That Girl

infobox television
show_name = That Girl


caption = "That Girl" opening title.
format = Sitcom
runtime = 25 minutes
creator = Sam Denoff
Bill Persky
starring = Marlo Thomas
Ted Bessell
Lew Parker
Bernie Kopell
Rosemary DeCamp
country = USA
network = ABC
first_aired = September 8, 1966
last_aired = September 10, 1971
num_seasons = 5
num_episodes = 136
imdb_id = 0060034|

"That Girl" is an American television situation comedy that ran on ABC from 1966 to 1971. It starred Marlo Thomas as the title character, Ann Marie, an aspiring (but only sporadically employed) actress, who had moved from her hometown of Brewster, New York to make it big in New York City. Ann had to take a number of offbeat "temp" jobs to support herself in between her various auditions and bit parts, though she nonetheless was able to afford a spacious Manhattan apartment as well as an extensive wardrobe of mod fashions. Ted Bessell played her boyfriend Donald Hollinger, a writer for "Newsview Magazine"; Lew Parker and Rosemary DeCamp played Lou Marie and Helen Marie, her concerned parents. Bernie Kopell and Ruth Buzzi played Ann & Donald's friends. "That Girl" was created by writers Bill Persky and Sam Denoff, who served as head writers on The Dick Van Dyke Show earlier in the 1960s.

Each episode began with a pre-credits teaser in which an odd incident would occur or a discussion would foreshadow the episode's story. The scene would almost always end with someone exclaiming "...that girl!" just as Ann wanders into the shot or the character notices her. The words "That Girl" would appear over the freeze-frame shot of Ann. The opening credits featured Thomas, in character, ambitiously strolling the streets of New York and flying a kite. In the last season, lyrics were added to the theme song.

"That Girl" was the first show to focus on a single woman who was not a domestic or living at home. Some consider this show the forerunner of the highly successful "Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Murphy Brown". Thomas's goofy charm, together with Bessell's dry wit and the strong chemistry they shared, made the show a strong performer during its five-year run.

In the beginning of the fifth season, Don and Ann became engaged, although they never actually married. The decision to leave the couple engaged at the end of the run of the series was largely the idea of Thomas herself. She didn't want to send a message to young women that marriage was the ultimate goal for them. [ [http://www.thatgirltv.com/interview.html#Ventura THAT GIRL on The Web: Interviews with Marlo Thomas ] ]

Production Notes

*"That Girl" was filmed at Desilu Cahuenga (now called Ren-Mar Studios) located at 846 N. Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood. [ [http://www.seeing-stars.com/Studios/RenMar.shtml Studio Info] ]

*Marlo's sister Terre Thomas, her brother Tony Thomas and her father Danny Thomas all appeared on a 1969 episode called "My Sister's Keeper".

Popular culture

The show's theme song and opening visuals have been parodied in pop culture several times. They appeared as a series of T-shirts, then as a "Saturday Night Live" skit featuring an African American remake "That Black Girl", as a sequence on episodes of "Animaniacs", "The Simpsons", "Family Guy", "Arthur" and "Roseanne".

It was also parodied in the precredits teaser of an episode of "The Nanny" where Maxwell's guest-starring mother encounters Fran at the florist, in another episode of "The Nanny" where Peter Bergman, playing himself acting in "The Young and the Restless" casts Fran in the soap by asking for a co-star like "that girl!" while pointing to Fran.

The series "Family Guy" took their digs in with the "That Guy" sequence in "Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington". In another "male" take on the show's opening, an episode from "Ugly Betty" had Fabia forcing Wilhelmina Slater into making an exchange: She'll give up her wedding date to Wilhelmina in exchange for the services of Wilhelmina's assistant, Marc St. James, after Fabia evoke those famous opening lines.

Marlo Thomas played Rachel's mother in the series "Friends". Phoebe can sometimes be seen wearing a "That Girl" t-shirt.

DVD releases

Shout! Factory has released the first three seasons of "That Girl" on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time.

References

External links

*
* [http://www.tv.com/that-girl/show/1113/summary.html "That Girl" at TV.com]
* [http://www.thatgirltv.com/ The Official "That Girl" Site]
* [http://www.shoutfactory.com/browse/93/that_girl.aspx "That Girl"] page on Shout! Factory