My review of "That Girl"

My review of That Girl

I first heard about the sitcom That Girl (1966-1971), a few days after New Trier closed due to COVID-19. I was browsing through Amazon Prime when I discovered it. So I decided to watch it, and it's been one of my favorite shows since then! I've actually seen every episode of the series. Another TV show I've seen every episode of which wasn't short-lived is Seinfeld. One reason why I love That Girl is because it features a strong female lead! It aired on ABC for five seasons and 136 episodes from September 8, 1966, to March 19, 1971. It was created by Bill Persky & Sam Denoff, both of whom Marlo Thomas's father, Danny Thomas, was closely associated with. Both of them served as head writers for The Dick Van Dyke Show. 

The series is about an actress named Ann Marie (Marlo Thomas) who's a single woman from Brewster, New York. She moves to New York City to try and make it big. In between her various auditions and bit parts, she has to support herself by taking a number of temporary jobs. Her boyfriend, Donald Hollinger (Ted Bessell) is a writer for Newsview Magazine. Ann's concerned parents are Lew Marie (Lew Parker) and Helen Marie (Rosemary DeCamp). Ann and Donald's friends were played by Bernie Kopell, Ruth Buzzi, and Reva Rose.

Every episode starts with a small cold dialogue that always turns to Ann Marie as a character makes an assertive reference to her as "that girl". When that happens, the camera freeze frames on Ann Marie being surprised. Sometimes, a picture or reflection of her in a mirror is shown instead. There are several episodes though, where Ann herself makes the reference. The intro sequence and theme music both follow that. The series did an excellent job with the single-camera setup which is easily noticeable with the visual effects.

The episodes of the series are really enjoyable and they're really creative! My favorite one is the Season 1 episode titled "Break a Leg" which references the idiom that means "good luck". The episode features George Carlin doing a scripted role for the first time where he plays an agent of Ann Marie named George Lester! He did an excellent job in the role! It makes me think that he should've appeared in more episodes of the series afterwards. The episode also features Sally Kellerman as a friend of Ann named Sandy Stafford who did a superb job with the role! The plot involves Ann's friend, Sandy Kellerman who asks Ann to be her understudy when she lands a role in a Broadway show. Unfortunately, when Sandy is staying with Ann, the former gets infected with the measles so Ann has to substitute for her on stage.

The show featured many great guest stars such as George Carlin, Sally Kellerman, Monty Hall, Jack Cassidy, Lou Jacobi, Jesse White, Larry Storch, Nina Foch, Milton Berle, Ethel Merman, Cloris Leachman, Teri Garr, Rob Reiner, Stan Musial and even Marlo Thomas' own relatives, Terre, Tony, and Danny, her sister, brother, and father respectively, all of who even appeared in a Season 3 episode together titled "My Sister's Keeper".

Overall, I'll give That Girl a 10/10! It's a really awesome show! While it never won an Emmy, it did win a Golden Globe award which went to Marlo Thomas! Her goofy charm, coupled with Ted Bessell's dry wit, made the series a solid performer for ABC. It even does an extraordinary job with delivering a somewhat feminist message. The series did respectably well in the ratings despite never making the top thirty during its original run.