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 (later 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 up until 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.
Premise
Characters
The series focuses mainly on the life of junior high school student Ginger Foutley (voiced by Melissa Disney). Ginger and her friends Darren Patterson (voiced by Kenny Blank), Deirdre Hortense "Dodie" Bishop (voiced by Aspen Vincent), and Macie Lightfoot (voiced by Jackie Harris), try to rise from the status of school geeks as they resolve many conflicts that come their way. She is intrigued by her "gingerisms", as Courtney calls them. However, Miranda Killgallen (voiced by Cree 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. Her younger brother, Carl (voiced by Jeannie Elias), is often scheming with Robert Joseph "Hoodsey" Bishop (voiced by Tress MacNeille) in his own side plots, and her mother, Lois (voiced by Laraine Newman), 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.
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. 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 (who has cheated on her with cheerleader Simone) while she must undergo surgery for appendicitis. Furthermore, the episode "Stuff'll Kill Ya" shows Ginger dealing with a coffee and caffeine drug addiction.
Unlike most other Nicktoons, the series was aired on the TEENick block. 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 (also titled Season of 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 (aired 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 series creator Emily Kapnek). 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 ("Battle of the Bands") premiered on CBS All Access.
In international airings, the films were divided into two (for Butterflies are Free) and three parts (for the other three films) 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 (including "The Wedding Frame", which had previously been released on DVD in the US in 2004) premiered on CBS All Access in 2021.
Show airings
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Network
! Time
! In effect
|-
| rowspan="2" | 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
| rowspan="2" | 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
|}
- 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 (which were the days between Monday and Thursday).
- 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 (Region 1). Far from Home comes with the bonus episodes "Ginger the Juvey" and the pilot episode "The Party".
- The complete series was made available to purchase on iTunes in 2008; the 60 episodes were divided into six volumes. As of January 2015, the episodes are no longer available for download.
- The complete series was made available to stream on Paramount+ on January 12, 2021, until it was removed from the service 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 (Cyrillic: Как говорит Джинджер), are produced and distributed by Russobit-M and are only available with a Russian soundtrack.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
|+Region 1
! colspan=2|Title
! Season(s)
! Episode count
! Release date
! Episodes
|-
| style="background:#8198ce|
| The Wedding Frame
| rowspan=2|1, 3
| rowspan=2|5
| November 23, 2004
| 3 ("Stealing First"), 6 ("Dare I, Darren") and 58–60 ("The Wedding Frame")
|-
| style="background:#01b7cd|
| Far from Home
| April 5, 2005
| 1 "(Ginger the Juvey"), 41–43 ("Far from Home") and Pilot ("The Party")
|}
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,
- "Best Cartoon" at Nickelodeon Netherlands Kids Choice Awards in 2005.
- Two episodes of As Told by Ginger were ranked in Nickelodeon's "100 Greatest Moments in Nicktoons History", a special presented by Nickelodeon in November 2007. The episodes "Gym Class Confidential" and "Stealing First" were ranked at 97 and 95.
References
Further reading
External links
- "FOR YOUNG VIEWERS; Leaving Larchmont, Again" in The New York Times