"Panic? You think this is panic? You wanna see panic, keep your eye on that girl." - Ted Bessell as Don Hollinger
That Girl: Volume 1 DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
That Girl, which joined ABC's schedule on September 8, 1966, is, in some ways, surprisingly modern for a show that ran concurrently with The Monkees, Lassie, and My Three Sons. In the first episode, we meet Ann Marie (Marlo Thomas), a struggling New York actress who is temporarily making ends meet by manning a newsstand in the lobby of an office building. When Donald Hollinger (Ted Bessell), who works in the building as a writer with Newsview magazine, stops by for a pack of gum, they begin a mild flirtation.
The possibility of romance begins to dim, however, when both Ann and Donald set their sights on a roll top desk that is being liquidated by a furniture store in the building. They cannot agree on which person saw it first and can therefore lay claim to the desk. Things are further complicated when Ann gets a tiny acting break as a kidnap victim in a commercial being filmed in the building. A confused Donald "saves" her from the actors/kidnappers, which enrages a horrified Ann. Several other misunderstandings later, the two are well on their way to falling in love.
This DVD collects nine episodes that span the series' entire five season run. The episodes are divided into three categories. Oh, Donald contains three episodes that present pivotal moments in Ann's relationship with Donald. These episodes are "Don't Just Do Something, Stand There" (the first episode, as described above), "Anatomy of a Blunder" (in which Donald meets Ann's parents for the first time), and "Counter Proposal" (in which Donald proposes to Ann). Auditions, Auditions, Auditions collects three episodes that deal with Ann's acting career. These are "Call of the Wild" (in which Ann is the sexless Creamy Soap Girl), "Nobody Here But Us Chickens" (in which Ann dresses as a chicken to shill, you guessed it, chicken), and "The Snow Must Go On" (in which a snow storm nearly wrecks Ann's audition for a play). The imaginatively named Guest Stars section of the DV D features "This Little Piggy Had a Ball" (Rob Reiner, Teri Garr, here billed as "Terry," and Dabney Coleman), "Pass the Potatoes, Ethel Merman" (guess who), and "Those Friars" (Milton Berle and Danny Thomas).
That Girl was one of the first series to present an image of an "independent woman." As a trailblazer, however, it still had one foot firmly planted in the past. Sure, Ann is "independent," but in a non-threatening, borderline incompetent sort of way. She often behaves like an overgrown three year old, getting into scrapes and then having to get someone else to bail her out of them. Marlo Thomas is so likeable in the role, though, that this is almost forgivable.
Another problem is the possibly unintentional assertion that "independent women" are prone to being hit on by predatory males. In three of the nine episodes presented here, Ann is victim to unwanted advances from dirty old men. Even worse, they are usually work related. In "Call of the Wild," future Maytag Repairman Jessie White plays the seemingly nice head of Creamy Soap, who ends up chasing Ann around her apartment. Slim Pickens does the honors in "Nobody Here But Us Chickens" as the head of the Chicken Big fast food chain. The show almost seems to say that Ann would not have these problems if she would simply stay at home instead of trying to navigate the big bad world of employment. Plus - at least in these episodes - the gigs that Ann lands are so lame that she seems almost idiotic in her excitement about them.
That Girl is like an embryonic version of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Both shows feature young women who leave the safe confines of their hometowns to try and make their fortunes in the big city. That Girl's episodes, however, strike an uneasy balance between traditional sitcom tomfoolery and Mary Tyler Moore's character based humor. Girl is best when it does not try to be laugh out loud funny but instead relies on humor that is organic to the characters. Standard sitcom plots, like when Ann gets her toe stuck in a bowling ball, are just too silly, and this is made worse by the cloying canned laughter that mars all of the episodes.
Not surprisingly, the strongest episodes here deal with Ann and Donald's relationship. With these shows taken out of context of the seasons, it is hard to tell exactly what the overall tone of the series was. Some of the episodes are really fun, but viewers who are new to the series never get to really know the characters in the way that a full season set would allow.
Upon placing the DVD in the player, the episodes automatically begin to play. Pressing menu leads to a screen listing the three episode categories. Choosing a category brings the viewer to a screen listing the episodes in the category. From there, viewers can choose to play the entire episode or to view the scene selections. Each episode is divided into four chapters.
