Before Married With Children, Christina Applegate Starred In This Forgotten Crime Drama

Before she became known as the dim-witted Kelly Bundy on a beloved '80s sitcom that doesn't hold up today, "Married... with Children," Christina Applegate had a role in a short-lived television relic known as "Heart of the City": A gritty ABC police drama that only lasted one season and 13 episodes. 

The plot centered on Wes Kennedy (Robert Desiderio), a hot-tempered Los Angeles cop trying to raise his two teenagers as a single father after his wife is murdered. Applegate — who was only 14 years old at the time — co-starred as his teenage daughter, Robin, alongside Jonathan Ward as her brother, Kevin. Unfortunately, the 1986 series just couldn't survive its brutal Saturday night time slot. According to the Los Angeles Times, "Heart of the City," ranked 74th in the Nielsen ratings among the 75 prime-time series airing that same year, so the plug was pulled by January 1987.

Even before the ratings tanked, critics weren't exactly thrilled. In a review from The New York Times, John J. O'Connor dismissed the pilot as a bleak and exhaustingly downbeat affair, pleading with the showrunners to give both the cast and audience a break from the misery. On the opposite end, there are a few viewers who actually have a soft spot for the show. On IMDb, the "Heart of the City" sports a favorable 7.3 rating with mostly mixed to positive reviews. 

IMDb user Cantoris-2 praised the show, calling it "head and shoulders above most commercial TV fare." They were also distressed by its abrupt end, adding: "Seeing this program when it first appeared, I immediately recognized a class act, watched every episode I could, and was very disappointed, even angry, when the powers-that-be canceled it." Another user, Fred–172, echoed that sentiment, writing that "An emerging star also appeared in Christina Applegate in the role of Robin Kennedy. The show dealt with issues like sex, the death of a parent and troubled youth. All in all a wonderful, thought-provoking piece of work that deserved better."

Fans weren't the only ones to recognize the star power in Applegate. The show earned her an Exceptional Performance By a Young Actress in a New Television, Comedy or Drama Series nomination at the Young Artist Awards in 1987. She won, even beating out other '80s starlets such as Shannon Dougherty ("Our House") and Andrea Elson ("ALF").

Months after "Heart of the City" vanished from the airwaves, Applegate became a household name after playing promiscuous rocker girl, Kelly Bundy, in "Married... with Children." The 11-season show paved the way for a bustling Hollywood movie career, which included comedies like "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead," to later hits like "Anchorman." She never quit television though. Applegate eventually led her own 2007 sitcom, "Samantha Who?," earned an Emmy nomination for "Up All Night," and garnered critical acclaim in Netflix's "Dead to Me," which she starred in.