More than just a pretty face
Chicago Sun-Times, Oct 14, 2007 by Doug Elfman
'Anchorman" was such a pop-culture hit for Christina Applegate, she could have parlayed its success into more movie work. Instead, she ran off to star in "Sweet Charity" -- first at Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre, then on Broadway.
More than one Hollywood exec thought she was nuts.
"Probably in the minds of most people in this business, [performing in the musical] is one of the stupidest things I could have done," says Applegate, 35. "I could have been doing films this whole time.
"I even had a huge producer say to me, 'You're an idiot.' And you know what? That's something I had to do. Each thing that I do is something I have to do for me, and a great opportunity for me to completely change" as an actor and as a person, she says.
"Sweet Charity" -- her favorite musical since she was a kid (she earned a Drama Desk nomination) -- wasn't merely emotionally fulfilling. The intensity of live theater ultimately boosted her self-assurance to find the core of a character.
"At the end of that show, every single night I had to break down with tears running down my face. And I had to make that happen, or the show would not work. So that muscle? It's just innately there now. Where maybe before, you'd get so afraid and go, 'Oh God, it's gotta happen. Oh God, that scene's coming up where I have to flip out. What am I going to use?'
"I don't use anything anymore. It's all there. It had to be there."
This fall, Applegate gets to flex her acting muscles in "Samantha Who?" a new comedy beginning Monday on ABC. Quite a few critics have declared it a top new show.
Applegate plays a VIP cocktailer who wakes up from a coma, has amnesia and quickly discovers she used to be a lying, cheating drunk.
"I'm an alcoholic?!" Samantha exclaims, determining to begin a nicer life.
But even with "Samantha," "Anchorman" and Broadway on her resume, Applegate is still calmly answering journalists who want to know if her role as Kelly Bundy on "Married With Children" ever pigeonholed her career.
"That was almost 20 years ago," she says. (Addressing the question, her demeanor is determined, not bitter.)
"I wasn't her," she says. "When I left [the 'Married' set] on Friday night, I put on my long flowy skirt, took off my makeup, put my hair in a ponytail, and lived the life of somebody completely different."
If people in the casting business ever had Kelly Bundy in mind when she auditioned for them, they had the wrong woman.
"I never did anything like that ever again," she says. "I haven't repeated her."
delfman@suntimes.com
FOR A CHANGE, IT'S A BAD WOMAN ON THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION
'SAMANTHA WHO?' Rating 2 out of 4
8:30 to 9 p.m. Mondays on
WLS-Channel 7
There are a lot of fictions about the redemption of bad men. "Scrooge." "Groundhog Day." "My Name is Earl." But you don't often see a story like "Samantha Who?" -- the redemption of a bad woman.
"Samantha" opens with Sam (Christina Applegate) lying in a hospital bed, waking from a coma. She has amnesia. But she soon finds out she used to live as a mean, high-powered executive who dumped on people. Now, she wants to be kinder and gentler.
Applegate is perfect for this kind of role. To put it bluntly, she's got the beautiful but sharp face of a tough and controlling woman. And yet, she's an underrated comedic actress (perhaps because of soured projects like 2002's "The Sweetest Thing"), and she can generate sympathy and establish a believable, whole person.
As Sam, Applegate is terrific at managing the space around her. She owns almost every scene she's in. And she sells the occasional funny chitchat, like when Sam tells her angry boyfriend, "Your grateful face feels like your mrrah! [monster] face."
"Samantha" is more of a smiler than a laugher. That's fine. But the comedy straddles straight-up storytelling with clumsy moments of broad comedy (no insulting pun intended). And the broadest stuff, like broad comedy across the board at ABC, doesn't quite work. Dunno why. Maybe because it's Herculean for any writer and director to get it just right.
There's a lot of good in the first two episodes. The rest of the cast, especially Rick Hoffman as Sam's boss, can hit comic notes perfectly. Yet normally excellent comedic actors (Jean Smart as Sam's mom, and Jennifer Esposito as Sam's friend) get drowned a bit in that vague broadness.
I think ABC is banking on "Samantha" fitting its cutesy (and by now, overdone) formula of a strong woman speaking in voiceover about life and growth, when that woman is not blurting things out a little too frantically.
To wit, ABC is airing "Samantha" not after another half-hour comedy, but after "The Bachelor" and its bevy of frantic and desperate wannabe housewives.
But unlike some of the networks' other shows in this vein, "Samantha" lacks an elephant walk of fatless man candy strutting around with their shirts off.
Speaking of men, it might be expected that Applegate could attract male viewers because she's iconically attractive. To sell Applegate merely as a trophy or a trend, however, is to sell her very short. She's a presence. And if the tone of "Samantha Who?" settles down into a funnier, steadier groove, it could end up being worth remembering.
delfman@suntimes.com
IT'S ON
What's on and worth a look this week
TONIGHT
"GIRL MEETS COWBOY": WE tries to wrangle women viewers by sending easy-crying girls from Chicago and other metropolises to the ranch to meet shirtless macho dudes who get them to play strip poker. I'm not sure this kinda down-home, hick-accented formula works on TV anymore. Fox's new "Nashville" was DOA commercially. The Nashville Network has long since been changed to Spike. And "Friday Night Lights" bombs in the ratings. Is Southern culture on the skids? 9 p.m., WE
MONDAY
"GOTTI'S WAY": Rap producer Irv Gotti starts his own reality show on VH1, because there must be something sympathetic about the head of the formerly named Murder Inc. music label, since he was acquitted of money laundering and is the subject of violent rumors. You know, the same-old new American love story that Viacom profits off of on MTV, VH1 and BET. 9:30 p.m., VH1
TUESDAY
"FRONTLINE": One of the only serious news shows left on TV begins its 26th season with a study of "Cheney's Law," how the VP helped turn the Executive Branch into an imperial force above the law. 9 p.m., PBS
WEDNESDAY
"BET HIP-HOP AWARDS": Chicago hip-hop heroes (?) Kanye West and Common perform, and so does the biggest nominee, T.I.
7 P.M., BET
THURSDAY
"VIVA LAUGHLIN": Dude opens casino. Doesn't sleep with wife because he's stressed. Everyone struts around singing over tracks of classic pop songs by Elvis, Blondie, etc. A very suspicious template for a TV show, considering how "Cop Rock" got ridiculed and canceled. But "Viva" isn't as asinine as it sounds. Or maybe it is, because this is blood-and-guts CBS, so (yes!) there will be a murder mystery threading through the first season (if "Viva" lasts a whole season). 9 p.m., CBS
FRIDAY
"THE NEXT GREAT AMERICAN BAND": "American Idol" producers make fun of horrible bands while ostensibly looking for talent. 7 p.m., Fox
'Anchorman" was such a pop-culture hit for Christina Applegate, she could have parlayed its success into more movie work. Instead, she ran off to star in "Sweet Charity" -- first at Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre, then on Broadway.
More than one Hollywood exec thought she was nuts.
"Probably in the minds of most people in this business, [performing in the musical] is one of the stupidest things I could have done," says Applegate, 35. "I could have been doing films this whole time.
"I even had a huge producer say to me, 'You're an idiot.' And you know what? That's something I had to do. Each thing that I do is something I have to do for me, and a great opportunity for me to completely change" as an actor and as a person, she says.
"Sweet Charity" -- her favorite musical since she was a kid (she earned a Drama Desk nomination) -- wasn't merely emotionally fulfilling. The intensity of live theater ultimately boosted her self-assurance to find the core of a character.
"At the end of that show, every single night I had to break down with tears running down my face. And I had to make that happen, or the show would not work. So that muscle? It's just innately there now. Where maybe before, you'd get so afraid and go, 'Oh God, it's gotta happen. Oh God, that scene's coming up where I have to flip out. What am I going to use?'
"I don't use anything anymore. It's all there. It had to be there."
This fall, Applegate gets to flex her acting muscles in "Samantha Who?" a new comedy beginning Monday on ABC. Quite a few critics have declared it a top new show.
Applegate plays a VIP cocktailer who wakes up from a coma, has amnesia and quickly discovers she used to be a lying, cheating drunk.
"I'm an alcoholic?!" Samantha exclaims, determining to begin a nicer life.
But even with "Samantha," "Anchorman" and Broadway on her resume, Applegate is still calmly answering journalists who want to know if her role as Kelly Bundy on "Married With Children" ever pigeonholed her career.
"That was almost 20 years ago," she says. (Addressing the question, her demeanor is determined, not bitter.)
"I wasn't her," she says. "When I left [the 'Married' set] on Friday night, I put on my long flowy skirt, took off my makeup, put my hair in a ponytail, and lived the life of somebody completely different."
If people in the casting business ever had Kelly Bundy in mind when she auditioned for them, they had the wrong woman.
"I never did anything like that ever again," she says. "I haven't repeated her."
delfman@suntimes.com
FOR A CHANGE, IT'S A BAD WOMAN ON THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION
'SAMANTHA WHO?' Rating 2 out of 4
8:30 to 9 p.m. Mondays on
WLS-Channel 7
There are a lot of fictions about the redemption of bad men. "Scrooge." "Groundhog Day." "My Name is Earl." But you don't often see a story like "Samantha Who?" -- the redemption of a bad woman.
"Samantha" opens with Sam (Christina Applegate) lying in a hospital bed, waking from a coma. She has amnesia. But she soon finds out she used to live as a mean, high-powered executive who dumped on people. Now, she wants to be kinder and gentler.
Applegate is perfect for this kind of role. To put it bluntly, she's got the beautiful but sharp face of a tough and controlling woman. And yet, she's an underrated comedic actress (perhaps because of soured projects like 2002's "The Sweetest Thing"), and she can generate sympathy and establish a believable, whole person.
As Sam, Applegate is terrific at managing the space around her. She owns almost every scene she's in. And she sells the occasional funny chitchat, like when Sam tells her angry boyfriend, "Your grateful face feels like your mrrah! [monster] face."
"Samantha" is more of a smiler than a laugher. That's fine. But the comedy straddles straight-up storytelling with clumsy moments of broad comedy (no insulting pun intended). And the broadest stuff, like broad comedy across the board at ABC, doesn't quite work. Dunno why. Maybe because it's Herculean for any writer and director to get it just right.
There's a lot of good in the first two episodes. The rest of the cast, especially Rick Hoffman as Sam's boss, can hit comic notes perfectly. Yet normally excellent comedic actors (Jean Smart as Sam's mom, and Jennifer Esposito as Sam's friend) get drowned a bit in that vague broadness.
I think ABC is banking on "Samantha" fitting its cutesy (and by now, overdone) formula of a strong woman speaking in voiceover about life and growth, when that woman is not blurting things out a little too frantically.
To wit, ABC is airing "Samantha" not after another half-hour comedy, but after "The Bachelor" and its bevy of frantic and desperate wannabe housewives.
But unlike some of the networks' other shows in this vein, "Samantha" lacks an elephant walk of fatless man candy strutting around with their shirts off.
Speaking of men, it might be expected that Applegate could attract male viewers because she's iconically attractive. To sell Applegate merely as a trophy or a trend, however, is to sell her very short. She's a presence. And if the tone of "Samantha Who?" settles down into a funnier, steadier groove, it could end up being worth remembering.
delfman@suntimes.com
IT'S ON
What's on and worth a look this week
TONIGHT
"GIRL MEETS COWBOY": WE tries to wrangle women viewers by sending easy-crying girls from Chicago and other metropolises to the ranch to meet shirtless macho dudes who get them to play strip poker. I'm not sure this kinda down-home, hick-accented formula works on TV anymore. Fox's new "Nashville" was DOA commercially. The Nashville Network has long since been changed to Spike. And "Friday Night Lights" bombs in the ratings. Is Southern culture on the skids? 9 p.m., WE
MONDAY
"GOTTI'S WAY": Rap producer Irv Gotti starts his own reality show on VH1, because there must be something sympathetic about the head of the formerly named Murder Inc. music label, since he was acquitted of money laundering and is the subject of violent rumors. You know, the same-old new American love story that Viacom profits off of on MTV, VH1 and BET. 9:30 p.m., VH1
TUESDAY
"FRONTLINE": One of the only serious news shows left on TV begins its 26th season with a study of "Cheney's Law," how the VP helped turn the Executive Branch into an imperial force above the law. 9 p.m., PBS
WEDNESDAY
"BET HIP-HOP AWARDS": Chicago hip-hop heroes (?) Kanye West and Common perform, and so does the biggest nominee, T.I.
7 P.M., BET
THURSDAY
"VIVA LAUGHLIN": Dude opens casino. Doesn't sleep with wife because he's stressed. Everyone struts around singing over tracks of classic pop songs by Elvis, Blondie, etc. A very suspicious template for a TV show, considering how "Cop Rock" got ridiculed and canceled. But "Viva" isn't as asinine as it sounds. Or maybe it is, because this is blood-and-guts CBS, so (yes!) there will be a murder mystery threading through the first season (if "Viva" lasts a whole season). 9 p.m., CBS
FRIDAY
"THE NEXT GREAT AMERICAN BAND": "American Idol" producers make fun of horrible bands while ostensibly looking for talent. 7 p.m., Fox
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