That Girl
Don't Just Do Something, Stand There
TV Flash files “Don't Just Do Something, Stand There” as a desk essential hour — That Girl (1966–1971) on ABC, season 1, episode 1, aired 1966-09-08, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 136 in the That Girl guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 1966-09-08 (30 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “Goodbye, Hello, Goodbye” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “Don't Just Do Something, Stand There”. Don't Just Do Something, Stand There is the independence contract: Marlo Thomas in New York, acting-career sitcom as a fashion still.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Perky, aspiring actress Ann Marie is working as a candy clerk. While there she has a series of encounters with magazine reporter Donald Hollinger, which culminates in him rescuing her, during the filming of a perfume commercial.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Don't Just Do Something, Stand There sit in the That Girl guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 136 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did That Girl S01E01 air?
Don't Just Do Something, Stand There aired 1966-09-08 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Ann Marie's New York acting-career premise is the contract: Thomas's charm, the apartment as manifesto, Donald as the boyfriend orbit. Early episodes sell the independence; later ones ride the five-season run.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Ann Marie moves to New York to make it as an actress and makes independence look like a weekly fashion editorial. Marlo Thomas's single-woman sitcom treated career dreams as plot, not punchline setup alone. The stylish bridge between housewife sitcoms and Mary Tyler Moore — sparkle with genuine stakes.
Ann Marie moves to New York and the sitcom window stops being a housewife lease. Marlo Thomas headlined ABC's *That Girl* (1966–1971; **five seasons, 136 episodes**), a single-woman sitcom that treated career dreams as plot, not punchline setup alone. Bill Persky and Sam Denoff made the city a character and Ann's apartment a manifesto. Ted Bessell's Donald as the almost-fiancé. Lew Parker's dad orbiting a woman who declined to go home to daddy's script. Independence looking like a weekly fashion editorial is not…
Filed against
- Marlo Thomas as Ann Marie
Marlo Thomas made independence a hemline as Ann Marie on That Girl — New York actress hustle, career dreams as plot not punchline setup, the stylish bridge between housewife sitcoms and Mary Tyler Moore. Weekly fashion editorial with a…
- Ted Bessell as Donald Hollinger
Ted Bessell dated That Girl as Donald Hollinger — Ann Marie moves to New York to make it as an actress, independence as a weekly fashion editorial, career dreams as plot. The stylish bridge between housewife sitcoms and what came next. TV…
- Lew Parker as Lew Marie
Lew Parker played the anxious dad circuit as Lew Marie on That Girl — Marlo Thomas’s New York independence project with a father who treated her acting dream like a weekly weather alert. Career as plot, not punchline setup. TV Flash files…