by Jean Smart and Kevin Dunn), her boyfriend (Barry Watson) or her friends Dena (Melissa McCarthy) and Andrea (Jennifer Esposito), who serve as the angel and the devil on Samantha’s shoulders.

Most of all, Samantha doesn’t know who she was. And the more she discovers, the less she likes herself.

New Samantha wants to start over, but old Samantha has dug a deep hole for her to climb out of. “Samantha Who?” is about whether the new, more likable Samantha can overcome her old reputation and lifestyle.

Applegate is charming, and she has a strong cast around her. The rookie sitcom won’t pull viewers away from “Heroes” but deserves to fare better than the lunkish “Rules of Engagement.” One hopes viewers won’t forget about “Samantha Who?” too soon.