One Day at a Time (1975 TV series)
| One Day at a Time | |
|---|---|
| File:One Day at a Time.jpg The original cast of One Day At A Time. | |
| Created by | Whitney Blake and Allan Manings |
| Starring | Bonnie Franklin Mackenzie Phillips Valerie Bertinelli Pat Harrington, Jr. Glenn Scarpelli ('80-'83) Howard Hesseman ('82-'84) |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 209 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 Minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | December 16, 1975 – May 28, 1984 |
One Day at a Time was a long-running American situation comedy that portrayed a divorced mother, played by Bonnie Franklin, her two teenage daughters (Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli and their building superintendent (Pat Harrington, Jr.). Two hundred and nine half-hour episodes aired on CBS, from December 16, 1975 to May 28, 1984.
The show was created by Whitney Blake and Allan Manings, a husband-and-wife writing duo who were both actors in the 1950s and 1960s. The show was developed by Norman Lear and later Embassy Television.
Like many shows developed by Lear, One Day at a Time was more of a comedy-drama, using its half-hour to tackle serious issues in life and relationships, particularly those related to second wave feminism. The show's nine years give it the second-longest tenure of any Lear-developed sitcom under its original name (The Jeffersons, which premiered the same year and ran for one season after One Day at a Time was cancelled, is number one, and All in the Family changed its title to Archie Bunker's Place after season nine, with a shift in focus to Archie Bunker's work place).
Premise
The show starred Broadway, character and former child actress Bonnie Franklin as Ann Romano, a woman who, echoing sentiments common to the 1970s, felt that she had always been either someone's daughter, wife, or mother and wanted to "find herself." She divorces her husband (who never understood why she left; played occasionally by veteran actor Joseph Campanella) and moves to Indianapolis with her two daughters, seventeen-year-old Julie (Mackenzie Phillips), the older, more rebellious one, and fifteen-year-old Barbara (Valerie Bertinelli), the more level-headed daughter. The theme of the series rests on Ann's desire to prove that she can live and raise her children independently. However during the first season, Ann is courted by steady boyfriend/ lawyer, David Kane (actor/director Richard Masur).
She is helped in this task by Dwayne Schneider, always referred to only by his last name (comedic actor Pat Harrington, Jr.), who is the superintendent of Ann's apartment building. His "drop-in" visits are so frequent that he is effectively an unofficial member of the family. One of Schneider's running gags is his attempts to hide that his middle name is "Florenz" (pronounced "Florence," in honor of Florenz Ziegfeld). Schneider also frequently hits on Romano, employing clumsy double entendres she breezily rebuffs.
The show reflected a trend during this time period (also found in shows such as Barney Miller, MASH, All in the Family) in its mixture of a sitcom format with elements more commonly associated with drama series or made-for-TV movies of the week, including multi-week storylines dealing with social issues such as suicide and premarital sex. This format was lampooned on The Rerun Show as being a very special episode sort of series.
Plot
The basic setup of the show underwent many convoluted twists.
After her divorce, Ann Romano and her daughters move into an Indianapolis apartment building and Ann gets a job as an account executive at the advertising firm of Conners & Davenport (Mr. Conners was played by John Hillerman, Mr. Davenport by Charles Siebert). In the 1976 - 1977 season, David proposes to Ann, but she turns him down; David leaves to work as a lawyer in Los Angeles. That same year, a wisecracking neighbor is added, Ginny Wrobliki (Mary Louise Wilson), as Schneider's love interest; however, she lasts only one season. During the 1979-1980 season, Julie moves away to Houston with her flight attendant husband Max Horvath (director Michael Lembeck); this plot device was written in so that Mackenzie Phillips could undergo drug rehabilitation.[citation needed]
The next season, Ann leaves her advertising job and starts a freelance business with Nick Handris (Ron Rifkin). They become romantically involved, but Nick dies in a car wreck caused by a drunk driver, at which point Ann starts raising Nick's teenage son, Alex (Glenn Scarpelli).
During the 1981-1982 season, Ann goes into business with her ex-nemesis from Conners & Davenport, Francine Webster (Shelley Fabares); Julie and Max move back to Indianapolis, while Barbara marries her new dental student boyfriend Mark Royer (Boyd Gaines). During the 1982-1983 season, Ann marries Mark's divorced father, Sam (Howard Hesseman), Julie gives birth to a daughter named Annie, and the two daughters and their husbands move into a house together.
Julie was written out of the show again in 1983, with the plot line this time having her desert her family and disappearing. The show ends with Ann moving to London with Sam and Schneider moving to Florida to take care of his orphaned nephew and niece.
Real-life drama
Mackenzie Phillips became addicted to cocaine, and was fired in 1980 after many highly publicized absences from the set. She returned in 1981, but she had drug problems again, and was fired a second time in 1983.[citation needed]
Theme Song
The popular bouncy theme song for One Day at a Time, This is It, was composed by legendary Brill Building songwriter Jeff Barry.
Ratings
The highest the show ever got in the Nielsen ratings was #8 during the 1976-1977 season, when it tied with the ABC Sunday Night Movie and Baretta, but it consistently placed in the top 10 or 20. However, the network moved the show around on the prime time schedule no less than 11 times.
It was best known in the 1980s as a staple of the CBS Sunday night lineup, one of the most successful in TV history, along with Archie Bunker's Place, Alice, and The Jeffersons. Detailed annual ratings are listed below:
- 1975-1976: #12
- 1976-1977: #8
- 1977-1978: #10
- 1978-1979: #18
- 1979-1980: #10
- 1980-1981: #11
- 1981-1982: #10
- 1982-1983: #16
Syndication
CBS aired daytime reruns of the show for three years. From September 1979 to February 1980, it aired at 3:30pm (EST) on the daytime schedule; in February 1980 it was moved; the time depended on the TV market. Most affiliates aired the show at noon or 4pm. In September 1981 it moved to 10am (EST), replacing reruns of The Jeffersons. It was replaced in September 1982 by The $25,000 Pyramid.
One Day at a Time was aired on E! Entertainment Television in the early and mid-1990s, at first in the afternoons and then, as time went on, earlier and earlier in the morning. Eventually, the show left the network entirely and hasn't been aired nationally since.
In 2006, the show was available to some Comcast digital cable customers in America as part of Comcast's retro-themed TV Time on-demand network, but it was subsequently removed.
DVD Releases
On April 24, 2007, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the first season on DVD for the very first time in Region 1.
| Cover Art | DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| File:One Day at a Time S1.jpg | The Complete First Season | 15 | April 24 2007 |
| The Complete Second Season | 24 | N/A | |
| The Complete Third Season | 24 | TBA | |
| The Complete Fourth Season | 26 | TBA | |
| The Complete Fifth Season | 26 | TBA | |
| The Complete Sixth Season | 21 | TBA | |
| The Complete Seventh Season | 25 | TBA | |
| The Complete Eighth Season | 26 | TBA | |
| The Complete Ninth Season | 22 | TBA |
External links
- Museum of Broadcast Communications page on One Day at a Time
- Out.com interview Glenn Scarpelli comes out