The only things I really liked about That Girl were Marlo Thomas’ beautiful hair and her wardrobe. She had been in England before the show was made and insisted on wearing a kicky, ‘mod’ wardrobe by Mary Quant. That alone moved her character a bit out of the late-50’s. (I thought at the time that if I were That Girl living alone in NYC, I wouldn’t be acting like a 50’s dummy! I hated her father, what a buttinski!) … I loved MTM’s dates, the short guy stands out in my mind, she just loomed over him. He managed to stand on a stair, level with her, and kissed her, and he said, ‘well, that wasn’t exactly magic, was it?’
Varshtaydict, or more commonly spelled “farshtaydict,” just as “varklempt” is more commonly spelled “farklempt,” means “pissed off.”
PS: “farklempt” means something like being too overcome with emotion to speak, like a parent at a bar mitzvah, but most definitely NOT someone overcome with anger and frothing at the mouth.
if youre gonna talk about strong single women from the 60’s dont forget julia
mc
Nothing against the show or the actress, but I could not watch a single episode of this series after I read the satire of it in MAD Magazine, “Jewelia.” Seldom have I laughed at anything so hard and for so long! 
FUN FACT: The secretary who tried to steal Don away from Ann in the Season 3 episode “Ann vs. Secretary” was played by Mary Frann, Bob’s wife on Newhart.
Here’s an interesting article about arguably the original single career woman series, “Meet Millie” from 1952.
Great article, but I’m surprised that no mention was made of Florence’s role as the obnoxious Mrs Hufnagle on St Elsewhere, or Marvin’s voicing of Choo-Choo on Top Cat (not to mention the hilarious garage scene in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World).
So was Mary’s new friend in “Some of My Best Friends are Rhoda.”
[VOICE OF JOHNNY CARSON] I did not know that!
Then I did use the right word as I was trying to convey a comic hurtness and not comic anger.
And Johnny “appeared” on the MTM episode “Mary’s Big Party”.
[spoiler]He was supposed to show up at a party Mary was throwing. There was a power blackout. Johnny showed up near the end and spoke a little. But it was dark so you only heard him.
Who knew that one of Mary’s parties would turn out bad?[/spoiler]
Very true. Ann Marie (I always wondered where her last name went*) was a probably necessary intermediate between 1950s TV and Mary Richards. And while she was, technically, “single and working,” per the OP, 1) she met Donald in the first episode and dated him through the run of the show, so that’s not so much “dating” as “in a committed relationship,” and 2) she didn’t really work all that often. I assumed her parents were paying the rent on her Upper West Side apartment and probably putting money in a bank account each month so she could buy food.
Mary was the first character to date around a lot and actually support herself with her own work.
*Don’t bother; I know.
Donald was a single version of the Dumb Dad so prevalent in sitcoms. Consternation was his go-to emotion.
The closest hit I can find in Yiddish word lists is:
Far-tshadikt − Confused, bewildered, befuddled, as if by fumes, gas
Do you have a better reference I could try?
Did “Honey West” (Anne Francis) ever date around? She certainly supported herself as heading her own detective agency although I always assumed she was involved with her partner Sam Bolt (John Ericson…who is still alive at age 90).
When it comes to “That Girl” I always remember what one producer said about Marlo Thomas “I don’t know if I would work with her again but I don’t know if I wouldn’t. I’ll say this: she can decorate my house anytime. The woman has exquisite taste”. Still when you consider that Marlo Thomas was originally offered the housewife role in “My Mother the Car”, she did pretty good with making “That Girl” a step forward.
62 year old woman who grew up in the 70’s: I loved Mary Richard and hated Ann Marie. Ann Marie was a 50’s girl with a job. Mary was who I wanted to be, except I wanted to be an engineer. Her co-workers so resembled mine in the Aerospace industry in the 70’s it was ridiculous.
Exactly what I came in to mention…Of course, there was always Honey West.