Remembering Samantha Who? with Christina Applegate

Christina Applegate.

It's been a while since we last saw Christina Applegate on Samantha Who?--almost four months--so you'll have to excuse her for being a little spotty when trying to remember where the show left off. Either that, or she's taken a bit of her amnesiac character with her.

Applegate, who rose to fame as the dim-witted sex icon Kelly Bundy on Married... with Children, is now a regular name come awards time as the identity-seeking Samantha. The 37-year-old actress chatted with TV.com about the show, how she's changed since her early days, and returning to television.

TV.com: So you're back from break with the upcoming episode "My Best Friend's Boyfriend." Why don't you tell us a little bit about it?

Christina Applegate: I hope I can remember what it was about. [laughs]

Well… it's about my best friend's boyfriend. Andrea has been madly in love with Tony Dane, the famous basketball player in fictitious Basketball Land. And she finally gets a date with him and we find out a little something about him…that he may not like her kind. So that's our main premise. And, you know, I don't remember the rest of what the episode is. But I think Todd and Sam go on a double date with them and then we find out this little tidbit about Tony Dane.

TV.com: This episode also seems to set up a lot of what's going to happen for Sam for the rest of the season because at the end, she goes back to talk to Todd, and Todd has a bit of a surprise. What's in store for Samantha moving forward?

Christina Applegate: Well, the Todd and Samantha relationship is always going to not be moving forward because they play the cat-and-mouse game pretty well with one another. So that's something that I think we enjoy doing anyway. I think that's going to be around for a little while.

She gets a new job a few episodes in--she starts working at Chapman and Funk again, but under a different arena. She sort of manipulates Winston Funk into giving her this job that is philanthropic, and as opposed to just getting a bunch of money and being, you know, evil old Sam. She gets to do something good through a company that was kind of evil.

TV.com: Do you personally want to see Samantha and Todd get back together? Fans are probably split on that. But what do you think?

Christina Applegate: I don't know. I like them together. I like doing scenes with Barry [Watson]. But if it means us just being roommates and playing this game out with each other, that makes me happy, too, because I still get to work with him. And as long as I get to work with Barry, I'm really happy. I think that relationship is really funny. I think whether they're together or they're not together, they've got that tension with one another, and it can sometimes be misconstrued as love, and sometimes it can be misconstrued as hate. And those scenes end up being really fun and fun to shoot. So I just want them to be around each other as much as possible.

TV.com: There are a lot of time where you play pre-amnesia Samantha. And she's quite the capital B. Is it really fun to go back and kind of to have a new take on Samantha?

Christina Applegate: I love playing her. I mean on one hand as an actor, it's very relaxing to play her because she's very, very confident, and everything kind of calms down when I'm playing her. And she's not in such a hurry when she walks somewhere. So it's definitely a lot more relaxing to play [laugh] her than playing [the new] Sam who is constantly searching. My muscles hurt at the end of the day when I play her.

But I like when we don't just have little flashbacks. I like when we get to see her like for a couple of pages and really see who she really is.

There was an episode we did last year that, you know--I don't how many people saw it, but I know that it was told mostly in flashback. So you got to really see who she was, that she wasn't just this awful person. She was just sort of a damaged girl, and that's who she is. She's kind of damaged.

Christina as Samantha.

TV.com: You said Samantha is trying to figure herself out now. But I was wondering what you have learned about yourself from the show?

Christina Applegate: You know, for me, it's my job and it's what I love to do. And I think every week I become a better actor because it stretches me. And so, for me, I try to take it as a learning experience. I try to do the best job I can every week regardless of whether I'm tired or whatever. I'm just really trying to stretch myself so that I can be better at what I do, so I can continue to learn and grow and move on to other stuff after this. But for me I think I've built a lot more confidence in myself as a performer.

TV.com: And is that in stark contrast from your days back on Married With Children?

Christina Applegate: No. I mean that was a learning experience for me, too. I had never done comedy before. And I was not a funny person at all. And it took a while for me to really kind of hone in on what that meant, and it took eleven years I think. Some of the best stuff I did was towards the end. [laugh] So I think, by then, that was a learning and growing experience as well.

TV.com: Now you're being paired up with In The Motherhood. From a business standpoint, how do you think that works for Samantha Who?

Christina Applegate: I think we probably share the same audience. I think it works. I haven't seen In The Motherhood yet, but anything with Megan Mullally is going to be funny. So I have no doubt about that. And I think [ABC has] been waiting [to bring us back]. That's why we've been off the air this whole time.. to find us a perfect companion piece, because we can't be greedy and take up the after Dancing With The Stars slot forever. They have to launch new shows, too, you know?

So I'm really hoping and feeling very positive that we'll all work together into Grey's Anatomy and it'll kind of be a good flow.

TV.com: Well, thank you very much for talking with us, and best of luck with everything.

Christina Applegate: Thanks!

Samantha Who? returns Thursday, March 26 at 8:30 p.m. on ABC.