As Told by Ginger

I feel like this show never got as much street cred as it deserved. As Told By Ginger had well developed characters, good back stories, and realistic relationships. It was slightly odd, but all good shows have to be kind of weird otherwise they won’t be memorable.

Much like Doug, Ginger speaks to the audience through her journal. She’s your average girl just trying to make it through life. Her parents are divorced and she lives with her mother Lois (who talks with a thick east coast accent) and her disgusting brother Carl (or as Lois pronounces his name “Cahl”) who relishes in all things bizarre and grotesque. Ginger has a lot of potential, but these two kind of drag her down. Her mom is sweet, don’t get me wrong, but she has a lot of rules. She doesn’t let Ginger wear makeup for her school picture, or shave her legs. She’s honestly stifling Ginger’s chances at becoming popular. Rude.

Luckily, Ginge has a set of really great friends. They’re not the cutest, but they get the job done. Darren is Ginger’s next door neighbor and he usually climbs up to her window from the latticework on the side of her house. It took me a long time to remember the word lattice. Ugh. Darren is super nice and cute. His only downfall is that he has headgear that takes up his whole face so the audience didn’t realize how cute he was until later seasons when he got it removed. He also became more popular because of this too.

Most of the people in Ginger’s grade change their clothes for each episode but Carl’s friends wear the same outfits every day. Darren wore the same outfit every ep until he got his head gear off. And then I think he and Ginger became romantically involved. They kissed in a couple episodes and in the As Told by Ginger TV movie.

Dodie and Macie are Ginger’s best girl friends. Neither of them are very cute or popular. They’re smart, but smarts only get you so far. Dodie is a good friend, but she’s kind of obsessed with Ginger. She got really mad when Ginger got accepted to study at this arts school for a semester. She gets kind of hysterical. I don’t know how Ginger handles her. Macie is kind of a worry wart. She has asthma and the worst haircut ever. And a hunchback now that I think about it. She’ll definitely grow up to be an old cat lady.

Dodie and Macie. Yikes, right?

Courtney Gripling is the most popular girl in school. Mostly because she has the most money ever. She lives in a mansion and has butlers and helicopters. Her family has posh British accents—if that’s not a sign of wealth, I don’t know what is. Occasionally she acts like a big biotch, but by the later seasons, she really takes a liking to Ginger Foutley. In fact, when Ginger gets accepted to arts school, Courtney has an outright breakdown and surrounds herself with Dodie and Macie to remind her of Ginger.

Courtney’s best friend Miranda is a huge jerk and is totally jealous of Courtney’s love for Ginger. Miranda also has a lot of money, but not as much as Courtney. Miranda will stoop to low levels to get Ginger out of her life forever, but none of them really work.

Courtney and Miranda.

Carl and his friends are actually an important part of the show. He and his best friend Robert Joseph “Hoodsy” Bishop spend most of their time in a dog house that they converted into a club house. Hoodsy gets his name because he always wears a hoodie with the hood up. They take delight in all things weird and gross. Surprisingly, so does Courtney’s younger brother Blake Gripling. Although it wouldn’t seem like it from the way he dresses—blazer, khaki shorts and loafers.

Overall, As Told by Ginger is an awesome show. The characters are really deep and developed and the animation is super cool. The people who animated this show also did Ah! Real Monsters and Rocket Power.

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