TVLand.com to Air Full-Length Episodes of Marlo Thomas's Ground-Breaking Series That Girl and Emmy Award-Winning Special Free to Be ... You and Me Throughout December

Episodes of Series and Uncut Version of Special Premiere Online on December 1

NEW YORK, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- It's Marlo, Marlo and more Marlo beginning Friday, December 1 when TV Land and TVLand.com kick off a month-long celebration showcasing the ground-breaking series That Girl and the Emmy Award-winning special Free To Be ... You And Me. The celebration -- in conjunction with the Season 2 release of That Girl on DVD -- includes the following: full-length episode streams of That Girl on TVLand.com; the uncut version of the pop culture classic Free To Be ... You and Me online until January 31; a 48-hour weekend marathon of the series and special the weekend of December 9 and a sweepstakes in which fans can enter to win one of 50 DVD sets of That Girl's seasons one and two.

Beginning Friday, December 1, TVLand.com will begin offering full-length episodes of That Girl for a limited time. Fans will be able to access twelve of the series' most popular episodes (three episodes a week will be rolled out throughout the month) including "Don't Just Do Something, Stand There," "Anatomy of a Blunder," "The Good Skate" and "Counter Proposal." TVLand.com will also stream the uncut version of the 1974 Emmy Award-winning special Free To Be ... You and Me through January 31. Additionally, the website will feature commentary from Marlo Thomas, star of the acclaimed series and special, and clips of some of the most-loved moments from That Girl. Fans can also go to TVLand.com to enter a sweepstakes to win DVD sets of the first two seasons of That Girl. No purchase is necessary and all entries must be received by December 23.

TV Land's on-air celebration begins Saturday, December 9 at 6 a.m. ET/PT with a 48-hour marathon featuring episodes of That Girl as well as Free To Be ... You and Me. The full schedule will be available on TVLand.com.

The beloved TV series That Girl premiered on ABC in 1966 and was the first of its kind to center around a young female character taking charge of her own life. Marlo Thomas starred as Ann Marie, a young woman living in New York City seeking to become an actress. As the show's producer, Thomas set out to create a role model for women on prime time television, proving that they could be strong, independent and happily single.

Free To Be ... You and Me, also produced by Marlo Thomas, aired in 1974 and featured life lessons delivered in skits, short stories and songs performed by Marlo Thomas, Mel Brooks, Alan Alda, Michael Jackson, Rita Coolidge, Harry Belafonte, Roberta Flack, Rosie Grier, Kris Kristofferson, Bobby Morse, Tommy Smothers, Cicely Tyson and Dionne Warwick. In 1972, Marlo Thomas produced Free to Be ... You and Me as a record album for her niece. Through songs such as "William's Doll" -- a song about a little boy who is teased because he wants a doll -- and humorous skits such as "Boy Meets Girl" -- about two babies (Mel Brooks and Marlo Thomas) who discuss whether each is a boy or a girl based on their likes and dislikes -- children listened to the underlying message not to settle for what's expected of you and it's okay to be who you are.

The album sold 500,000 copies and inspired a companion book which went on to become a best seller. Two years later, the songs and stories were performed for television -- a project of The Ms. Foundation for Women, Inc. -- and went on to win an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Children's Special (Evening)" that year.

About TV Land

Now seen in over 88 million U.S. homes, TV Land is a division of MTV Networks. TV Land's program mix features popular dramas, sitcoms, westerns, Retromercials and a TV-referential interstitial environment, all programmed with a specific audience in mind -- the first generation of Americans to grow up watching television and features all-time Classic hits like All in the Family, I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, and Bonanza.

MTV Networks, a division of Viacom International Inc. (NYSE: VIA) , owns and operates the following television programming services -- MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, mtvU, VHI, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN, MTV INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 12 digital services, all of which are trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.

About Viacom



Issuers of news releases and not PR Newswire are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Terms and conditions, including restrictions on redistribution, apply.



Copyright © 1996-2003 PR Newswire Association LLC. All Rights Reserved.
A
United Business Media company.