As Told by Ginger


As Told by Ginger, also known as As Told by Ginger Foutley, is an American animated preteen drama television series created by Emily Kapnek for Nickelodeon. It was produced by Klasky Csupo and Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Set in the fictional town of Sheltered Shrubs, the series revolves around the titular character, Ginger Foutley, a junior high school girl and her friends as they try to become more than social geeks.
As Told by Ginger premiered on Nickelodeon on October 25, 2000. Although the show ended production in 2004, some of its episodes were initially left 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 three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding 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.
WWW nicksplat.com/social-wall...

Premise

Characters

The series focuses mainly on the life of junior high school student Ginger Foutley. Ginger and her friends Darren Patterson, Deirdre Hortense "Dodie" Bishop, and Macie Lightfoot, try to rise from the status of school geeks as they resolve 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. She is intrigued by her "gingerisms", as Courtney calls them. However, Miranda Killgallen, 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. Her younger brother, Carl, is often scheming with Robert Joseph "Hoodsey" Bishop in his own side plots, and her mother, Lois, is always there for advice – to which Ginger is always able to listen.

Setting

The series takes place in the fictional suburban town of Sheltered Shrubs, located in Connecticut. Sheltered Shrubs is based on the real town of Larchmont, New York, where series creator Emily Kapnek moved to when she was in junior high. She said the town became "sort of the basis for this show". Other towns noted in the series are Protected Pines, a gated community in which Courtney lives, Brittle Branches, where Ginger's father resides, and Heathered Hills, the town of Ginger's summer camp crush, Sasha.

Continuity and themes

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.
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 unwieldy orthodontic 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. 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. Other Klasky Csupo productions of the time, such as Rugrats and Rocket 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 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. 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 suicidally depressed after she writes a disturbing poem that worries them. 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, 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 while she must undergo surgery for appendicitis. Furthermore, the episode "Stuff'll Kill Ya" shows Ginger dealing with a coffee and caffeine drug addiction.
Series finale and TV Film The Wedding Frame ends on a Flashforward scene, with Ginger 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 on her now-closed book, which is titled As Told by Ginger. Ginger breaks the fourth wall at the end of her reading, and thanks both the audience in the bookshop watching her, and the viewers at home.
  • In the TV film The Wedding Frame, when the Foutleys are driving to their soon-to-be home, they pass a cemetery park. One tombstone reads "ATBG" while another 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 the film is the series finale.
  • A girl named Leandra, who had a bone marrow illness and was a Make-A-Wish patient, was a fan of the series and watched it during her treatments. Her wish was to be a character on the show, so she appeared and voiced a character named after herself in a scene of the episode "Butterflies are Free", in which Ginger, Macie and Dodie greet her by name.
Unlike most other Nicktoons, the series was aired on the TEENick block.

Theme song

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 by Macy Gray, which became the best-known version of the theme song. Another cover of the song by Cree Summer, Miranda Killgallen’s voice actress, was also recorded for the show but not used.
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.

Episodes

Television films

There were four television films that aired 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 and Carl and Hoodsey on the trail of dog nappers.Foutleys on Ice, 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. This episode was released on DVD.Butterflies are Free follows Ginger and her friends graduating from junior high.The Wedding Frame closed out the third season and the series as a whole, and features Lois marrying one of the doctors at her hospital.
Nickelodeon had originally asked for the ending of The 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. It was released directly to DVD in the United States in November 2004, 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 premiered on CBS All Access.
In international airings, the films were divided into two and three parts in reruns.

Production

The pilot for the show was completed in September 1999. The show premiered in October 2000 on Nickelodeon. The show was greatly popular at first, 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 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 the Nicktoons channel since its inception in 2002, 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 on TeenNick's The Splat in 2016, and the last 2 premiered on CBS All Access in 2021.

Show airings

  • The episodes "I Spy a Witch", "Déjà Who?", "An 'Even Steven' Holiday Special" and "Piece of My Heart" were all made for the first season lineup, but aired during the second season in the United States.
  • "Never Can Say Goodbye", "Gym Class Confidential", "Fast Reputation" and "The Nurses' Strike" all premiered in the same week during the TEENick block. They aired February 11–14, 2002.
  • The episodes "Detention", "Kiss Today Goodbye", "A Lesson in Tightropes", "Dodie's Big Break" and "Battle of the Bands" are all high school episodes that were initially unaired in the United States. They were at one time scheduled to air during the second week of November 2006, but were immediately removed from the schedule after the first high school episode, "Stuff'll Kill Ya", was aired. "Detention", "Kiss Today Goodbye", "A Lesson in Tightropes" and "Dodie's Big Break" would premiere in the United States on TeenNick's The Splat in 2016, and "Battle of the Bands" would premiere on CBS All Access in 2021. In several other countries, especially in the United Kingdom, they are part of regular reruns.

DVD and streaming releases

  • The TV films Far from Home and The Wedding Frame are available on VHS and DVD in the United States and Canada. Far from Home comes with the bonus episodes "Ginger the Juvey" and the pilot episode "The Party". The Wedding Frame includes "Stealing First" and "Dare I, Darren".
  • The complete series used to be available on iTunes; the 60 episodes were divided into six volumes. As of January 2015, the episodes are no longer available for download.
  • The entire series got added to the streaming service Paramount+ on January 12, 2021. The entire series was removed from Paramount+ on December 17, 2025.
  • The episodes 1 through 45 are available on Russian DVD sets with each DVD containing 5 episodes. The As Speaks Ginger DVDs, as they are known in Russia, are produced and distributed by Russobit-M and are only available with a Russian soundtrack.

Theme song

The opening theme, titled "I'm in Between", was written for the show by American rapper Ray Raymond. 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 by Cree Summer. This would be used for half of the first season before a third version, featuring vocals by R&B artist Macy Gray, 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.

Closing credits

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 actor Kenny 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.

Awards