"I don't know. You give a girl everything. Try to bring her up right and she turns into a rain saver. Sometimes I just don't know about that girl..." - Lew Parker as Mr. Marie when he discovers that his daughter, Ann, collects rain water to wash her hair
That Girl: Season Three DVD Review
By A.J. Carson
In season three of That Girl, Marlo Thomas continues her role as Ann Marie, an aspiring actress living on her own in New York City. Her parents, who live forty miles away in Brewster, New York, are still dubious about their independent daughter. Ann's restaurateur father Lou (Lew Parker) is sure that danger and degradation lurk around every corner in the big city. Helen Marie (Rosemary DeCamp) cuts her daughter a little more slack, especially when it comes to Ann's steady boyfriend, Newsview writer Don Hollinger (Ted Bessell). Lou, on the other hand, is sure that Don just wants to take advantage of his little girl. Even a simple game of Monopoly becomes a war of wills between the two men ("Bad Day at Marvin Gardens").
Many of season three's episodes deal with the two men in Ann's life. When faced with voting in her first presidential election, she consults magazines for advice on issues but refuses to even tell her father which party she's registered with because it would threaten her right to a secret ballot ("Secret Ballot"). Ann is reluctant to tell her father that she was mugged in Central Park, which leads to an embarrassing situation when he sees Don dressed as a female decoy for a story he is writing ("A Muggy Day in Central Park"). When Lou discovers that Ann and Don plan to spend a quiet New Year's Eve alone in Ann's apartment, he decides to chaperone...and bring along several friends ("Should All Our Old Acquaintances Be Forgot"). When visiting Don's office, Lou slips on a puddle of water ("Sue Me, Sue Me, What Can You Do to Me?").
Ann also faces a few relationship problems. Don becomes jealous when a suave new neighbor treats the couple to a meal from the fancy restaurant he owns...and that's before Don figures out that the neighbor helped Ann when she got stuck in her shower ("The Face in the Shower Room Door"). Don's new secretary has her sights set on the boss, and Ann is worried that she doesn't stand a chance against the self-confident vixen ("Ann vs. Secretary"). Ann and Don decide that it's okay for couples not to spend every weekend with each other, but Ann's plan to visit her parents in Brewster runs awry when they go to a convention, leaving her alone in their dark, creaky house ("Dark on Top of Everything Else"). Don gives Ann an extravagant Valentine's Day gift-diamond earrings from Tiffany-which she promptly loses ("The Earrings").
Ann continues her pursuit of an acting career with not quite stellar results. She lands a small role in a Broadway play, but finds it impossible to slap star Barry Sullivan as required by the script ("Sock it to Me"). She is cast in a commercial for a new soda-called Pop-but is forced to lip sync because her singing is so bad ("My Sister's Keeper"). This episode features an especially funny scene in which Ann Marie sings "Over There" as an audition piece.
That Girl isn't perfect, but it possesses great charms. One of the greatest is Thomas herself. Her Ann Marie serves as a bridge between the male-dominated Lucy Ricardo and the independent, liberated Mary Richards. But it's no mere history piece-it's also fun.
Familiar faces in season three include Bernie Kopell (The Love Boat), Arlene Golonka (Mayberry, RFD), Stuart Margolin (The Rockford Files), Joe Besser (The Abbott and Costello Show), Jesse "Maytag Repairman" White, Peter Bonerz (The Bob Newhart Show), Barry Williams (The Brady Bunch), Florence Halop (Night Court), Penny Marshall (Laverne & Shirley), Cesare Danova, Mary Frann (Newhart), Vic Tayback (Alice), Larry Storch (The Ghost Busters), McLean Stevenson (M*A*S*H), Jack Colvin (The Incredible Hulk), Terry Carter (Battlestar Galactica), Ketty Lester (Little House on the Prairie), and Thomas family members Danny, Terre, and Tony.
The twenty-six episodes that make up That Girl: Season Three are divided onto four discs. The DVDs are housed in a foldout digipak. Two panels hold one disc apiece while a third panel holds two discs one on top of the other in a figure eight pattern. The inside of the digipak a cartoon-like illustration of a That Girl kite flying over a cityscape. The exterior includes a listing of episode titles and original airdates. There are no plot synopses. The digipak slides into an outer cardboard sleeve.
The colorful menus feature the series' 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.
