Just in time for her new sitcom about starting over, Christina Applegate has reached the end of an era.
The 35-year-old actress' four-year marriage to fellow thespian Jonathan Schaech, 36, is officially over, according to court documents filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by E! News. (Read the filing.)
While a rep for the childless couple has said that their decision to split was mutual, Schaech got the ball rolling by filing for divorce on Dec. 5, 2005, citing irreconcilable differences as the reason.
The pair tied the knot in a quiet Palm Springs ceremony in October 2001 after four years of dating.
Schaech appeared in an episode of the Showtime series Masters of Horror in January and has a slate of scary-sounding projects in the works, according to imdb.com, including the flicks Living Hell and a remake of the 1980 chiller Prom Night, costarring Brittany Snow, that's due in theaters next April.
Applegate, meanwhile, returns to prime-time this fall in the title-challenged ABC show Samantha Who? about an amnesiac woman who wakes up from a coma and soon discovers that she wasn't that great of a person before the accident.
Originally titled Sam I Am, which is how ABC presented it at the network upfronts earlier this year, the show was renamed in June because producers couldn't reach an agreement with the estate of Dr. Seuss—seriously!—which obviously felt that the Green Eggs and Ham-ish title hit a little too close to home.
Then, the comedy was briefly called Samantha Be Good, to reflect the title character's intention to be a better person after realizing that she was a real jerk, but that appellation was quickly scuttled and replaced with the name that's, as far as anyone can see, is headed to a fall lineup near you, Samantha Who?
Jean Smart (Sam's mother), Jennifer Esposito (Sam's best friend), Barry Watson (Sam's boyfriend) and Kevin Dunn (Sam's dad) will be on hand to help Applegate pick up the pieces.
This marks Applegate's first fulltime stint on the small screen since the not-quite Must-See-TV NBC sitcom Jesse in 1998. The erstwhile Married…with Children ditz won an Emmy in 2003 for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her turn as Rachel's snotty older sister Amy on Friends. She also picked up a 2005 Tony Award nomination for Sweet Charity.
Also on tap for the Anchorman star is the big-screen comedy The Rocker, costarring Rainn Wilson as a washed-up drummer who gets a second chance at the big time, 20 years after the band he was booted from hit it big.