Wednesday, February 27, 2019

That Girl - the sitcom

"That Girl" was a sitcom in the late 60s to early 70s on ABC which featured a woman named Ann Marie, played by Marlo Thomas. The significance of "That Girl" was that it featured a single woman not reliant on her parents or another partner. This was the first TV show of its kind in which a strong female woman was not portrayed as being dependent on someone else. It gave a certain power to women's cause in their fight for equal rights and equal respect. It is often considered as a forerunner for the changing political climate between men and women that occured so drastically in the 70's. The show actually ended by getting Ann Marie engaged to a man, but purposely finished before they ever got married, to send a message that marriage did not need to be the ultimate goal for young, impressionable girls.
Watch the opening title scene here!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think that "That Girl" is a great illustration on the importance and impacts of television in the middle of the 20th century. As one of the hallmarks of expression, TV allowed for things to be portrayed on national television as comedy to break traditional social taboos and open up discourse upon unreasonable norms. One of the best ways that early TV did this was through satirical sitcoms like the one above.

Unknown said...

It must have been a large risk for ABC to create this program, due to the tension surrounding this issue at the time. Therefore, this program is very commendable and deserving of success. Also, this TV show effectively laid down the foundation for other programs to take similar risks in discussing social issues. Nice job!

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