KEY POINTS:
Who: Christina Applegate, sitcom veteran
What: Samantha Who?, a kind of girl's own My Name is Earl
When and where: TV2, 8pm, Fridays
Christina Applegate is on the sun-dappled patio of her Tuscan-style villa, typing away on her BlackBerry, when her afternoon visitor arrives. It was the actress' suggestion to do our interview at home - where she has lived for more than a decade, since she was still traipsing across TV screens in Kelly Bundy's high heels and miniskirts - and it's not hard to understand why she'd rather be home than anywhere else.
Nestled among the narrow, winding roads of Hollywood's fabled Laurel Canyon, the house is a private, peaceful refuge from the prying eyes and non-stop buzz of Los Angeles. In fact, the biggest intrusion at Casa Applegate appears to be the serene trickling of water from the mouth of a stone fountain shaped like a lion's head.
Applegate's assistant is busy playing hostess, making sure everyone has a beverage and is comfortable outside in the early winter chill. The actress herself is more reserved, at least initially: After a polite "hello," she slips a brown corduroy jacket over her tank top, adjusts her short ponytail and settles into a cushioned deck chair with a let's-get-down-to-business vibe.
But the longer the 36-year-old actress talks, the more she lets down her guard, and it becomes clear that she's dryly funny, refreshingly grounded and downright passionate, especially when it comes to her work.
These days, that work is Samantha Who?, a comedy about a woman who wakes up from a coma with retrograde amnesia, only to discover that she used to be a superficial, unfaithful party girl who's now driven to set things (often hilariously) right.
The show has emerged as one of the few breakout hits of the past American season. Applegate has been performing since before she could walk. (She first appeared on screen when her mom, actress/singer Nancy Priddy, carried a newborn Applegate into a scene of Days of our Lives.) After racking up numerous commercials and guest-star gigs on shows like Family Ties, she spent 11 seasons playing Married with Children's dim-witted Kelly Bundy, followed by two seasons as a single mom on Jesse.
Then came the Emmy for a guest shot on Friends as Rachel's self-absorbed sister, a slew of high-profile films including Anchorman, and a lifelong dream realised when she landed the starring role in the 2005 Broadway revival of Sweet Charity. (Talk about devotion - after Applegate broke her foot during rehearsals, she convinced producers to continue with the Broadway debut and then performed, injured, for eight months. Her resolve paid off; she was nominated for a Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical.)
It was only after Charity ended that Applegate considered a return to series TV.
"I was trying to figure out where my place was again in the pecking order," she remembers. "When you leave [Hollywood], you get knocked out of your place. I got back from New York and thought, 'Now what am I gonna do'?"
But while she read (and read) a pile of pilot scripts, it wasn't until she discovered Samantha Who? that Applegate got serious again about comedy. Not that executive producer Don Todd could tell right away. Todd first met with an under-the-weather Applegate to discuss the project at the CAA offices of her agent.
"Her nose was running, her eyes were bleary, but she came to the meeting because she knew if she cancelled, we would assume she was blowing us off," he recalls. "I couldn't really get a read on her. She plays things close to the vest. She's very smart. She doesn't let you know what she's thinking until she's ready."
To watch Applegate as the multi-dimensional Sam is to realise that she's finally found a TV role worthy of her comedic talents. And she's clearly relishing the opportunity.
"I feel like I've landed in something that's really special and a character that was really made for me to do," she says. "We all want to right wrongs that we've done in our lives. But it's hard to start over."
Applegate knows a thing or two about the challenges of starting over. Throughout her career, the actress has felt the pressure to stay relevant in an industry that places a premium on the latest 'It Girl'.
"I've been around for so long," she says with a wry laugh. "It's hard to reinvent yourself again and again. But that's always been my focus and my fight."
Even so, Applegate sympathises with today's young performers, whose every move is monitored by the paparazzi.
"These kids don't even get to make one misstep without it being documented and then blown out of proportion," she says quietly. "I think it's really disgusting."
She particularly feels for Britney Spears. "I don't know her," she says, "but she obviously needs to be taken care of. People need to back off and let her go and get better."
Applegate's sympathy for Spears no doubt stems from a recent (if rare) run-in she had with the tabloids. In early November, reports surfaced that the actress was spotted making out with her ex-husband, actor Johnathan Schaech, at a Hollywood club. Applegate doesn't deny the story, which naturally begs the question: Are they back together?
"Absolutely not," she says firmly. "We're just good friends." She pauses for a moment, considering her words. "I don't even know if we're good friends," she finally says. "We're just sort of pleasant to one another."
Well, clearly.
She laughs, says "Yeah," then adds: "For someone who likes their privacy, it's not a good idea to go to places like that."
In general, Applegate insists she's a homebody who enjoys nothing more than mornings spent on the patio doing the New York Times crossword puzzle.
"Everyone thinks I'm a genius because I do it in pen, but it's an erasable pen," she says with a laugh. When she does choose to hang with friends, she prefers to do it at her hilltop retreat.
"We sit out here and make a little fire, eat and have wine."
Sometimes, there's a rousing game of Scrabble.
"My life is very different than the young'uns," she says. "I'm a grown-up, you know."
