Who's Talking Now?

Leading lady Christina Applegate apologized for her cough and sniffles, but the audience was more than forgiving when the cast and creative team of her ABC sitcom visited the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre February 12. On occasion, the Academy guests could have used tissues themselves, to wipe away tears of laughter.

"An Evening with Samantha Who?," a special presentation of the Television Academy for its members, offered a lively glimpse into the show, the tale of a young woman coping with life after amnesia. Now in its second season, the series has already earned Applegate a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in the title role and brought Jean Smart, as Samantha's mother, her third Primetime Emmy statuette.

Joining the duo on the panel were castmates Kevin Dunn, Jennifer Esposito, Melissa McCarthy, Tim Russ and Barry Watson; cocreator-executive producer Donald Todd; executive producers Matthew Carlson and Peter Traugott; and supervising producer John Amodeo. TV Guide executive editor Craig Tomashoff moderated.

Cecelia Ahern, the Irish novelist who penned P.S. I Love You, is also a cocreator of the show. "She came up with the idea and pitched it to ABC," Todd explained. "They needed someone to run it here, so I got involved. It's about a universal idea: being able to start over."

The concept was an easy sell, Traugott added, noting that Todd was being too modest about his contribution: "Don fleshed out the [material Ahern] came up with."
Applegate got involved, she quipped, because "Don Todd begged me!"

Seriously, though, "I loved the idea of someone who's completely erased," the actress said. "I'd seen a documentary about a guy who had retrograde amnesia, and it was so interesting. The past makes us who we are. I found it fascinating to see a woman who had no memory in her adult life."

Smart, already an Applegate fan, said she was "hooked" after reading the pilot script.

Todd recalled Smart's curiosity about her character: "Jean asked, 'What does she wear?' Not, 'How will I look?' but, 'Who is she?' We got into a discussion. I thought, 'Oh, this is a pain, but it's worth it.'"

Esposito, whose character is a self-obsessed attorney, had read for the part of Samantha. But, she recounted, "My agent called and said, '[Todd] loves you! He thinks you're Andrea!' And I thought, 'He thinks I'm a drunken slut?'"

As for Samantha, her former self - dubbed "Bad Sam" - was a nasty real estate executive, estranged from her family. The nice, new "Good Sam" is trying to atone for her previous misdeeds, forging a bond with her family in the process.

Indeed, the parent-child relationship is key to the show, giving Smart's character, Regina, the chance to make up for poor mothering and enlivening the humdrum existence of Dunn's character, Samantha's father. The family dynamic carries over into real life.

"Jean gets so mad at me when I cuss," Applegate offered.

"I feel very protective of her," said Smart, the real-life mother of a son. "It's fun to play the mommy of a daughter. I boss her around a little bit.... [But] she's the producer, and I have to remember that."

"I love bringing that up on set!" Applegate said with a laugh. "When Don said he wanted Jean, I knew it was going to be a quality show."

The panel speculated about the off-again, on-again relationship between Applegate and Watson's characters. There may be a wedding this season, Todd teased, though "God knows whose." The show was returning to the air in March after being off since December, he noted, so its future "all depends on if people find it."

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