That Girl: Write is Wrong

Horrible or wonderful?  Late '60s
TV fashions are at least interesting.

That Girl: Write is Wrong
ABC
November 6, 1969
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is set a few months after the previous episode and has Don, at Ann's urging, turning his article on being snowed in at JFK into a sitcom script, only to have the script completely rewritten.  The self-parody could be sharper but it's not bad.

Forrest Compton plays Jonathan Adams here and would later be George Phillips.  Arthur Julian, who's playing scriptwriter Milton East, wrote three TG episodes and had three earlier roles.  William Schallert is Harry Cook.  And Alice Borden takes over the role of Ruthie Bauman (helpfully introducing herself at the door as Ann's best friend).

That Girl: Sue Me, Sue Me, What Can You Do Me?

That Girl: Sue Me, Sue Me, What Can You Do Me?
ABC
March 27, 1969
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This script, co-written by Milt Rosen, Ruth Brooks Flippen, and Danny Arnold, has Jerry urging Lew to sue Newsview when Lew slips on some water near a drinking fountain.  Donald ends up quitting, after four years, when his integrity is questioned.  The episode never quite comes together, but it has its moments.  Alan Oppenheimer plays his first of four TG roles, as Stewart Hurly.

The season ends after 26 episodes, as compared to 36 for Gilligan's Island in '64-'65.  I don't know the reasons why seasons shrank at this time, with half the year in "summer reruns."  Perhaps it was production costs, but this length for a season would be consistent I believe well into the '90s.  (For sitcoms anyway.  Obviously, Saturday morning TV was a different matter.)

The average for That Girl's third season remains a B-, but now on the lower end rather than the higher.

That Girl: It's So Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House

That Girl: It's So Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House
ABC
March 13, 1969
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This has a slow start but picks up when Donald (who's traded apartments with Ann for the night because of the mouse) answers the door in his underwear and Lew of course jumps to conclusions.  William Bramley, who's the exterminator Bert Weevle (a pun?), had previously played Tim.

That Girl: Ann vs. Secretary

That Girl: Ann vs. Secretary
ABC
December 5, 1968
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Ann is again justifiably jealous, this time of Donald's new secretary Pat, played by Mary Frann, then acting under the name Jennifer Douglas.  (No, she doesn't wear a sweater, but this episode is notable for a lot of Ann and even Ruthie wearing slacks.)  Donald gently rejects Pat, and Ann doesn't admit how far her jealousy has gone.  I must note that Donald (and Jerry) have gone through a lot of secretaries in the past couple years, and the one before Pat has gone on maternity leave, like the one whom Ann temporarily replaced in Season One.

Leon Colker again plays a Waiter.

That Girl: The Hi-Jack and the Mighty

That Girl: The Hi-Jack and the Mighty
ABC
October 3, 1968
Sitcom
DVD
B-

The Ruth Brooks Flippen script is an improvement, with an intriguing concept, as Ann has a chance to play stewardess "on the air and in the air."  Unfortunately, there's too much going on and the focus keeps shifting, with subplots brought up and then abandoned, like Ann and Donald planning to spend time together in Miami, despite Lew's disapproval, and the real stewardess, Terry (Arlene Golonka), being romantically interested in Donald.  The "hi-jack" of the title is relatively timely, as are the references to Castro's Cuba.  I do like how the rumors spread on board, and the passengers are funny.

Leon Colker makes his second of four TG appearances, this time as Hoffman, while Arthur Julian makes his third of four, as Binswanger.  And this time Jane Dulo is Mrs. Stevenson.

That Girl: The Drunkard

That Girl: The Drunkard
ABC
April 18, 1968
Sitcom
DVD
D+

This collaboration between Danny Arnold and Ruth Brooks Flippen just doesn't work at all.  Sid Caesar plays Marty Nickels, a TV comic with a drinking problem.  (I believe this was about a decade before his real life drinking problem, but that doesn't make this any less painful to watch.)  He casts Ann, partly for her legs, even though one of her rivals is Teri Garr.  Then he shows up at her apartment drunk-- three nights in a row!-- and each morning thinks that he's slept with her.  (He asks her if she's old enough to vote, i.e. over 21.)  And then his mother shows up, just so that he can hear that "Mrs. Nickels" is in Ann's bedroom and think that he's married Ann.  (Audrey Christie, who plays his mother Ella Nickels, was previously Miss Dailey and was ten years older than Caesar, who was not aging well.)  The episode is tasteless, unfunny, implausible even on farcical terms, just a mess.  In fact, the worst episode of any show I've watched so far.  The only reason I'm not going lower with the grade is because Ann at least wears cute outfits.

That Girl: If You Were Almost the Only Man in the World

That Girl: If You Were Almost the Only Man in the World
ABC
March 21, 1968
Sitcom
DVD
B

This is another Danny Arnold and Ruth Brooks Flippen collaboration, carrying the second season theme of various men pursuing Ann to the '60s inevitability of Donald's sort of lookalike, a brunet bespectacled "swinger" doctor.  Amusingly, once Lew gets over the shock, he prefers Dr. Rex to Donald.  You know, a doctor son-in-law.  Well, that was the '60s.

Leonard "Lennie" Bremen has an uncredited role as a Baseball Fan (the one who says, "That Goil"); he was a Janitor on Gidget and would do some Brady Bunch guest shots later.  Milton Selzer does his middle of three TG roles, as Dr. Corey.

That Girl: Great Guy

That Girl: Great Guy

"Gay 'n Frisky" still didn't mean what it would now.

ABC
March 7, 1968
Sitcom
DVD
C+

I didn't enjoy this collaboration between Ruth Brooks Flippen and Danny Arnold as much.  Ann interferes with Pete (Ruth Buzzi)'s love life.  Dick Balduzzi previously played a Police Sergeant on the show and this time is Glenn Davidson.

That Girl: Sixty-Five on the Aisle

That Girl: Sixty-Five on the Aisle
ABC
January 18, 1968
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Don Penny returns as Ann's agent Seymour Schwimmer, with no explanation of how.  (My guess, the producers saw how good he was.)  Norman Fell appears as director Bernard Paperny, with facial hair!  The episode is pretty good, but I keep thinking (about halfway through the second season) that Ann really isn't that great an actress yet.  And getting stuck in the elevator is a bit cliche, as Donald notes.

Buddy Lester's role as Barney is his first of four on TG.

That Girl: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, You're Under Arrest

That Girl: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, You're Under Arrest
ABC
December 21, 1967
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Although by no means a classic episode, this is definitely an improvement over the first season's Christmas episode.  And I will admit I wasn't quite sure what the final twist of the twisting plot would be.

William Bramley plays Tim here and would later be Bert Weevle on TG.  The role of Eppie is the middle of three TG roles for Paul Bryar.  Ed Peck's role of Bart is his second of five on TG.  Herbie Faye, who plays the scalper Milton, would later be a Waiter on the show.

That Girl: The Mailman Cometh

That Girl: The Mailman Cometh
ABC
November 30, 1967
Sitcom
DVD
B

The title is a bit of a misnomer, since Ann's new agent is a former mailboy, Don Penny as Seymour Schwimmer, a role he'd reprise.  He comes up with a scheme involving stage comedian 43-year-old Dick Shawn, shortly before his scene-stealing role as LSD in the movie The Producers.  The teaming up of writers Danny Arnold and Ruth Brooks Flippen works, with one of the better, funnier episodes about Ann's career.  Both Penny and Shawn are good, as is Buzzi of course, although given less to do here.

George Neise did a couple Gilligan's Island episodes and plays Norman Kramer here, his first of two TG roles.

That Girl: The Apartment

That Girl: The Apartment
ABC
October 5, 1967
Sitcom
DVD
B

As she did with Gidget, Ruth Brooks Flippen delivers a fun script, her first of thirteen for TG.  This is still a world that's a decade away from Three's Company, but for this show it does get relatively farcical and suggestive.  In fact, Bill Bixby's line to Ann, "I'm going to nail you in the bedroom," comes across as a lot more suggestive than I assume they intended.  He's playing Donald's old fraternity brother, Harry Banner (yes, with the Hulk's last name), who has a standing invitation to stay at Don's place when he's in town.  Don himself is out of town, so he invites Ann to stay over while her apartment is being fumigated for termites.  Ann does not want to stay in the same apartment with this strange man, so he makes that suggestion, although he ends up nailing himself into Don's bedroom.  As when Lew found out that Ann and Donald were snowbound in a hotel, Lew shows up in the middle of the night, without Helen this time.  The laugh track is heavy on the gasps and "uh oh's" throughout.

Leon Colker makes his first of four TG appearances, here as an Agent.  Florence Halop plays a Clerk and sounds much like she would on Night Court in the '80s, but less raspy.

Gidget: Don't Defrost the Alligator

Gidget: Don't Defrost the Alligator
ABC
April 21, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is a very silly episode to end on, as symbolized by the fact that the most recognizable guest star is Marvin Kaplan.  Of course, no one knew that Gidget wouldn't be renewed, and it was in fact a hit in summer reruns.  But this was the end of the line for this particular series, although of course not for Gidget the character.  The show was never amazing, but it was solid (averaging out to a B-) and could've run another couple years, maybe till Gidget went off to college.  That said, it's so representative of the mid-'60s that it is hard to quite imagine how it would've looked in '68, let alone beyond.

Gidget: Take a Lesson

Gidget: Take a Lesson
ABC
March 10, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B

Beverly Washburn, who was on the "slumber party" episode, returns, this time with parents who have other Gidget credits.  Her father is played by the incomparable Paul Lynde, who'd be one of the high points in two of the TV-movies.  And her mother, Jeff Donnell, was Gidget's mother in the second and third big-screen movies (which means that she was "married" to Don Porter in another version of Gidget reality).  The fun of this episode is mostly in seeing Field and Lynde play off of each other, with the episode ending with her imitating him.  Also, for a native Californian like me, it's funny to hear the references to the Valley and Pasadena.  Note, the cast seems unsure whether Washburn's character is named Sheryl or Shirley.  And I assume that Lynde having a "Cousin Arthur" is a Bewitched in-joke, not unlike the mentions of Liz Montgomery on the Ding-bats episode.  (Besides the William Asher connection, the Stevenses' house was neighbors with Gidget's.)

Gidget: In and Out with the In-Laws

Gidget: In and Out with the In-Laws
ABC
February 3, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B-

The first of three Gidget episodes directed by Bruce Bilson, this is another one where the premise is good but it doesn't quite play out.  There is a series of misunderstandings but the final confrontation doesn't have the impact it should.  However, it is interesting to see Russ uncharacteristically be the over-protective, to the point of violence, father for a change.

Jeff's father is played by Hal March, who was an early Harry Morton on Burns & Allen.  Janis Hansen, who plays Della Mae, was a nameless girl on an earlier Gidget.

Gidget: I Love You, I Love You, I Love You, I Think

Gidget: I Love You, I Love You, I Love You, I Think
ABC
January 5, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B

This episode addresses a question you may be wondering by now: if Gidget is so crazy about Moondoggie, how is that she's dating and/or crushing on all these other guys?  Her father points out that she's "been in love" five times in the past three months.  So she recalls falling for a "surf bum" who turned out to be her Algebra teacher.  In a non-judgmental way, Russ and the episode itself make the point that it's perfectly normal to be attracted to other people, even when you're in a loving, committed relationship.  The script is also funny, as Gidget makes a mess of things before it's all straightened out.  (Fields's physical comedy is not something that people often mention.)  Irony note, when Gidget soon after Moondoggie's departure decides she needs to be alone, she says she'll become a nun.


Not only Mike Nader but Sue Hamilton and some other unidentified Beach Party series cast appear for the first time in awhile.  (Given the writer and director, as well as the mostly flashback action, I suspect this was made earlier in the season.)  Lennie Bremen, who plays the Janitor, would be on a couple episodes of That Girl.  Maida Severn, who plays Miss Stoddard (the principal I think) would also guest on That G.

Gidget: My Ever Faithful Friend

Gidget: My Ever Faithful Friend
ABC
November 24, 1965
Sitcom
DVD
B

This episode manages to work both as a touching look at the friendship between Russ and Larue and as flat-out farce, with Gidget and then others, including Larue, being convinced that Russ is in love with Larue.  It never becomes tasteless, but remains alternately funny and sweet.  I could've done without all the put-downs of Larue's looks, but I like that she is mostly comfortable with herself and her interests, including horses.

Gidget: Daddy Come Home

Gidget: Daddy Come Home
ABC
October 6, 1965
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Russ stays out on a date later than planned, so Gidget worries, leading to cop Harvey Korman scolding the "mama's boy."  The mix of drama and comedy doesn't really work here.  Larue is mentioned but not seen.

Gidget: In God, and Nobody Else, We Trust

Gidget: In God, and Nobody Else, We Trust
ABC
September 22, 1965
Sitcom
DVD
B-

In this second episode written by Ruth Brooks Flippen, Gidget takes her brother-in-law to a luau in order to prove to the boys that she's still interested in them, despite going steady with Jeff.  Yeah, I didn't think that made sense either.  Note that sister Anne's hair is now red rather than a very dark auburn.  The word "sexy" appears as does the slip "sexteen."

With William Asher as director, it's not surprising that not only Mike Nader (now as a character named Siddo) but Beverly Adams and Sue Hamilton of the Beach Party series show up.  Also, Joy Harmon, who plays Midge, was in Village of the Giants around this time, which means she'll show up on Mystery Science Theater 3000 down the road.  And, yes, that's the future Daphne of Scooby Doo, AKA Heather North, as Pokey.  Note, Larue is mentioned but not seen.

Gidget: Dear Diary Et Al.

Gidget schemes.

Gidget: Dear Diary Et Al.
ABC
September 15, 1965
Sitcom
DVD
B

Right after the premiere of the third season of The Patty Duke Show came the debut of this (relatively) hipper, fresher sitcom about a perky teenage girl.  Based on the books and then movies (with the father from Gidget Goes to Rome, now a widower), this series starts off very well, establishing its characters and their conflicts right from the get-go.  While I was never into PDS, Gidget was a series I watched when I was about her age (15 1/2), when it aired four times a weekend in Southern California.  Obviously, with only one season, it cycled through pretty quickly.  Of all the '60s series I've seen that I'm not exactly a fan of, this was the one I wanted to buy for this project, to see how it looks to me now.  And so far it looks good: funny, colorful, and endearing.

Gidget dreams.

One difference from the movies (including later TV-movies) is that Jeff/Moondoggie is not a major factor in the television series.  This episode has the two steadies agreeing to see other people while Jeff is back at college.  (And he's unaware that Gidget is not in fact 16!)  It looks like Stephen Mines would only be around for one more episode, as opposed to Mike Nader, who's uncredited here but would return for eight more.  Lynette Winter is more memorable as best friend Larue, and not just because of her ridiculous sun-protecting beach attire.

Peter E. Deuel (who'd commit suicide in '71) and Betty Conner are in the straight roles of Gidget's brother-in-law and sister, although there are some laughs at their expense, notably when Gidget's father Russ (Don Porter) points out that if anyone's eating too much because of "sexual frustration,"* it's John.  Porter's rapport with Sally Field in the title role is just what it should be, straight out of the gate.  Definitely the best "first episode" so far.

*Surprisingly for its time and audience, there's quite a bit about "sex" here, with sister Anne reading Gidget's imaginative diary entry about "sinking into nothingness" and assuming "the worst."  And Gidget later says the main purpose of sex is babies.  I'm curious to see if this content is toned down later, since pilots are often quite different than the main series.