This was a good show in its day,but for the overall comical perspective,especially in several of the episodes,it really lags and slows up the pace. It did have however some good laughs and some good acting and not to mention some of the dialogue for some of the scripts pertaining to the episodes. Premiering on ABC's Thursday night prime- time schedule on September 8,1966 until the final episode of the series airing on March 19,1971 producing 136 episodes,all in color,"That Girl",was about at the time,beginning the forefront of women's liberation and this show was the pioneer of that too,and this was done four years before the debut of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. This was a milestone in women's liberation at its peak,and was the first show to feature an independent woman who wanted to make it on her own without having to rely or her boyfriend or her parents for support and she did that too. The character of Ann Marie(Marlo Thomas)was a very strong willing independent female making a living for herself against the harsh realities of life in New York City. However,she is in between acting and finding other means of employment(such as acting and modeling)and has time to be with her boyfriend Donald Hollinger(Ted Bessell),and has time to spend once in a while with her parents,Lou and Helen Marie(Lew Parker and Rosemary DeCamp)while living independently in her apartment complex(apartment number 4D)in New York's Upper West Side of Manhattan.
There were times when Ann would find herself in awkward situations which were awkward,but at the same time she always gets Donald to help her. The rest of it was okay,which included some special guest stars including comedian George Carlin making his TV debut on this series. The last season of the series,1970-1971,saw Ann and Donald's relationship finally began to blossom as they finally become engaged as they walked down the aisle of marriage,and the episode where they do become enagaged was in the show's final episode. "That Girl",was produced by the team of Sam Denoff,Bill Persky,Bernie Orenstein,and Saul Turteltaub,under the supervision of its star and creator,Marlo Thomas,who was executive producer of this series under her production company,Daisy Productions,and the other team of executives that were in charge of production:Danny Thomas,Sheldon Leonard,and Ronald Jacobs. However,it was Danny Thomas,who gave executives over at ABC-TV the greenlight for this series,and from there ran for five seasons and 136 episodes in it's original prime-time slot. The show would have stayed on another couple of seasons,just to see Ann and Donald lived as a married couple,but it never got off the ground.However,after the success of "That Girl",Mario Thomas went on to produced an array of children's educational shows for ABC-TV in the early 1970's,but as for her co-star Ted Bessell,he should have stick with her,but instead made the biggest mistake of his career when he star in the one of the worst TV shows ever made..."Me And The Chimp".
"That Girl" was so successful in it's five year-run that it won Marlo Thomas in 1967 the Golden Globe for Best Female Actress in a Comedy Series,and was nominated for four Prime-Time Emmys in 1967, 1968, 1970 and 1971 for Best Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series(Ted Bessell),and for Outstanding Direction,and Outstanding Writing in a Prime-Time Comedy Series. Not to mention when ABC canceled the series in 1971, it enjoy a resurgence in 1973 as an animated Saturday Morning cartoon series that was produced by Daisy Productions/Rankin-Bass Entertainment Group with Marlo Thomas providing the voice of Anna Marie in the animated version based on "That Girl" that premiered on ABC's Saturday Morning schedule. Even after 50 years, the series "That Girl" paved the way for the likes of other shows that presented strong independent women making it for themselves. Happy 50th Anniversary That Girl!!! Revised 3/30/2016
There were times when Ann would find herself in awkward situations which were awkward,but at the same time she always gets Donald to help her. The rest of it was okay,which included some special guest stars including comedian George Carlin making his TV debut on this series. The last season of the series,1970-1971,saw Ann and Donald's relationship finally began to blossom as they finally become engaged as they walked down the aisle of marriage,and the episode where they do become enagaged was in the show's final episode. "That Girl",was produced by the team of Sam Denoff,Bill Persky,Bernie Orenstein,and Saul Turteltaub,under the supervision of its star and creator,Marlo Thomas,who was executive producer of this series under her production company,Daisy Productions,and the other team of executives that were in charge of production:Danny Thomas,Sheldon Leonard,and Ronald Jacobs. However,it was Danny Thomas,who gave executives over at ABC-TV the greenlight for this series,and from there ran for five seasons and 136 episodes in it's original prime-time slot. The show would have stayed on another couple of seasons,just to see Ann and Donald lived as a married couple,but it never got off the ground.However,after the success of "That Girl",Mario Thomas went on to produced an array of children's educational shows for ABC-TV in the early 1970's,but as for her co-star Ted Bessell,he should have stick with her,but instead made the biggest mistake of his career when he star in the one of the worst TV shows ever made..."Me And The Chimp".
"That Girl" was so successful in it's five year-run that it won Marlo Thomas in 1967 the Golden Globe for Best Female Actress in a Comedy Series,and was nominated for four Prime-Time Emmys in 1967, 1968, 1970 and 1971 for Best Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series(Ted Bessell),and for Outstanding Direction,and Outstanding Writing in a Prime-Time Comedy Series. Not to mention when ABC canceled the series in 1971, it enjoy a resurgence in 1973 as an animated Saturday Morning cartoon series that was produced by Daisy Productions/Rankin-Bass Entertainment Group with Marlo Thomas providing the voice of Anna Marie in the animated version based on "That Girl" that premiered on ABC's Saturday Morning schedule. Even after 50 years, the series "That Girl" paved the way for the likes of other shows that presented strong independent women making it for themselves. Happy 50th Anniversary That Girl!!! Revised 3/30/2016