Gidget

Gidget launched the career of the ever-perky Sally Field (who decades later still looks like the sweetie-pie beach bunny she played in the mid-'60s series). The show is a valentine to Southern California, surfing, and plucky girl power--in fact, Gidget's self-aware musings and intrepid ways of getting out of trouble lay the groundwork for later TV heroines like Buffy and Veronica Mars. The show's aged surprisingly well, mostly because of the undeniable charms of Field, who seems to take her teenage "horror stories"--as when squeeze Jeff (a.k.a. Moon Doggie) is poised to return to Princeton and suggests they date other people--with a knowing grain of salt. The teen drama is all a bit tongue in cheek, since it's clear nothing will get our Gidget down for long. The dialogue is a real treat, a crazy mix of late film noir ("How old's the underripe tomato?") and pre-Summer of Love hipster California-speak ("Well, look at all the wiggy birds around here!"). The set includes all 32 episodes, with a short interview with Field, who has a lot of affection for her young persona--as do we all, Daddy-o. --A.T. Hurley