"I know you and mom spent a lot of time bringing me up, but now I'm up!" - Marlo Thomas as Ann Marie
That Girl: Season One DVD Review
By A.J. Carson
In the mid-1960s, Marlo Thomas, daughter of actor/producer Danny Thomas (Make Room for Daddy), was cast as the lead in an ABC sitcom pilot. The network didn't pick up the series, but decided that they had found a star in...That Girl. The network came up with a slew of ideas for their young discovery, but none of them appealed to Thomas. The scripts were just too traditional, with roles that were defined by their relationship to the other characters - someone's wife, someone's daughter, someone's girlfriend. Thomas recruited Bill Persky and Sam Denoff, writers who had worked on The Dick Van Dyke Show (produced by her father), and they set about creating a series centering on a character not unlike Thomas herself: a strong, independent young woman who wants to become an actress despite opposition from her parents. It took a little convincing, but ABC was eventually won over. A pilot was filmed, and after a few changes, That Girl premiered on September 8, 1966.
Thomas stars as Ann Marie, a pert aspiring actress who leaves the security of life in her hometown of Brewster, NY to be on her own in New York City. Much to her parents' chagrin, Ann wants to give her career a shot before settling down. Brewster is only forty miles from New York City, but to Ann's restaurateur father Lou (Lew Parker) it might as well be on the moon. Helen Marie (Rosemary DeCamp) supports her daughter, but also can't help thinking that it might be better for Ann to give up her silly dreams and come home.
Ann, however, is thrilled with being on her own. Sure, she has to take on crummy jobs like waitressing, selling shoes, and working a newsstand while waiting for her big break, but she's sure it'll happen. After all, she's been a mop on a kids' show, a villainess on a soap opera, and a murder victim in a crime drama. As her father says, "It isn't easy to send a girl to college for four years and have her end up as a mop." But to Ann, her big break is just around the corner, and she'll continue to work toward it with the help of her steady boyfriend, Newsview writer Don Hollinger (Ted Bessell).
The season gets off to a rocky start. The individual episodes in the early part of the season are fine, but there seems to be much plotline tinkering. The first episode, "Don't Just Do Something, Stand There," recounts how Ann and Don met. The episode is charming, but Thomas announces at the end that it is merely a "preview," and that the actual season starts with the next episode. That second episode, "Good-Bye, Hello, Good-Bye," follows Ann as she leaves Brewster and settles in New York City. This episode is entertaining, but she hasn't met Donald yet, so he's nowhere to be seen - an odd and awkward way to begin a series and introduce characters.
Many of the best episodes in season one find Ann dealing with one (or both) of the men in her life. Donald finds himself struggling to complete with a wealthy playboy who is pursuing Ann ("Rich Little Rich Kid"). Ann needs a job and Donald needs a substitute secretary. It sounds like a simple equation, but turns into a nightmare when the duo realizes that business and pleasure should not necessarily mix ("Help Wanted"). Ann is thrilled to meet Donald's mother, until she realizes that the woman believes she is just like the evil character she has been playing on a soap opera ("Soap Gets in Your Eyes"). Donald convinces Ann to appear in a smarmy TV game show so that he can get an exclusive behind-the-scenes story for the magazine, but neglects to tell her that he'll be participating, too ("The Mating Game").
Ann's relationship with her father is just as complicated. He refuses to speak to her when she decides to change her stage name to "Marie Brewster" ("What's in a Name"). Lou and Helen jump to conclusions when they discover that Ann and Donald have run off to Connecticut for a wedding ("Rain, Snow, and Rice"). Lou's meddling leads to complications when he tries to spur on this daughter's relationship only to discover that she and Donald are also dating other people ("What Are Your Intentions"). Ann thinks that her father is taking her to a surprise birthday party, but the real surprise is his admission of the depth of his love for her ("Paper Hats and Everything").
We meet another of Ann's family members in "Leaving the Nest is for the Birds" when her Aunt Harriet (Hazel Shermet) comes for a visit. This particular aunt has a negative opinion of Ann and her current living situation. Ann makes a lavish dinner at her apartment to prove that New York is safe and homey, but her point is lost when a suicidal neighbor chooses the ledge outside of Ann's apartment as his entrance into the great beyond.
Some of the episodes are - to put it mildly - less than perfect. In "I'll Be Suing You," Ann winds up in court when a sewing machine salesman drops his wares on Donald's car. In "Kimono My House," Ann hires a maid to clean Donald's bachelor pad, but regrets her actions when she meets the beautiful Japanese cleaning lady. In "A Tenor's Loving Care," Ann facilitates an interview between Donald and a reclusive opera star. These episodes are unsuccessful because they put the emphasis on outsiders rather than the series' stars.
Still, every series has a few clunkers. Not every series can claim to have helped shaped TV history. Shows about strong, independent women like The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Murphy Brown may have eventually hit the airwaves even without the precedent set by That Girl, but chances are that Ann Marie helped to accelerate their arrival and their acceptance.
Familiar faces in season one include Ronnie Schell (Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.), Billy De Wolfe (Frosty the Snowman), Dabney Coleman (9 to 5), Carl Ballantine (McHale's Navy), Sam Melville (The Rookies), Bernie Kopell (The Love Boat), Michael Conrad (Hill Street Blues), Herb Edelman (The Golden Girls), Sally Kellerman (M*A*S*H), George Carlin (Tony Orlando & Dawn), Mabel Albertson (Bewitched), Geoff Edwards (Treasure Hunt), Marjorie Bennett (Dobie Gillis), George Cisar (Dennis the Menace), Howard Morton (Gimme a Break!), Rob Reiner (All in the Family), Sterling Holloway (Winnie the Pooh), John Fiedler (The Bob Newhart Show), Paul Lynde (Bewitched), J. Pat O'Malley (Maude), Amanda Randolph (Make Room for Daddy), Richard Dreyfuss (The Education of Max Bickford), Carroll O'Conner (All in the Family), Jerry Van Dyke (My Mother the Car), Dick "Please Don't Squeeze the Charmin" Wilson, Teri Garr, and Alejandro Rey (The Flying Nun).
The thirty episodes that make up That Girl: Season One are divided onto five discs. The DVDs are housed in a foldout digipak. The inside of the digipak is decorated with a cartoon-like illustration of a That Girl kite flying over a cityscape. This kite motif is from the opening credits sequence of subsequent seasons, but is not actually employed in season one. The exterior includes a listing of episode titles and original airdates. A booklet (housed in its own pocket) provides an informative essay as well as a basic episode guide for the first season. The digipak slides into an outer cardboard sleeve.
The full-motion menus feature the series' season one theme song. Viewers can choose to watch all of the disc's episodes, or can choose an individual one. Episodes are divided into chapters, but there are no scene selection menus.
