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63-495: That Girl is an American television sitcom that ran on ABC from September 8, 1966, to March 19, 1971. It starred Marlo Thomas as the title character, Ann Marie, an aspiring (but only sporadically employed) actress who moves from her hometown of Brewster, New York , to try to make it big in New York City. Ann has to take a number of offbeat temp jobs to support herself in between her various auditions and bit parts. It

126-540: A 30-minute time slot. Throughout their history, American sitcoms have often drawn inspiration from British counterparts. Popular shows like All in the Family , Three's Company , and Sanford and Son were adapted from successful British series. More recently, The Office achieved significant popularity in the United States , following the success of its British counterpart. Numerous television networks in

189-410: A New Year's Day marathon on MeTV at the start of 2012. ABC aired reruns of the show on its daytime schedule from June 1969 to March 1972. Reruns have aired on TV Land from the network's launch in 1996 to 1998. On January 1, 2012, That Girl reruns returned to national television on MeTV with episodes shown on weekday mornings and Sunday afternoons until September 1, 2013. On September 1, 2014,

252-544: A core group of characters who interact in a recurring setting, such as a family, workplace, or institution. However, British sitcoms typically consist of shorter series, often six episodes, and are frequently developed by a smaller writing team. The majority of British sitcoms are half-hour comedies recorded in studio settings using a multiple-camera setup. While many adhere to traditional sitcom conventions, some have ventured into more unconventional territory. For example, Blackadder and Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister shifted

315-434: A project. Scherick gave Thomas several scripts to read, none of which she liked, as they all focused on a woman who was either a traditional girlfriend, wife or secretary to someone else; Thomas wanted a show in which the main character was a young, modern woman focused on her dreams and aspirations. Although never officially credited as such (Persky and Denoff were the series' creators and official executive producers), Thomas

378-422: A sequence on episodes of Animaniacs , The Simpsons , Family Guy , Clarissa Explains It All , Arthur , Friends and Roseanne . The 2011 advertising campaign for the launch of Fox's sitcom New Girl featured posters of that sitcom's star, Zooey Deschanel , in the make-up, pose and graphic look of Marlo Thomas from the original That Girl series. Sitcom The structure and concept of

441-408: A sitcom have roots in earlier forms of comedic theater, such as farces and comedy of manners . These forms relied on running gags to generate humor, but the term "sitcom" emerged as radio and TV adapted these principles into a new medium. The word was not commonly used until the 1950s. Early television sitcoms were often filmed in front of a live studio audience using a multiple-camera setup ,

504-417: A sound stage, but he worked with Freund to design sets that accommodated audiences, allowed filming, and adhered to fire, health, and safety codes. Network executives considered the use of film an unnecessary extravagance. Arnaz persuaded them to allow Desilu to cover all additional costs associated with filming, rather than broadcasting live, under the stipulation that Desilu owned and controlled all rights to

567-460: A weekly variety show that lasted 11 seasons. In truth, Here's Agnes was offered to Burnett by CBS executives who attempted to dissuade her from having a variety show because they felt that men were better suited for them. Burnett and Ball, however, remained close friends, often guest-starring in each other's series. In 1967, Ball agreed to sell her television company to Gulf+Western , which had only recently acquired Paramount Pictures. The company

630-564: Is one of the leading channels in India, dedicated entirely to Sitcoms. Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah is the longest-running sitcom of Indian television and is also known as the flagship show of SAB TV . On Tiptoes and Shabhaye Barareh were among the first and most important sitcoms that led to the growth of this type of comedy in Iran, both receiving wide critical and audience acclaim. El Chavo del Ocho , which ran from 1971 to 1980,

693-400: Is part of CBS Media Ventures (formerly CBS Television Distribution). During Ball's time as sole owner, Desilu developed popular series such as Mission: Impossible (1966), Mannix (1967), and Star Trek (1966). It has been falsely rumored that a Desilu loss during this time was Carol Burnett , who declined to star in a sitcom for the studio in favor of The Carol Burnett Show ,

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756-725: The Canadian Screen Award for Best Comedy Series . In 2020, the sixth and final season of Schitt's Creek was nominated for 15 Primetime Emmy Awards . This broke the record for the most Emmy nominations given to a comedy series in its final season. During the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards , the show became the first ever comedy or drama series to sweep the four acting categories ( Outstanding Lead Actor , Outstanding Lead Actress , Outstanding Supporting Actor , Outstanding Supporting Actress for Eugene Levy , Catherine O'Hara , Dan Levy , and Annie Murphy respectively) and one of only four live action shows, along with All in

819-649: The I Love Lucy episodes were produced there. In late 1957, the company bought the RKO Pictures production facilities for $ 6 million from General Tire and Rubber , including RKO's main facilities on Gower Street in Hollywood and the RKO-Pathé lot (now Culver Studios ) in Culver City . This purchase included Forty Acres , the backlot where exteriors for Mayberry were filmed. These acquisitions gave

882-753: The RTR channel. The "boom" of Russian sitcoms began only in the 2000s, when in 2004, the STS started the highly successful sitcom " My Fair Nanny " (an adaptation of the American sitcom " The Nanny "). Since that time, sitcoms in Russia have been produced by the two largest entertainment channels in the country — STS and TNT . In 2007, the STS released the first original domestic sitcom — " Daddy's Daughters " (there were only adaptations before), and in 2010, TNT released " Interns " —

945-640: The Series Mania Television Festival in Paris, was praised by critics, and earned numerous awards and nominations. Also in 2013, At Home with Julia was criticized by several social commentators as inappropriately disrespectful to the office of the Prime Minister. The show nevertheless proved very popular with both television audiences and critics, becoming the most-watched Australian scripted comedy series of 2011. It

1008-550: The United States feature sitcoms in their programming. CBS , TBS, Nickelodeon , and Disney Channel are just a few examples of networks that air sitcoms. Desilu Productions Desilu Productions, Inc. ( / ˈ d ɛ s i l uː / ) was an American television production company founded and co-owned by husband and wife Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball . The company is best known for shows such as I Love Lucy , The Lucy Show , Mannix , The Untouchables , Mission: Impossible and Star Trek . Until 1962, Desilu

1071-591: The Upper East Side , in the former East End Hotel (originally known as the Junior League Hotel for Working Women) at 78th Street and the FDR Drive , as seen in several first-season episodes, including "What's in a Name" where Ann can be seen exiting a taxicab. In the episode entitled "That Señorita", Ann lists her address as 627 East 54th Street. In the second season - with a new exterior - in

1134-565: The 1970s and 1980s many British sitcoms also screened on the Seven Network . By 1986, UK comedies Bless This House and Are You Being Served? had been re-screened several times by ABC Television ; they were then acquired and screened by the Seven Network. In 1981, Daily at Dawn was the first Australian comedy series to feature a regular gay character (Terry Bader as journalist Leslie). In 1987, Mother and Son won

1197-431: The 1990s these included: Dekh Bhai Dekh (1993), Zabaan Sambhalke (1993), Shrimaan Shrimati (1995), Office Office (2001), Ramani Vs Ramani (Tamil 2001), Amrutham (Telugu 2001–2007), Khichdi (2002), Sarabhai vs Sarabhai (2005) F.I.R. (2006–2015), Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah (2008–present), Uppum Mulakum (Malayalam 2015–present), and Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain (2015–present). SAB TV

1260-482: The 2010s, resulting in a decline in sitcom popularity. Nevertheless, there have been recent efforts to revive the sitcom genre. For instance, Netflix released So Not Worth It in 2021, featuring many creators from popular South Korean sitcoms. Popular South Korean sitcoms include the High Kick series, which has spawned several spin-offs. British sitcoms , like their American counterparts, often revolve around

1323-494: The Ball-Arnaz TV empire a total of 33 sound stages — four more than Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and eleven more than Twentieth Century-Fox had in 1957. The studio's initial attempt to become involved in film production was the film Forever, Darling (1956), Arnaz and Ball's followup to their highly successful MGM release The Long, Long Trailer (1954), but it was a box-office failure. It was produced at Desilu, but under

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1386-589: The CBS library. In November 2019 CBS Studios registered the DESILU trademark again to protect its previous Common Law trademark usage. Syndication rights for Here's Lucy were sold by Ball to Telepictures , which later merged with Lorimar Television and ultimately was folded into Warner Bros. Television . Warner Bros. Television is the show's current distributor, although MPI now holds home video rights under license from Lucille Ball Productions and Desilu Too. Desilu began

1449-417: The Family , The Golden Girls , and Will & Grace where all the principal actors have won at least one Emmy Award. Sitcoms started appearing on Indian television in the 1980s, with serials like Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (1984), Nukkad (1986), and Wagle Ki Duniya (1988) on the state-run Doordarshan channel. Gradually, as private channels were permitted to operate, many more sitcoms followed. In

1512-527: The National Broadcasting Company ( NBC ). Arnaz attempted to sell other television pilots, including a comedy with Carol Channing and an adventure series with Rory Calhoun . Neither series sold. Arnaz also tried to create a law drama called Without Consent , with Spencer Tracy as a defense attorney, but after several attempts at developing a suitable script failed and because of insurance concerns regarding Tracy's heavy drinking,

1575-735: The Television Drama Award for portraying a woman suffering from senile dementia and her interaction with her family, presented by the Australian Human Rights Commission . In 2007, Kath & Kim ' s first episode of series 4 attracted an Australian audience of 2.521 million nationally. This was the highest rating for a first episode in the history of Australian television, until the series premiere of Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities in 2009, which garnered 2.58 million viewers. In 2013, Please Like Me received an invitation to screen at

1638-588: The United States in 1926 with the radio show Sam 'n' Henry . The subsequent success of Amos 'n' Andy , also created by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll , solidified the sitcom's place in American radio programming. The transition to television brought about significant changes in the sitcom format. Mary Kay and Johnny , which premiered in 1947, became the first American television sitcom. Today, American sitcoms typically run for 22 minutes, allowing for approximately eight minutes of advertising within

1701-514: The banner of Zanra Productions (Arnaz spelled backward). Most subsequent attempts to bring projects to the big screen were aborted until Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) with Ball and Henry Fonda . This film was a critical and financial success. In 1960, Desi Arnaz sold the pre-1960s shows to CBS. Desilu Productions retained ownership of those shows that premiered after 1960, and were still in production. Ball and Arnaz divorced in 1960. In November 1962, Arnaz resigned as president when his holdings in

1764-447: The camera would freeze frame on a surprised Ann. This was followed by the opening credits and theme music (written by Earle Hagen ). During the first four seasons, the theme song was instrumental only; in the fifth and final season, lyrics (written by Denoff) were added. According to Marlo Thomas , she was approached by ABC executive Edgar Scherick , who saw her in a screen test for a failed pilot, but still wanted to feature her in

1827-403: The cameraman on I Love Lucy , and Arnaz himself have been credited with the development of the linked multifilm camera setup using adjacent sets in front of a live audience that became the standard production method for situation comedy . The use of film enabled every station around the country to broadcast high-quality images of the show. Arnaz was told it was impossible to allow an audience onto

1890-619: The company by herself for several years. Ball had succeeded in making Desilu profitable again by 1968, when she sold her shares of Desilu to Gulf+Western for $ 17 million (valued at $ 155 million in 2023). Gulf+Western then transformed Desilu into the television production arm of Paramount Pictures , rebranding the company as the original Paramount Television . Desilu's entire library is owned by Paramount Global through two of its subsidiaries. The CBS unit owns all Desilu properties that were produced and concluded before 1960, which were sold to CBS by Desilu itself. Its CBS Studios unit owns

1953-446: The company were bought out by Ball, who succeeded him as president. Ball served as president and chief executive officer of Desilu while at the same time starring in her own weekly series. This made her the first woman to head a major studio and one of the most powerful women in Hollywood at the time. Ball founded Desilu Sales, Inc., for syndication which distributed Jay Ward Productions ' Fractured Flickers in 1964. Today, Desilu Sales

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2016-511: The costs incurred by the production into the first episode of a season rather than spreading them across the projected number of episodes in the year. As a result, by the end of the season, episodes were nearly entirely paid for, at preposterously low figures. At that time, most television programs were broadcast live, and as the largest markets were in New York, the rest of the country received only images derived from kinescopes . Karl Freund ,

2079-426: The couple engaged at the end of the run was largely the idea of Thomas. She did not want to send a message to young women that marriage was the ultimate goal for them, and she worried that it would have undercut the somewhat feminist message of the show. Every episode started with a small cold open ; the dialogue would always turn to Ann, as one of the characters would make an assertive reference to her as "that girl";

2142-537: The creation of its productions using conventional film studio materials, production, and processing techniques. The use of these materials and techniques meant that the 35 mm negatives (the source material for copyright purposes) were immediately available for production and distribution of prints when the Lucy series went into syndication at local stations around the country. As such, no "lost" episodes of programs occurred, and no programs were recorded by kinescope from

2205-698: The episode "Nothing to Be Afreud of but Freud Himself", Donald gives out her address as 344 West 78th Street, Apartment D. Ann's acting school was modeled after the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre on East 54th Street between First and Second Avenues. That Girl was filmed at Desilu -Cahuenga Studios (for many years called Ren-Mar Studios and now called Red Studios Hollywood ), located at 846 North Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood . Five complete seasons of That Girl aired, with

2268-484: The film prints and negatives. Arnaz's unprecedented arrangement is widely considered to be one of the shrewdest deals in television history. As a result of his foresight, Desilu reaped the profits from all reruns of the series. Desilu soon outgrew its first space and in 1954 bought its own studio, the Motion Picture Center on Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood, what is now Red Studios Hollywood . Most of

2331-647: The first sitcom, filmed as a comedy (unlike dominated "conveyor" sitcoms). Sitcoms, or "시트콤" in Korean, gained significant popularity in South Korea during the 1990s. This popularity was fueled by the success of shows like Dr. Oh's People , LA Arirang , and Men and Women . The use of computer graphics (CG) in sitcoms began to increase in the late 1990s as more broadcasters adopted CG technology. This led to more visually dynamic and creative sitcoms. However, viewer preferences shifted towards dramas and thrillers in

2394-496: The focus from domestic or workplace settings to the world of politics. A more recent development in British comedy is the mockumentary , a style that blends documentary and comedic elements. Shows like The Office , Come Fly with Me , W1A , People Just Do Nothing , and This Country have successfully employed this format to explore a variety of topics and characters. Sitcoms, or situation comedies, made their debut in

2457-499: The latter of which continues in some modern productions such as The Big Bang Theory and Fuller House . Other formats make use of a laugh track or "canned laughter". Since the 1990s, sitcoms have since expanded to animated sitcoms , with successful shows of the genre including The Simpsons , King of the Hill , and Family Guy . Critics have debated the exact definition of a sitcom, mostly regarding productions created at

2520-539: The original pilot episode. In Region 4, Madman Entertainment has released all five seasons on DVD in Australia/New Zealand. On April 21, 2010, Madman released That Girl: The Complete Series , a 21-disc box set that features all 136 episodes, as well as extensive bonus features. In 1973, Rankin/Bass produced That Girl in Wonderland , an animated television special in which Marlo Thomas reprised

2583-403: The project was abandoned. After selling Desilu, Ball established her own new production company, Lucille Ball Productions (LBP), in 1968. The company went to work on her new series Here's Lucy that year. The program ran until 1974 and enjoyed several years of ratings success. Ball returned to network television in 1986 with the short-lived Life with Lucy . It lasted eight episodes before it

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2646-781: The public would enjoy them and their potential for long-term success. This led to continued profits from the programs through reruns , which would recover their high development and production costs. Even decades after the absorption of Desilu Productions and the production end of all original series Desilu approved for development, some series have achieved enduring success and, in some cases, redevelopment into feature-length movie franchises in their own right. Examples are The Untouchables , Star Trek and Mission Impossible . Much of Desilu Productions' early success can be traced to Arnaz's unusual business style in his role as producer of I Love Lucy . For example, lacking formal business training, he knew nothing of amortization and often included all

2709-669: The rights to everything Desilu produced after 1960 as successor in interest to Paramount Television. There is a street named after Desilu in San Antonio, Texas . Desilu Productions was founded in 1950 using the combined names of the husband and wife production team of "Desi Arnaz" and "Lucille Ball". It was created to produce Lucy and Desi's vaudeville act as a television series and sell it to Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) executives. Arnaz and Ball wanted to adapt Ball's CBS radio series My Favorite Husband to television. The television project eventually became I Love Lucy . During

2772-458: The role of Ann. It aired as an episode of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie on January 13, 1973. The special also featured the voices of Patricia Bright, Dick Hehmeyer, Rhoda Mann, and Ted Schwartz. The series' theme song and opening visuals have been parodied in pop culture several times. They appeared as a series of T-shirts , then as a Saturday Night Live skit featuring Danitra Vance in an African American remake "That Black Girl", and as

2835-405: The series finale airing on March 19, 1971. Over the five seasons, a total of 136 episodes aired. Thomas' sister Terre, her brother Tony, and father Danny Thomas all appeared in a 1969 episode called "My Sister's Keeper". The only episode never shown during the series' original network run was the pilot produced in 1965. The major differences were evident in its opening credits . Bessell's character

2898-414: The series never made the top thirty during its entire five-year run. At the end of the 1969–1970 season, That Girl was still doing moderately well in the ratings, but after four years Thomas had grown tired of the series and wanted to move on. ABC convinced her to do one more year. In the beginning of the fifth season, Don and Ann became engaged, but they never actually married. The decision to leave

2961-532: The show has earned an estimated $ 1 billion in syndication fees alone for Televisa . Gliding On , a popular sitcom in New Zealand in the early 1980s, won multiple awards during its run including Best Comedy, Best Drama and Best Direction at the Feltex Awards . The first Russian sitcom series was "Strawberry", which resembled "Duty Pharmacy" in a Spanish format. It was aired from 1996 to 1997 on

3024-461: The show returned to MeTV . The series is distributed by CBS Television Distribution . From January 2, 2020, to December 31, 2023, the show aired on Antenna TV . As of 2020, the series is available on Tubi and Amazon Prime . Shout! Factory has released all five seasons on DVD in Region 1. Each release contains extensive bonus features including episodic promos, featurettes, commentary tracks and

3087-482: The show's first few years, Desilu rented space at General Service Studios (now the Sunset Las Palmas Studios ) at Santa Monica Boulevard and North Las Palmas Avenue. They used Stage Two, which was named Desilu Playhouse. Later, a special entrance was added at 6633 Romaine Street, on the south side of the lot, to allow direct access to it. Ball's contribution was more on the artistic side. She

3150-523: The turn of the 21st century. Many contemporary American sitcoms use a single-camera setup and do not feature a laugh track, instead more resembling documentaries or the comedy-dramas of the 1980s and 1990s. Although there have been few long-running Australian-made sitcoms, many American and British sitcoms have been successful in Australia, since sitcoms are considered a staple of the government broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). In

3213-403: Was Don Blue Sky, Ann's talent agent who was part Cherokee , and Harold Gould and Penny Santon played her parents. By the time the series aired on ABC, Thomas and Bessell were the only actors to receive top billing. The pilot episode centered on Ann's attempt to adopt a stage name based on her agent's suggestion. After her use of "Marie Brewster" (the names of her family and hometown combined)

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3276-465: Was also a de facto executive producer of the series through her Daisy Productions, which she formed specifically for the series; it was credited on-screen as the production company. She originally wanted to name the sitcom Miss Independence , the nickname given to her by her parents. Manhattan exterior shots were filmed in several days. Initially, the apartment was located off the East River on

3339-472: Was cancelled—a first for Ball—because of poor ratings. LBP continues to exist, and its primary purpose is residual sales of license rights for Here's Lucy . Desilu-Paramount TV's holdings are owned by Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS), the owner of the pre-1960s shows. Desilu Productions Inc. was reincorporated in Delaware in 1967, by Paramount Pictures and still exists as a legal entity. Desilu Too LLC

3402-480: Was developed by writers Bill Persky and Sam Denoff , who had served as head writers on The Dick Van Dyke Show (which Thomas' father, Danny Thomas , co-produced) earlier in the 1960s. The show reflected the changing roles of American women in feminist-era America . Thomas' goofy charm, together with Bessell's dry wit, made That Girl a solid performer on the ABC Television Network, although

3465-583: Was followed up by a television series of the same name that ran from 2001 to 2018, airing in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. Corner Gas , which ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009, became an instant hit, averaging one million viewers per episode. It has been the recipient of six Gemini Awards and has been nominated almost 70 times for various awards. Other noteworthy recent sitcoms have included: Call Me Fitz , Schitt's Creek , Letterkenny , and Kim's Convenience , all of which have been winners of

3528-528: Was later created by Lucie Arnaz mostly as a licensee for I Love Lucy -related merchandise. Desilu Too also partners with MPI Home Video and Lucille Ball Productions (formed by Ball and second husband Gary Morton ) on the video releases of Here's Lucy and other material Ball and Arnaz made independently of each other. Desilu Too officials have worked with MPI Home Video for the home video reissue of The Mothers-In-Law . Paramount Home Entertainment (through CBS DVD ) continues to hold DVD distribution rights to

3591-425: Was met with disapproval from her parents, she decided to not make the change in the end. This storyline and numerous scenes were recycled into the 11th episode of Season 1 titled "What's in a Name?" from November 17, 1966. The pilot was included in the 5-disc set of That Girl : Season One, which was released by Shout! Factory in 2006. It has since been added to the series' broadcast syndication package; it led off

3654-531: Was nominated at the 2012 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards for Best Television Comedy Series. Although there have been several notable exceptions, relatively few Canadian sitcoms attained notable success in Canada or internationally. Canadian television has had much greater success with sketch comedy and dramedy series. The popular show King of Kensington aired from 1975 to 1980, at its peak garnering an average of 1.5 to 1.8 million viewers weekly. The 1999 movie Trailer Park Boys

3717-417: Was one of the first sitcoms to focus on an unmarried woman who was not a domestic or living with her parents, a forerunner of The Mary Tyler Moore Show . Ted Bessell played her boyfriend Donald Hollinger, a writer for Newsview Magazine . Lew Parker and Rosemary DeCamp played Lew Marie and Helen Marie, her concerned parents. Bernie Kopell and Ruth Buzzi played Ann and Donald's friends. That Girl

3780-624: Was renamed Paramount Television, and the former RKO main lot on Gower Street was absorbed into the adjacent Paramount lot. The old RKO globe logo is still in place. The company is now called CBS Studios (formerly CBS Television Studios). Perfect Film purchased Desilu Studios' other lot in Culver City in 1968. Arnaz left television production for a few years but returned in 1966 when he formed his own company, Desi Arnaz Productions, based at Desilu. Desi Arnaz Productions, along with United Artists Television , co-produced The Mothers-in-Law for

3843-414: Was skilled at proposing new programs that were popular to broad audiences and successful in both their original broadcasts and syndication reruns. Before starring in I Love Lucy, she starred in many B movies , and had a good idea of what television audiences wanted. She approved original production concepts (such as The Untouchables and Star Trek ) for development into broadcast series, assessing how

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3906-546: Was the most-watched show on Mexican television and had a Latin-American audience of 350 million viewers per episode at its popularity peak during the mid-1970s. The show continues to be popular in Central America as well as in Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Spain, the United States, and other countries. Syndicated episodes average 91 million daily viewers in all its American markets. Since it ceased production in 1992,

3969-526: Was the second-largest independent television production company in the United States, behind MCA 's Revue Studios , until MCA bought Universal Pictures and Desilu became and remained the number-one independent production company, until Ball sold it to Gulf and Western Industries (then the parent company of Paramount Pictures ) in 1968. Ball and Arnaz jointly owned the majority stake in Desilu from its inception until 1962, when Ball bought out Arnaz and ran

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