Elena 
You scroll Netflix looking for a wholesome TV show you can binge with your daughters, but most shows these days don’t seem to align with Christian values. Maybe you find a show and start watching an episode only to be met with too much profanity, needless gore, or a mortifying unexpected shot of someone’s backside! Soon you’re back to your endless scrolling.
Did a show that would be enjoyable to young teens and tweens but stuck to Christian values even exist? Could I find a show that exemplified what they should be looking for in future relationships out in the adult dating world? Could I find a show that would help me instill into my daughters what a good Christian boyfriend could be like?
I’ve had more than my fair share of covering young eyes, quickly changing the channel, or fast-forwarding through the streaming program because the action on screen was just too graphic for their age. And we won’t talk about the time I sprinted across the room to cover the t.v. with my body because I couldn’t find the remote!
Then something miraculous happened. Sometime over the summer, my 17-year-old daughter came upon the old TV series, “That Girl”, starring Marlo Thomas. We watched a few episodes and then I asked her if she wanted to watch something else, but she said, “I really kind of like watching this mom!”
So “That Girl” became our summer binge show- the show we watched every night together during the summer, just me and my two daughters snuggled together on the couch.
I’m happy to report that if you’re looking for a wholesome t.v. binge show, with Christian values that you can share with your daughters, give the 60’s rom-com, “That Girl,” a try. It’s not perfect. In fact, some of the early feminist plot devices are really dated. But it’s the character of Don Holinger, the boyfriend, that makes this classic a winner.
Enter Don Holinger!
As we started to get deeper into the episodes, my daughters and I became more interested in Ann’s boyfriend, Don Hollinger, portrayed by the late Ted Bessell. While Ann Marie was supposed to be the 60s version of Lucy Ricardo, Don was anything but another version of Ricky. In fact, Don was the closest thing we could remember of a character portraying all of the standards of love found in 1 Corinthians.
So if you are looking to share such an example with your Christian friends and teens, here’s why Don Holinger is the epitome of the 1 Corinthians boyfriend!
The Epitomy of 1 Corinthians!
- (Love is patient) Donald was patient to a fault. Even when Ann’s schemes and situations started to annoy us, Donald remained the calm voice of reason, patiently trying to solve the dilemma.
- (Love is kind) Don was always kind, even if Ann wasn’t particularly kind to him.
- (It does not boast) He did not boast – although he took his profession seriously and was very proficient at it.
- (Love is not proud) He was not proud and in fact, was willing to do a lot of self-deprecating things for Ann’s sake.
- (It does not dishonor others) Donald looked out for Ann’s honor, even though her father was always sure that Donald was somehow debasing his daughter.
- (It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.)Don was never got angry easily, though we three would be screaming at the t.v. that he should just dump her and find another girlfriend!
- ( It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.) And he protected her, many times, including two times in the first season when he put his life at risk to protect hers.
By the end of the first season, we were smitten with Ann’s boyfriend. As a mom, I started thinking that if I ever wanted to find an example for my girls of what to look for in a potential boyfriend and husband using a cultural example (Even if that example is over 50 years old) I couldn’t do much better than Don Hollinger!
Marlo Thomas and “That Girl” today
As the girls and I continued to watch the series, I started searching the internet for some interviews that Marlo Thomas has done over the years about That Girl. It was clear that there was an agenda, which was to show young women that it was okay to be on their own, to be independent and that you didn’t need a man around.
Yet in many, many episodes, Don is the one Ann calls when she is afraid, or in danger, or lonely. He is the one constant that makes her feel safe and secure, and as the series progresses into Season 3
The girls and I endured for all five seasons. I even bought Season 4
In the first episode of season 5, Ann and Don get engaged. A few episodes later Don gets cold feet and my girls were totally on board with him just ending the relationship. But an honorable man like Donald Hollinger would never do such a thing; the engagement continued.
The feminist message from the show just doesn’t resonate today.
The two never do make it down the aisle. To girls like Marlo Thomas today, (like my daughters) that’s not very satisfying. Ms. Thomas let her political and sociological views interfere with good old-fashioned storytelling. The viewers didn’t get a beautiful wedding uniting these two in matrimony. That would have been the culmination of what anyone watching this relationship for five years would have wanted for them. Instead, Ms. Thomas’s Ann Marie drags her fiance to a woman’s lib meeting. That episode was anticlimactic, dull, and boring. She said that she got lots of letters from women thanking her for not ending with a wedding. I’ll bet there were just as many disappointed viewers who didn’t write.
Marlo Thomas says that just prior to Ted Bessell’s death, there was talk of a That Girl reunion. The talk was that Ann would be working in community theater somewhere, probably Brewster, NY. Don made it big as a divorced writer still in New York City. I’m glad that never happened. It would have made the years from 1966 to 1971 on that show seem like such a waste.
But on the positive side, I think my daughters saw an example of a gentleman. They have that ideal of a Classy Christian Boyfriend keep in mind when choosing a date.
Hi Elena –
Like your daughters, I always liked Donald on That Girl. I thought he was such a nice, patient, gentlemanly man, and good-looking, too!
You may be aware that Ted Bessell died not long ago. In his private life, he was a devout Catholic, and a daily Mass-goer and Communicant. He even considered the priesthood at one point.
Looks like your girls have good taste in men!
Hi, I am late to the party, but as a guy, I still enjoyed watching the show as a little kid back in the late 60’s with my mom. I was 5 when the show started so too young to remember it then, but by 1970 that is when I remember it best.
I do look back longingly along with all of the 60’s show that showed a common decency as to how people treated each other, and acted like respectfully citizens. No crass remarks.
That Girl was a cute show and my late mom enjoyed watching the show. My lady friend told me just the other day that the late Ted Bissell was a daily communicant! Nice to know. I also read he was a child prodigy at 12 and performed at Carnegie Hall.
We lost Ted at an early age but it is nice to know that Ted was a good man both on-screen and certainly off screen as well.
Good column!
GC from Stamford, CT
Thanks GC. I believe if you lookup Ted’s grave stone on FindAGrave, “Daily Communicate” is written on his stone. He was truly a special guy. Thanks for reading.
Your article was a breath of fresh air. I agree wholeheartedly. I was about your age when That Girl was on Thurs nights. Ted Bessell was a great, entertaining role model as Don Hollinger. All the awards and honors bestowed on Marlo Thomas– her Women’s Lib, she was just like Ann Marie. Marlo and Ann were coddled by their “daddy’s.” Marlo had her own production co., thanks to her “daddy” Danny Thomas, married Phil Donohue another famous rich man, yet campaigned for other young women to live alone, “do your own thing” don’t bother having children, husband and family. The show always had men falling at Ann’s feet adoring he, a bit self-serving for Marlo, just like Ann. Same with Mary Tyler Moore, “making it on her own” when husband Grant Tinker built her production company, later, she married a third time. These women were selling a ‘Bill of Goods” to young women. [BTW: the show ended the night before Ann & Don were married.] Ted Bessell was the sweetest on That Girl, as the best That Guy.