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 his 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 becoming freshmen in high school. Carl's age group works in a 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 of the most noticeable developments is that the characters change clothes every episode and often newer every day within the same episode, a highly unusual characteristic of cartoons in animation. Most animated cartoons have their characters remain in the same outfits throughout the series to save time and money. This was most conspicuous amongst the girls in Ginger's age group (Dodie, Courtney, Macie, Miranda and Ginger herself) and some of the adults such as Ginger's mother. After Darren got his orthodontic headgear removed, he changed clothes as well. Carl's age group changes clothes only infrequently and with few changes. Hoodsey's coat rack has similar purple hoodies, satirizing cartoons whose characters always remain in the same outfits. Unlike most live-action shows whose characters only wear an outfit once, As Told by Ginger characters wear their outfits in rotation, and new outfits are added every few episodes. 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