That Girl – The Complete Series (1966 – 1971/Madman Entertainment/Region Zero/Free
PAL DVD Import Box Set)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: B Episodes: B+
PLEASE NOTE: This DVD set can only be operated
on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region Zero/Free PAL
format software and can be ordered from our friends at Madman Entertainment at
the website address provided at the end of the review. Box/Cover Image © 1966-71 Daisy Productions.
The Marlo
Thomas TV classic That Girl is one
of those shows that is so good that it truly does get better with age. As all five seasons were being issued in the United States
by Shout! Factory, Madman Entertainment was issuing them in Australia and
as we (and most of the press) only got to cover some seasons, I was impressed
with the new extras and here are the links to the seasons covered, which
includes my thoughts and feelings on the show:
One
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3707/That+Girl+-+Season+One
Three
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5986/That+Girl+%E2%80%93+Season+Thre
Five
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8531/That+Girl+%E2%80%93+Season+Five
So we
will now fill in our gaps with episode and guest star lists for the
even-numbered seasons. Episodes on the
second season with audio commentary tracks are marked with an *:
Two
1) Pass The Potatoes, Ethel Merman*
2) The Good Skate
3) Black, White & Read All Over
4) To Each Her Own
5) The Apartment
6) Absence Makes The Heart Grow Nervous
7) The Philadelphia
Story
8) There’s Nothing To Be Afreud Of But Freud Himself
9) The Collaborators
10) When In Rome*
11) Thanksgiving Comes But Once A
Year, Hopefully
12) The Mailman Cometh
13) It’s A Mod, Mod World (two
parts)
14) ‘Twas The Night Before
Christmas, You’re Under Arrest
15) A Friend In Need
16) Fur All We Know
17) The Rivals
18) Sixty-Five On The Aisle
19) Call Of The Wild
20) The Other Woman
21) He & She & He
22) Odpdypahimcaifss*
23) Great Guy
24) The Detective Story
25) If You Were Almost The Only Man
In The World
26) Just Spell The Name Right
27) The Beard
28) The Drunkard
29) Old Man’s Darling
Guest
stars for Season Two include Ethel
Merman as herself (in a few shows up there with her two-part appearance in the Second Season of Lucy Show, also on DVD), Rob Reiner, Henry Jones, Rich Little,
Suzanne Charney, Bill Bixby, Dick Shawn, Benny Rubin, Norman Fell, Jesse White,
Joan Blondell, Jesse White, Sid Caesar and Cecil Kellaway.
Four
1) Mission: Improbable (two parts)
2) My Part Belongs To Daddy
3) Nobody Here But Us Chickens
4) At The Drop Of A Budget
5) Hearing Today, Gone Tomorrow
6) The Snot Must Go On
7) Write Is Wrong
8) Shake Hands & Come Out Acting
9) Fix My Screen & Bug Out
10) Kiss That Girl Goodbye
11) She Didn’t Have The Vegas
Notion (two parts)
12) I Am A Curious Lemon
13) Ten Percent Of Nothing Is
Nothing
14) Opening Night
15) That Meter Maid
16) Fly By Night
17) Ugh, Wilderness
18) Stocks & The Single Girl
19) The Night They Raided Daddy’s
20) The Reunion
21) Gone-A-Courtin’
22) They Shoot Pictures, Don’t
They?
23) Easy Faller
24) All’s Well That Ends
I am
reminded that the shows are often as clever as the titles. Guest stars for Season Four include Avery Schreiber, Naomi Stevens, Slim Pickens,
Richard Stahl, Milton Parsons, Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr., William Schallert, Tom
Kennedy, Mel Stuart, Penny Marshall, Jack Cassidy, Rob Reiner & Pat Boone
playing themselves, Cindy Eilbacher, William Christopher, Alan Oppenheimer,
Olan Soule, Army Archerd as himself, Dennis Weaver, Russell Johnson, Lieux
Dressler and Hal Williams.
The 1.33
X 1 image is apparently from the same materials as the U.S. editions
down to the majority of the menus, yet for some reason, there is a dramatic
improvement in picture color, detail and overall playback that was not on the
Shout! DVDs in the U.S.,
often dramatically so. Just because we
have gone from U.S. NTSC DVDs to PAL DVDs is usually not the reason for such a
quality jump, but this is very impressive and will stun fans of the show and
classic TV. Comparisons to the earlier
season in particular show the most dramatic jump.
I want to
take time to recognize the three Directors of Photography on the show that gave
it its great, classic look. They are
Jacques R. Marquette (Barnaby Jones,
The Streets Of San Francisco),
Leonard J. South (T.H.E. Cat, Night Gallery) and Lester Shorr (The Brady Bunch, The Odd Couple). They knew
how to make this show look great and left a permanent mark on great-looking
television forever.
The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Mono is also usually cleaner and clearer for whatever reasons, with
the music almost as clear as that of the menus and Earle Hagen’s classic theme
song (including with lyrics for the final season) come across as clearly as any
TV show from the time on DVD to date.
The overall performance is often like having a new film print, at least
in 16mm.
Extras are
all imported from the U.S. DVD sets, which includes a reproduction of a
postcard for members of the show’s fan club letting them know where the show
had been moved to on the ABC schedule in the Season Four case and Season
Two adds four more audio commentary tracks by Marlo Thomas and Producer
Bill Persky on three key episodes as noted above, the new-sold, never aired
1965 comedy pilot for the TV series Two’s
Company with Thomas that got the attention of ABC and Clairol products to
back her in a TV series and the new featurette That Show… That Woman… The
Creation Of That Girl… A New Beginning For Women and a booklet with
coverage on the history of the show is also included, found in the Season Five set in our version in
particular. All are terrific and this
is the best version available anywhere until a Blu-ray edition is used.
Serious
fans will want to get their hands on this set, even as a collector’s item if
nothing else and even if they already got all the U.S. copies.
As noted
above, you can order this PAL DVD import set exclusively from Madman at:
https://www.madman.com.au/actions/channel.do?method=view
-
Nicholas Sheffo
