When John Hughes died a few weeks ago, my youth officially died with him. He was a symbol of the 1980s, THE time for my generation to be a teen. It was sad to admit the '80s were officially over.

So thank heavens for TV Land for providing the balm on my broken heart by airing two staples of the late 1980s: Married… with Children and Roseanne.

It is refreshing to see the “real-folks” television again after years of whiny yuppies parading in New York City (because if I wanted to see that, I would look in a mirror). With Married… and Roseanne, we can relive those halcyon days when the economy was in the toilet.

Oh wait, that’s now.

But don’t worry, this isn’t one of those postings about “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Yes, replaying TV shows about struggling families is incredibly relevant, but I would like to touch on a phenomenon near and dear to my heart.

The Christina Applegate factor (henceforward known as the CAF).

In April 1987, a know-it-all, snotty, straight-A student who had just been accepted to USC film school thought he would turn on this newfangled network called FOX. Yes, judgmental he (and by he I of course mean me) thought of FOX as the Hydrox cookies to the “big three” Oreos. It was like walking into a 99¢ store and seeing “Cleenox” bleach or something like that.

But I was impressed from the moment the theme song started – I realized that with “Love and Marriage” sung as a contrapuntal anthem to the Bundy household, I would be hooked. Plus, I have a potty mouth and mind and am an overgrown Beavis. And I have a thing for busty broads like Katey Sagal and kinda thought I would marry one of her twin sisters Jean or Liz of Double Trouble and Grease 2 fame.

Sorry, I digress. I watched the show and thought, “Aw crap, the teenage daughter needs to bleach her roots, and she was cast just ‘cause she’s hot?

No, no, young Sammy. Ms. Applegate’s Kelly Bundy is a delicious character. Ms, Applegate knew how to use her looks to get laughs – she was in on the joke herself. In a word, she was smart. It takes talent to play dumb (and/or slutty).

Now that TV Land is replaying MWC, I am reminded of many other women who embody the CAF. Brilliant Vassar grad Lisa Kudrow made Phoebe Buffay funny and touching. Say what you want about Delta Burke, but Suzanne Sugarbaker is like a beauty-queen version of Archie Bunker.

As I think of more brilliant women who played not-so-brilliant characters, I realize the CAF is not a new phenomenon.

Should we call it the BWF because Betty White perfected the skill to a T by playing both slutty Sue Ann Nivens and the clueless Rose Nylund? Or the GHF because Goldie Hawn has an Oscar to show for her work? Heck, we can go as far back as Carole Lombard.

But ya know, the CAF is not just about the ditzy woman. It’s about the art of what some people would call “stupid humor.” When I tuned into MWC years ago, I thought it had potential to be a very stupid show with very bad actors. But every single one of them, not just our current Samantha Who, had a gift to create this horrifying family – horrifying because they kinda say out loud what we sometimes think. They kinda act the way we might want to. And as performers, they act the hell out of it.

Photo Courtesy WireImage

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