The Girl with Something Extra

So this morning I get up and remember I set my DVR for a show called The Girl With Something Extra. I was always a fan of Sally Field and figured I would give this show a chance. You see I was born in 1970 and being that I was just a little to young to remember this show I figured I would give it a try.

What a wonderful breath of fresh air this series is, Sally Fields talents are on display even in the first episode, it really shows why she is such a talented actress. And I must admit I was impressed with John Davidson, I mean I knew him as a singer but never had explored any of his acting credits.

I certainly will be looking forward to the rest of the series now that a network is taking the time to show some obscure series that unfortunately did not last to long. I just wish that there was more then 22 episodes. But boy am I looking forward to them.

Very rarely do I do a review of a series after only one episode but it certainly is a charming show.

21 of the 22 episodes of NBC's The Girl With Something Extra were rerun this year on Get TV. I was unfamiliar with this series during it's original run, having watched its competition, Roll Out on CBS, and The Odd Couple on abc. The Girl With Something Extra works very well as a light comedy, without getting bogged down in the magic of E.S.P., and like Sally Field's earlier Screen Gems series, Gidget, and The Flying Nun, her supporting cast is excellent. I was pleasantly surprised and would love to see a complete series DVD, if only to see the missing episode.

Why don't you list the two major actors who play Sally & John Burton on this page? I did a search and their names only appear in the synopsis of the plot. Sally Field played the wife with ESP, but who was the husband?

I really enjoyed this show in my middle childhood and was sad when it didn't return for a second season. I found the ESP facility, used in a comedic manner to be very entertaining. The energy/chemistry between the actors who played husband and wife was wonderful. It reminds me of the energy between such television couples and Samantha and Darren on Bewitched, Dharma and Greg and Jeannie and the Major. My memories of this TV series are a bit fuzzy as it was so long ago, but I would love to see it on DVD.

This was a fun show that deserved to be more popular. Not as magical as "Bewitched" or "I Dream of Jeannie," and not as silly as "The Flying Nun," Sally Field played a girl with ESP...think "Nanny and the Professor". I would love to see this again.

Being able hear people's thoughts and exploring the dilemma between what they ask for and what they really want, could have propelled this show to the iconic status of other fantasy sitcoms of those days. Could we imagine just how many opportunities that Sally could have had in helping her lawyer husband with his cases or fulfilling customer's wishes in her antique store or with the overall struggles of the feminist movement of the early 1970s?

This show doesn't make good use of its premise, being uncreative and flat in a world full of possibilities. Just for comparison, take the commercial success of the imaginative writing of a similar premise in the funny (and somewhat thought provoking) What Women Want (2000), where the ESP 'gift' is presented from the man's perspective.

Unfortunately, 'The Girl with Something Extra' doesn't really get anywhere and ended up wasting the talents of two good actors, who could have made better material really work.