The very funny Christina Applegate has announced that her on-camera career is probably over due to the progression of multiple sclerosis. The two-time Emmy nominee for Dead to me has essentially retired from acting — the only thing on Applegate’s comedic horizon is voice work for a proposal Married with children animated series. Although most of the acting has become too difficult, “I can do voice over stuff because I have to support my family and keep my brain working,” she shared Vanity purse.
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It’s hard to imagine how misogynistic an animated movie is Married with children plays in 2023. If Applegate didn’t need the work, it’s even harder to imagine her agreeing to revisit flippant bimbo Kelly Bundy. “When I look back on it afterwards, it’s pretty gross,” she says. (Even today, the show’s official YouTube channel has a 15-minute compilation video of Applegate dressed in revealing outfits.) “That part of it kind of sucked. Men had posters of this little 17-year-old, with me holding pearls. Like, who made me do that?
At least Married introduced the world to Applegate, which gave her a chance to showcase her comedic talents in more appropriate vehicles. Those television appearances earned her seven Emmy nominations, including a win for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (for playing Rachel’s sister Amy in Friends). Here are a few Cracked favorites from both TV and film that flaunt Applegate’s comedic ability to play a bad-ass pro, an evil mother, an amnesiac eager to repent, and a wine-guzzling, profanity-spewing chick who’s out on justice.
Anchorman
It’s literally four against one in the Channel 4 newsroom as Brick, Champ, Brian and Ron try to seduce and professionally humiliate Burgundy at the same time Veronica Corningstonetheir new colleague. The aspiring journalist, like Kelly Bundy, is noticed for her beauty, but Veronica lets Applegate wield the sharpest tools in her comedic utility belt. Not only is she the smartest, most professional newsreader of the bunch, but Applegate also gets to show off her physical comedic skills when she pounds the shit out of anchor baby Burgundy. Knights of Columbus, that hurts!
Bad mothers
Applegate seemed obvious to one of the bad moms, but she played against type as the uptight PTA dictator Gwendolyn. Playing “the bitch” always has the danger of becoming a clichéd one-note performance, but “Applegate works it out with malicious sorcery,” say Rolling stone. When she finally collapses thanks to an embezzling husband, a brother who joins ISIS and a DVR that randomly stops recording Castle? “Comic gold.”
Samantha Who?
It’s the definition of a high concept — Applegate plays Samantha, an amnesiac who discovers she used to be a selfish person, but vows to do better. (Not done Jim Carey make a lot of it?) Applegate was nominated for two Emmys for this comic whirlwind performance. “The show works because Ms. Applegate is the kind of comedy actress who could never quite be believable as a goody-two-shoes”, wrote the New York Times. “She puts a healthy ironic distance between herself and that dreaded entity the better her character needs to get. You look into her eyes and luckily you see a repeat offender.”
Dead to me
We go along with the idea that the recently closed Dead to me was a comedy, despite the fact that the themes – mainly sadness and loss – are no laughing matter. Applegate has never had a better vehicle for balancing comedic agility with raw emotion. “Applegate is here so, so good as Jensaid NPR, “angry and vulnerable and intelligent, smart and sometimes foolish.” If Dead to me was Applegate’s swan song on camera, it was a great way to go out.
