AS TOLD BY GINGER

'''As Told By Ginger''' is an American animated series that premiered on Nickelodeon in October 2000. The show focuses on Ginger Foutley and her adventures at Lucky Jr. High, as she records them in her diary. The series was noted for its storylines, character development, and the fact that the characters change outfits each time a new day comes.
In the United States, about half the episodes of the third and final season remain unaired. Also, a hand full of episodes that were once available through reruns have been taken out of the rotation. This came as a disappointment to fans during its initial run.
As of now, ''As Told By Ginger'' is only aired on early Wednesday mornings the United States. However, there is a chance that the series' television movies will air during Nicktoons Network's Nick Flicks, which air on weekday afternoons.

Contents

About the Show

Characters

Main characters

Notable Others

Crew

Producers

Supervising director

Directors

Episodes

TV Movies

Production

Show Airings

Theme Song

Closing Credits

Character development and continuity

Trivia

Awards

External links

About the Show

The show focuses mainly on the life of junior high school student Ginger Foutley. She, along with her friends, Darren Patterson, Dodie Bishop, and Macie Lightfoot, all try to rise from the position of school geeks as they solve many conflicts that come their way. Luckily for Ginger, the most popular girl in school, Courtney Gripling, has taken a liking to her and often includes her in her social plans. However, Miranda Killgallen, Courtney's righthand woman, makes sure that she is not bumped down from her position thanks to Ginger. At home, Ginger records her lively adventures in her diary. Her little brother Carl, is often scheming with Hoodsey Bishop in his own side plots, and her mother, Lois, is always there for advice.

The series takes place in the fictional town of Sheltered Shrubs, located in Connecticut. It is very rare for a children's program, especially an animated one, to be set in a specific area of the country. Other towns noted in the series are Protected Pines, a gated community in which Courtney lives in, Brittle Branches, where Ginger's father resides, and Heathered Hills, the town of Ginger's summer camp crush, Sasha.

Characters

Main articles: List of As Told By Ginger Characters

Main characters

:(in credits' order)

★ Ginger Foutley (Melissa Disney)

★ Darren Patterson (Kenny Blank) (credited as Ken Michael starting with ''Fair to Cloudy'') (Seasons 2-3).

★ Carl Foutley (Jeannie Elias)

★ Courtney Gripling (Liz Georges)

★ Macie Lightfoot (Jackie Harris)

★ Dodie Bishop (Aspen Miller)

★ Hoodsey Bishop (Tress MacNeille)

★ Miranda Killgallen (Cree Summer)

★ Lois Foutley - Laraine Newman

★ Blake Gripling - Kath Soucie

★ Ian Richton - Adam Wylie (Season 1)

★ Mipsy Mipson - Sandy Fox (Season 2-3)

Notable Others

:(in order of actors' last name)

★ Brandon Higsby - Grey Delisle

★ Mrs. Gordon - Kathleen Freeman

★ Ms. Zorski - Elizabeth Halpern

★ David Dave - David Jeremiah

★ Winston - John Kassir

★ Joann Bishop - Susan Krebs

★ Chet Zipper - Hope Levy

★ Noelle Sussman - Emily Kapnek

Crew

Producers

Emily Kapnek (Co-executive) Mark Risley (Creative).

Supervising director

Mark Risley

Directors

Mark Risley Michael Daedalus Kenny, Joeseph Scott, Dean Criswell, Frank Marino, Anthony Bell.

Episodes

Main articles: List of As Told By Ginger Episodes

Sixty episodes plus one pilot episode were produced for the show.
:The Pilot was produced in 1999 and officially completed on September 10 of that year.
:Season One was produced from November 1999-June 2000.
:Season Two was produced from August 2000 - November 2001.
:Season Three was produced from August 2002-November 2003.

TV Movies

:There were three television movies during the series' run.

★ ''Summer of Camp Caprice'' had Ginger, Dodie, Macie and Courtney heading to summer camp, with Darren and Miranda going to military camp (where, as it happens, Miranda's father works) and Carl and Hoodsey on the trail of dog nappers.

★ ''Foutleys on Ice'' (seen in the US as ''Far From Home''), following up on the Emmy-nominated episode ''And She Was Gone'', dealt with Ginger winning a scholarship to an arts school, and Carl and Hoodsey making friends with a new character, the telekinetic Noelle Sussman (voiced by Emily Kapnek). This episode was released on DVD.

★ ''The Wedding Frame'', which closed out the 3rd season and the series as a whole, and features Lois marrying one of the doctors at her hospital. Nickelodeon originally asked for the ending of that telefilm to be changed to something less conclusive in case they wished to make future TV episodes, however, perhaps due to that situation being very unlikely, the original ending was eventually retained. It was released directly to DVD in the United States in November 2004, and has not been broadcast in the US; also, the six episodes leading up to the movie were never televised or released in the US, resulting in some continuity problems.

Production

The pilot for the show was completed in September 1999. The show premiered the following October on Nickelodeon. The show was greatly popular at first, even making its way into the teenager-aimed block TeeNick. After the second season, the show's popularity began to decline, partially due to constant scheduling changes. Nickelodeon then took the show off the air after airing less than half the episodes of the third and final season. Nickelodeon's sister channel, Nicktoons Network has aired two episodes that have been unseen on Nickelodeon, and it acts as the only network to air the show in the United States.

In the official Klasky-Csupo website, the annual April Fool's day newsletter, released in 2005, stated that Paris Hilton would star as Courtney Gripling in a live-action movie based on the show. This was, of course, an April Fool's joke.

Show Airings

Network	Time	In effect
Nickelodeon	Wednesdays at 8 pm	October 2000-January 2001
Nickelodeon	Sundays 7:30 pm	January 2001-June 2003
Nick on CBS	Saturday mornings	September 2002-January 2003
Nickelodeon	Selected Weekday Mornings	November 2005-present
Nicktoons	Weekday mornings	November 2006-May 2007
Nicktoons	Sunday and Monday mornings	May 2007-July 2007

Theme Song

Originally, Melissa Disney, who voices Ginger, sang the theme song. Before the show's first airing, the theme song was switched to a version sang by Cree Summer, the voice of Miranda. The first half of the first season used this theme song version. After that, 'all' episodes used a new version sang by R&B artist Macy Gray. Although the Melissa Disney version has never been used in American airings, all three versions are featured regularly in other English-speaking countries.

Closing Credits

The closing credits are generally 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. The ending theme is most often an instrumental version of the theme, although there have been exceptions. The episode ''Never Can Say Goodbye'' ended with a song called ''Wrong'', sung by voice actor Kenny Blank as Darren Patterson. This was one of the few times that the show ended with something other than the instrumental of the theme song. The episode ''And She Was Gone'' ended with a musical version of Ginger's poem during the end credits. The episode ''Come Back Little Seal Girl'' featured the songs 'Courtney's World' and 'The Little Seal Girl' blended together. In ''About Face'', the episode ends with a song called 'Diamonds Are Expensive', presumably sung by the engaged Lois and Dr. Dave. ''Next Question'' ended in 'The Teen Seal Girl' song. ''And She Was Gone'' did not end with a song at all.

Character development and continuity

''As Told By Ginger'' has been recognized by fans and Nickelodeon alike for its character development, most of which is unusual for a cartoon.
In the first season, Ginger's age group is hinted as being in seventh grade. By the second season, they move up to eighth grade rather than remaining the same age. They graduate Jr. high in the third season and move on to becoming freshman in high school. Carl's age group works in a similar way, as they become Jr. high students by the third season. As the episode with the Jr. high graduation aired in 2004, Ginger is most likely part of the class of 2008. Also in the second season, Darren had his unwieldy orthodontia that he had been wearing for the entire first season removed, which resulted in rising popularity. Also, many episodes (mostly seasons two-three, although season one did this too) have references to previous episodes, giving the episodes a definite order.
One of the more noticeable development is the fact that the characters change clothes each time a new day comes. Many cartoons have their characters remain in the same outfits to save time and money. The girls in Ginger's age group (Dodie, Courtney, Macie, Miranda, and herself) were at first the only ones to do this. But after Darren got his orthodontia removed, he changed clothes as well. Carl's age group only changes clothes so often, most of the time with little changes. Hoodsey's coat rack has identical purple hooded-sweatshirts, mocking cartoons that always remain in the same outfits. Also, while live-action show characters only wear an outfit once, ''As Told By Ginger'' characters wear their outfits in rotation, and new outfits are added every few episodes.
The show also deals with many deep themes. In ''Wicked Game'', Ginger's two best friends betray her after feeling jealousy toward her new boyfriend, Darren. In ''And She Was Gone'', the staff and students at school think Ginger is depressed after she writes a disturbing poem. 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. In actuality, the voice actress, Kathleen Freeman died and the episode was dedicated to her. ''A Lesson in Tightropes'' has Ginger going through an emotional break-up with Darren while, at the same time, having to get surgery for her acute appendix. Furthermore, the episode ''Stuff'll Kill Ya'' shows Ginger dealing with what could be conceived as a caffeine addiction.

Trivia

★ The episodes ''I Spy a Witch'', ''Deja Who?'', ''An "Even Steven" Holiday Special'', and ''Piece of My Heart'' were all made for the first season line-up, but aired during the second season.

★ ''Never Can Say Goodbye'', ''Gym Class Confidential'', ''Fast Reputation'', and ''The Nurses' Strike'' all aired in the same week during the TeenNick block. They aired February 11-February 14, 2002 (which were the days between Monday and Thursday.)

★ The episodes ''Detention'', ''Kiss Today Good-bye'', ''A Lesson In Tightropes'', ''Dodie's Big Break'', and ''Battle of the Bands'' are all high school episodes that have yet to air in the United States. They were originally scheduled to air during the second week of November 2006. But they were immediately removed from the schedule after the first high school episode, ''Stuff'll Kill Ya'' was aired. In most other countries they are part of the common re-runs.

★ In the TV movie ''The Wedding Frame'', when the Foutley's are driving to their soon-to-be home, they pass a cemetery park. One tombstone reads "ATBG" while the other reads "RIP". ATBG is short for As Told By Ginger and RIP is short for Rest In Peace. This is a nod to the fact that this movie is the series finale.

★ ''Sleep On It'' has aired in the past, but Nickelodeon stopped showing during reruns. Nicktoons Network has yet to show it. Some believe that Nickelodeon considers them inappropriate. Hoodsey urinates on Courtney's carpet in ''Sleep On It'' because of bed wetting problems, which Nick could see as being inappropriate.

★ ''Piece of My Heart'' aired in the month of December, but since then has been known as a Valentine's Day special.

★ Nickelodeon asked that the ending to the series finale, ''The Wedding Frame'', be changed to something less conclusive in case they decided to order another season. As the chances of this were extremely unlikely, the original ending stayed.

★ In the episode ''No Hope For Courtney'', Mrs. Gordon retires after having enough of Carl and Hoodsey. Carl begs her to return. The script was originally written to have Mrs. Gordon return to her teaching job. Kathleen Freeman died in 2001 before the episodes first airing and the script was re-written to have Mrs. Gordon die as well and the newly-scripted episode aired some years later.

Awards

★ Three Emmy nominations for ''Hello Stranger'' (in 2001), ''Lunatic Lake'' (in 2002), and ''And Then She Was Gone'' (in 2003) (all three times ''As Told By Ginger'' was beaten by ''FOX'' shows). They were all three nominated in the ''Outstanding Animated Program (Less than One Hour)''.

★ "Best Cartoon" at Nickelodeon Netherlands' Kids Choice Awards in 2005.

External links

★ Episodes available to watch click here (on veoh)

★

★ Nickelodeon's Ginger site

★ Klasky-Csupo's Ginger area on cooltoons.com (Studio site)

★ ''As Told By Ginger'' at the Big Cartoon DataBase

★ Don Del Grande's Ginger fanpage

★ Darren, with the headgear and without

★ Ginger, with the new hairdo, and with her regular hairdo

★

★ The As Told By Ginger - The Legacy fansite