Running from 1966 to 1971, this half-hour comedy starred Marlo Thomas as a struggling young actress in New York City who left her job as a small-town meter maid to pursue her dream. It was one of the first sitcoms to feature a female lead who was single, independent, and not a typical domestic stereotype. That Girl was created by writers Bill Persky and Sam Denoff, who had been head writers for The Dick Van Dyke Show. Its iconic opening sequence has been mimicked by shows such as Roseanne, The Simpsons, and quite memorably, Family Guy. The show followed the perky Ann Marie (Thomas) as she jumped from job to job in attempts to support her acting and modeling ???career???. In between measly acting jobs that included playing a corpse, Ann accepts a wide assortment of temporary jobs, including door-to-door shoe salesperson, Sardi???s restaurant model, Macy???s perfume seller, and waitress. The character was also portrayed as a feminist, with one episode featuring Ann and her boyfriend getting stuck in an elevator on the way to a women???s rights event. Despite Ann???s perpetually-struggling status, she managed to live in a fab apartment and sport a never-ending array of mod fashions. Ted Bessell played her boyfriend, Newsview magazine???s Don Hollinger. Studio execs wanted the characters married off by the final season, but Thomas consented only to an engagement between the two, citing the desire not to give female viewers the impression that marriage was the ultimate goal. Lew Parker played her supportive father, Lou. Guest stars included Ethel Merman, Milton Berle, Paul Lynde, Carl Reiner, Danny Thomas, and George Carlin.
