That Girl

Four years before the debut of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, this was the first show to feature an independent woman who wanted to make it on her own without having to rely on her parents or her boyfriend. This was a great show with a great cast that really worked well together. The other thing that I really loved about this show was the fact that the humor was very broad and that Ann, even though she was independent, often found herself in some very awkward situations. I especially loved the last season in which we really saw Ann's relationship with Donald really blossom as they finally became engaged. Too bad it ended before they walked down the aisle.

'That Girl' is a 60s sitcom that holds up much better than most when viewed almost 40 years later.

Altho Marlo Thomas provides most of the zaniness that sitcoms often seek to provide, my favorite role was actually Ted Bessel's Don Hollinger. The character of Don was, for the most part, a very calm, composed influence on the show. He seldom got flustered in the face of Ann's occasional hysterics or her father's often stern disapproval. Despite the 'character of his character', he was no straight man. Each episode has several intelligent witticisms or truly amusing wry comments from Don.

The series stayed remarkably consistent through the entire run, in my opinion never 'jumping the shark', as so many long running sitcoms are prone to.

Don and Ann set a good example for a mature and caring relationship, even in the face of comedy script episodes and antics.

Highly recommended.

This is a charming, funny and lovely show. A pleasure to watch anytime. I didn't know about this show until it came out on DVD and now I love it. I'll buy every season. The main characters Ann and Donald (her boyfriend) have such chemistry. The show is basically about Ann Marie (an actress starting out) and her life in New York with work, friends and family. Marlo Thomas and her writers ensured the same consistent thread of quality in every show so the show has continuity. I find most shows that have stars as producers or in some power capacity are higher quality as they care about the show and characters. Marlo produced this show via her Daisy Production company as we learn in the first season booklet. I was disappointed to hear that everyone on the show wanted the show to continue but she didn't so she shut down after a few seasons. I think this show is a classic TV show. Ted Bessell as her boyfriend is perfect and they make a great on screen couple. Casting for this show was excellent.

If you are looking for sex in the city or Seinfeld this isn't it. This is a charming TV show that makes me long for the 1960's when life was a bit more simple and pleasurable and less rushed. I'd highly recommend this if you are looking for something just fun to watch but keep in mind it is from the 60's.

... or if not that, Ted Bessell as one of the most sexually frustrated men of 1960's New York City. If the Mary Tyler Moore show had first aired in 1966 instead of 1970, it would have been this show. American culture changed that quickly. Marlo Thomas plays a young woman, Ann Marie, from the village of Brewster, New York who comes to the big city to become an actress, which is a tough career to break into, thus she takes a series of quirky jobs to get by which often become the central theme of certain episodes. In the very first episode she meets Donald (Ted Bessell), a writer for a magazine, and they are a couple for the next five years, a couple that - apparently - never has sex.

Back home, Ann's dad (Lew Parker) never quite trusts Donald's intentions with his daughter, and believes that girls should live at home until married. Thus a mainstay of the show is dad bursting in on Ann and Donald, either incidentally or intentionally, only to find them in what appears to be a compromising position (Ah ha! I've got him!) that in the end has a logical and platonic explanation.

If you didn't live through this period in history, you might think of the 1960's and believe it was nothing but an endless parade of hippies, pot smoking, and student/police confrontations over the Vietnam War. The fact is, most people in 1960's America were still living in the 1950's at the time, and women were still largely accepted only in traditional professions - teaching, nursing, secretarial work, acting - you know, jobs that involve either serving men or children. So That Girl was about as far as network TV could go with this topic - a young woman living in her own apartment pursuing a career in ANYTHING in New York City - without raising middle class eyebrows.

It was bright, funny, and innocent, sometimes to the point of being naive, but I'll always look back fondly on "That Girl" of my youth.

One TV Encyclopedia I consulted claims that since THAT GIRL was canceled in mid-season in 1971, there are "lost episodes" which were never aired, having to do with Ann and Don's wedding plans. IS ABC/TVLAND holding out on us? Can any one confirm or debunk this? As I recall-being 10 years old at the time---the couple spend that entire season looking at furniture, dreaming of a new house, pricing the wedding dress, etc. Also, I find it strange, given that the two are engaged during the last season, that Marlo Thomas supposedly demanded the marriage never take place? What was she going to do; have Ann leave Don at the altar?