| As Told by Ginger | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Teen drama[1] |
| Created by | Emily Kapnek[2] |
| Developed by |
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| Directed by | Mark Risley |
| Voices of |
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| Theme music composer |
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| Opening theme | "I'm in Between" performed byMacy Gray[3] |
| Composer | Jared Faber |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 60(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | |
| Producers |
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| Running time | 24 minutes |
| Production companies | |
| Original release | |
| Network | Nickelodeon |
| Release | October 25, 2000 (2000-10-25) – November 14, 2006 (2006-11-14) |
As Told by Ginger, also known asAs Told by Ginger Foutley,[4] is an American animated preteen drama television series created byEmily Kapnek forNickelodeon.[5] It was produced byKlasky Csupo andNickelodeon Animation Studio. Set in the fictional town of Sheltered Shrubs, the series revolves around thetitular character, Ginger Foutley, a junior high school (later high school) girl and her friends as they try to become more than a social geek.[6][7][8]
As Told by Ginger premiered on Nickelodeon on October 25, 2000. Although the show ended production in 2004, some of its episodes were initially unaired on U.S. television; the remaining episodes would premiere at varying intervals on Nickelodeon's affiliated services through to 2021. It was nominated for threePrimetime Emmy Awards forOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour). The series was praised and noted for having ongoing story arcs and characters who developed, aged, and changed their clothes throughout the show, a rare quality in an animated series at the time.[2][9][10]
The series focuses mainly on the life ofjunior high school student Ginger Foutley (voiced byMelissa Disney).[11][12] Ginger and her friends Darren Patterson (voiced byKenny Blank), Deirdre Hortense "Dodie" Bishop (voiced byAspen Miller), and Macie Lightfoot (voiced by Jackie Harris), try to rise from the position of school geeks as they solve many conflicts that come their way.[11]
Luckily for Ginger, the most popular girl in school, Courtney Gripling (voiced by Liz Georges), has taken a liking to her and often includes her in her social plans.[13] She is intrigued by her "gingerisms", as Courtney calls them. However, Miranda Killgallen (voiced byCree Summer), Courtney's right-hand woman, makes sure that she is not bumped down from her position thanks to Ginger. At home, Ginger writes her lively adventures in her diary.[14] Her younger brother, Carl (voiced by Jeannie Elias), is often scheming with Robert Joseph "Hoodsey" Bishop (voiced byTress MacNeille) in his own side plots, and her mother, Lois (voiced byLaraine Newman), is always there for advice – to which Ginger is always able to listen.
The series takes place in the fictionalsuburban town of Sheltered Shrubs, located inConnecticut.[15] Sheltered Shrubs is based on the real town ofLarchmont, New York, where series creatorEmily Kapnek moved to when she was in junior high.[8] She said the town became "sort of the basis for this show".[8] Other towns noted in the series are Protected Pines, agated community in which Courtney lives, Brittle Branches, where Ginger's father resides, and Heathered Hills, the town of Ginger's summer camp crush, Sasha.
As Told by Ginger has been recognized by fans and Nickelodeon alike for its character development, most of which was unusual for a cartoon in its time.[2][9][16]
In the first season, Ginger's age group is considered as being in seventh grade. By the second season, they move up to eighth grade rather than remaining the same age. In this season, Darren has the unwieldyorthodontic headgear that he has worn for the entire first season removed, which results in rising popularity. They graduate junior high in the middle of the third season and move on to become freshmen in high school. Carl's age group works in the same way, as they become junior high students by the third season. Many episodes make references to past episodes, giving the episodes a definite order.
One notable aspect of the series was the rotating and evolving character wardrobes. Characters would change clothing every episode, and often within the same episode; a highly unusual characteristic at the time for both Nickelodeon animated shows and children's animation in general.[9] The standard practice in animated television was to design a character with a specific "default" outfit that would rarely be changed, updated, or altered unless the plot necessitated it. OtherKlasky Csupo productions of the time, such asRugrats andRocket Power, followed this practice. This served to simplify the animation process, saving money and production time.
By contrast,As Told by Ginger evoked live action sitcoms, where characters change clothes as frequently as they would in real life. This was most conspicuous amongst the girls in Ginger's age group (Dodie, Courtney, Macie, Miranda and Ginger herself) and some of the adults such as Ginger's mother. After Darren had his orthodontic headgear removed, his clothes changed as well.
Meanwhile, Carl's younger and less fashion-minded age group changed clothes infrequently, and with far fewer deviations from their usual style. Hoodsey stands out in particular as a satire of the traditional animated character who is only seen in one outfit, as he only ever wears a purple hooded sweatshirt and shorts, which other characters regard as abnormal. This is further satirized when it is revealed Hoodsey's clothes rack primarily consists of similar purple hoodies, indicating that to spite appearances, he change his clothes as frequently as the rest.
There were limits to this, however. Unlike many live-action shows whose characters often wore an outfit only once,As Told by Ginger characters frequently repeated one of their previously seen outfits in later episodes. New outfits were added every few episodes and certain outfits were no longer seen again after a point, resulting in a set wardrobe rotation for each individual character.
The series also deals with several deeper themes.[9][17] In "Wicked Game", Ginger's two best friendsbetray her after feelingjealousy toward her new boyfriend, Darren.[18][19] In "And She Was Gone", the staff and students at school think Ginger is suicidallydepressed after she writes a disturbing poem that worries them.[9][20] In the episode "No Hope for Courtney", Carl's pranks cause his teacher to retire. After she agrees to come back, Mrs. Gordon passes on.[21] In actuality, Mrs. Gordon's voice actress,Kathleen Freeman, died before the episode's completion, and the script was rewritten in dedication to her. "A Lesson in Tightropes" has Ginger going through an emotional breakup with Darren (who has cheated on her withcheerleader Simone) while she must undergo surgery forappendicitis.[9][22] Furthermore, the episode "Stuff'll Kill Ya" shows Ginger dealing with a coffee and caffeinedrug addiction.[9]
Series finale and TV FilmThe Wedding Frame ends on aFlashforward scene, with Ginger (who is now anauthor) doing a reading of her book at a bookstore, with Lois, Dave, Carl, Hoodsie, Macie, Dodie, Chet Zipper, Dodie and Chet's daughter, and Darren in attendance. Darren is holding a mixed race baby with ginger hair, suggesting that he and Ginger ultimately made up and got back together. The film ends with a close up of Ginger's left hand (now with awedding andengagement ring on it) on her now-closed book, which is titledAs Told by Ginger. Gingerbreaks the fourth wall at the end of her reading, and thanks both the audience in the bookshop watching her, and the viewers at home.
Unlike most other Nicktoons, the series was aired on theTEENick block.[24]
The theme song,I'm in Between, was originally sung by Ginger’s voice actress, Melissa Disney. However this was later scrapped for a cover byMacy Gray, which became the best-known version of the theme song.[25] Another cover of the song by Cree Summer, Miranda Killgallen’s voice actress, was also recorded for the show but not used.[26]
In the original version of the theme song recorded by Disney, the title sequence featured various sound effects and brief character interactions. These included Darren greeting Ginger, Dodie, and Macie as he rode past on his bicycle; Blake Gripling shouting as he fled from Carl Foutley’s doghouse with Carl and Hoodsie Bishop in pursuit; and the sound of a car horn when Lois Foutley’s car was towed. When Macy Gray’s version of the theme song was later introduced, these dialogue elements and sound effects were removed. However, the original animation was left unchanged, and the characters' mouth movements remain visible, corresponding to the now-absent dialogue.
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | Network | |||
| Pilot | October 9, 2015 (2015-10-09) | TeenNick | |||
| 1 | 20 | October 25, 2000 (2000-10-25) | December 10, 2001 (2001-12-10) | Nickelodeon | |
| 2 | 20 | February 11, 2002 (2002-02-11) | June 29, 2003 (2003-06-29) | ||
| 3 | 20 | 12 | August 9, 2003 (2003-08-09) | July 4, 2004 (2004-07-04) | |
| 2 | November 24, 2004 (2004-11-24) | November 14, 2006 (2006-11-14) | Nicktoons | ||
There were fourtelevision films that aired during the series' run.
Nickelodeon had originally asked for the ending ofThe Wedding Frame to be changed to something less conclusive in case they wished to order more episodes, however, perhaps due to that situation being very unlikely, the original ending was eventually retained.[citation needed] It was released directly to DVD in the United States in November 2004,[32] but it would not be otherwise available in the U.S. until 2021, when it and one of the episodes leading up to the film ("Battle of the Bands") premiered onCBS All Access.
In international airings, the films were divided into two (forButterflies are Free) and three parts (for the other three films) in reruns.
The pilot for the show was completed in September 1999. The show premiered in October 2000 on Nickelodeon.[33] The show was greatly popular at first, making its way into the teenager-aimed blockTEENick.[24] After the second season, the show's popularity began to decline, partially due to constant scheduling changes. Nickelodeon then pulled the show off the air after airing less than half the episodes of the third and final season. The show was a part of theNicktoons channel since its inception in 2002,[34] and began airing the remaining third-season episodes in November 2004, when "Ten Chairs" premiered. The "high school" episodes were slated to premiere during November 2006, but only one, "Stuff'll Kill Ya", premiered. Of the remaining Season 3 episodes, 4 ultimately premiered onTeenNick'sThe Splat in 2016, and the last 2 (including "The Wedding Frame", which had previously been released on DVD in the US in 2004) premiered onCBS All Access in 2021.
| Network | Time | In effect |
|---|---|---|
| Nickelodeon | Wednesdays at 8 pm | October 2000 – January 2001 |
| Sundays at 7:30 pm | January 2001 – June 2003 | |
| Nick on CBS | Saturday mornings (Sunday mornings on some stations) | September 14, 2002 – January 25, 2003 |
| Nickelodeon | Weekday mornings | November 2005 |
| Nicktoons Network | November 2006 – May 2007 | |
| The N | Saturday nights | January 2007 |
| Nicktoons Network | Sunday and Monday mornings | May 2007 – July 2007 |
| Nickelodeon | Monday mornings | August 2007 |
| Nicktoons Network | Tuesday and Saturday mornings | October 2007 – March 2008 |
| Nickelodeon | 6am Tuesdays | March 2008 |
| Nicktoons Network | 4:00am Tuesday and Saturday mornings | March 2008 – January 2009 |
| The Splat | Fridays at 12am | October 9, 2015 – April 1, 2017 |
| Four (New Zealand TV Channel) | Every morning 7.30am and later weekday and Sunday mornings 7.30am | February 7, 2011 – April 13, 2011 |
| Indus Vision | Daily 5.30pm | August 2003 – November 2004 |
| Spacetoon | Weekday mornings | March 2005 – January 2014 |
| Spacetoon English | Tuesday mornings | April 2005 – January 2011 |
| YTV | Daily | 2001 – 2004 |
| Nickelodeon Canada | Weekdays at 4 & 4:30pm | 2014 – 2017 |
| Title | Season(s) | Episode count | Release date | Episodes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Wedding Frame | 1, 3 | 5 | November 23, 2004 | 3 ("Stealing First"), 6 ("Dare I, Darren") and 58–60 ("The Wedding Frame") | |
| Far from Home | April 5, 2005 | 1 "(Ginger the Juvey"), 41–43 ("Far from Home") and Pilot ("The Party") | |||
The opening theme, titled "I'm in Between", was written for the show by American rapper Ray Raymond.[38] The song was first recorded with vocals by Melissa Disney, in character as Ginger. But this version was replaced before initial North American broadcasts with another version performed byCree Summer. This would be used for half of the first season before a third version, featuring vocals by R&B artistMacy Gray,[3] which was used for the rest of the series' run.
In the UK broadcasts, the Melissa Disney and Cree Summer versions were used for the first two seasons, while the Macy Gray version was used for season three. Internationally, the Macy Gray version is the most recognizable version.
The closing credits are typically-designed backgrounds with the show's signature font. These backgrounds include the ice cream cones from Ginger's bedroom walls, ladybugs from Dodie's bedroom walls, pencils, lizards and more. In several episodes, the ending theme is a rock-based instrumental, although there have been exceptions. "Piece of My Heart" ends with a different and softer instrumental melody. The episode "Never Can Say Goodbye" ended with a song called "Wrong", sung by voice actorKenny Blank as Darren Patterson, and "And She Was Gone" ended with a musical version of Ginger's poem during the credits. The episode "Come Back, Little Seal Girl" featured the songs "Courtney's World" and "The Little Seal Girl" blended together. In "About Face", a song called "Diamonds Are Expensive", presumably sung by the engaged Lois and Dr. Dave, is played over the credits. "Next Question" ended with "The Teen Seal Girl" song. Finally, the episode "No Hope for Courtney" had no music during the credits, being dedicated to the memory of Kathleen Freeman.
Release Date: 11/23/2004
