smeth
11-21-2006, 07:20 PM
I've been watching the MTM episodes (I'm allowing myself one new show a week so I don't run out before season 5 is released). Looking at the earlier eps, I was curious about the season 1 ep "Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid II" and went searching online to find out what the original was. It's an episode of That Girl. I'm not all that familiar with the show, but I realized just how similar the two are, at least in premise. I was esp surprised when I heard in the commentary that MTM was originally planned to be set in New York, but they changed the location.
This isn't meant to be a Mary Richards v. Anne Marie post. Even though I'm not a fan of the That Girl show, I've got to admit there is some sort of connection between the two shows. I also realize that huge changes happen on tv (and society) between 1966 and 1970, hence the great differences between the two shows. Clearly the MTM writers were acknowledging the inspiration in the "Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid II" title, and I seem to remember Ted once making some comment about Marlo Thomas. I guess all tv shows owe something to earlier tv shows.
As an aside, the pilot for That Girl had Don the boyfriend part American Indian. Anne Marie's parents appeared to be "ethnic" , the father was played by Harold Gould (Mr. Morganstern), the mother had some sort of accent. Maybe it was an effort to add some ethnic variation to 60s sitcoms (Marlo Thomas' father Danny Thomas was Lebanese-American, after all). Of course the test audiences didn't like the pilot and the first regular episode has everyone more WASPy.
OK, I've written too much now.
This isn't meant to be a Mary Richards v. Anne Marie post. Even though I'm not a fan of the That Girl show, I've got to admit there is some sort of connection between the two shows. I also realize that huge changes happen on tv (and society) between 1966 and 1970, hence the great differences between the two shows. Clearly the MTM writers were acknowledging the inspiration in the "Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid II" title, and I seem to remember Ted once making some comment about Marlo Thomas. I guess all tv shows owe something to earlier tv shows.
As an aside, the pilot for That Girl had Don the boyfriend part American Indian. Anne Marie's parents appeared to be "ethnic" , the father was played by Harold Gould (Mr. Morganstern), the mother had some sort of accent. Maybe it was an effort to add some ethnic variation to 60s sitcoms (Marlo Thomas' father Danny Thomas was Lebanese-American, after all). Of course the test audiences didn't like the pilot and the first regular episode has everyone more WASPy.
OK, I've written too much now.