One Day at a Time (1975 TV series)

One Day at a Time
Created by	Whitney Blake and Allan Manings
Starring	Bonnie Franklin Mackenzie Phillips Valerie Bertinelli Pat Harrington Richard Masur Mary Louise Wilson Michael Lembeck Nanette Fabray Glenn Scarpelli Shelley Fabares Boyd Gaines Howard Hesseman
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	9
No. of episodes	209
Production
Running time	30 Minutes
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	December 16, 1975 – May 28, 1984

For the song of the same name, see One Day at a Time (song)

One Day at a Time was a long-running American situation comedy on the CBS network that aired from December 16, 1975 to May 28, 1984. It portrayed Ann Romano, a divorced mother, played by Bonnie Franklin, her two teenage daughters Julie and Barbara Cooper (Mackenzie Phillips, Valerie Bertinelli) and Schneider, their building superintendent (Pat Harrington).

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 based on Whitney Blake's own life as a single mother, raising her child, future actress Meredith Baxter. 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, after The Jeffersons (All in the Family and its continuation series Archie Bunker's Place had a combined 12-year run, but only eight of those years were under the show's original name).

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 (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/offensive one, and the more-mature fifteen-year-old Barbara (Valerie Bertinelli). 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 by Dwayne Schneider (Pat Harrington), often referred to only by his last name , 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.

During this time period the show reflected a trend found in other shows such as Barney Miller, MASH, Good Times and 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, including:

Suicide: In a two-part episode, Barbara freaks out when a new girl at school begins hanging around her incessantly. When Barbara shuns the girl, she attempts suicide by drug overdose. Though she survives, it is revealed her problems go much deeper owing to, among other things, a neglectful mother.

Birth control: When Ann confronts Barbara about "the pill", Barbara says that she's not on the pill, but just wanted guys to think she was. Ann replies, "If they think you are, you'd better be."

Pre-marital sex: Teenager Barbara wrestles with the question of losing her virginity. After much self-examination, she decides against it.

• In a four-part episode, "The Older Man", Julie is dating a man more than twice her age, much to Ann's consternation. When the couple comes home from a date very late one night, Ann berates the man, but when Julie gets in Ann's face ("You lonely, Ma? You want him??"), Ann angrily slaps her. (The slap loudly hit full in Phillips' face causing a shocked reaction from the studio audience)

Infidelity: Julie moves back home with her new fiance and his friend Max in tow. As the two men leave, Ann and the others inadvertently catch Julie secretly kissing Max goodbye and exchanging 'I-love-yous'.

Sexual harassment: Barbara decides to fight back against a teacher who makes a blatant pass at her. She later finds out he made similar advances to a classmate. Initially, the two decide to expose him, but the classmate backs out at the last minute.

Plot

The basic setup of the show underwent many convoluted twists.

After her divorce, Ann Romano (formerly Cooper; she resumed use of her maiden name, while her children kept their father's) and her daughters move from Logansport, Indiana 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 beginning of the second 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 (it was later reported that Bonnie Franklin had Wilson fired from the show, accusing her of upstaging her).

During the fifth (1979-80) season, Julie gets married and later moves away to Houston with her pilot husband Max Horvath (director Michael Lembeck); this plot device was written in so that Mackenzie Phillips could undergo drug rehabilitation. This season also sees the introduction of Ann's mother, Grandma Katherine Romano (Nanette Fabray).

In the sixth (1980-81) season, Ann leaves her advertising job, rather than relocate to another city, 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 seventh (1981-82) season, after hitting some bumps in her business, Ann goes into business with her ex-nemesis from Conners & Davenport, Francine Webster (Shelley Fabares - the real life niece of co-star Nanette Fabray). Alex moves back with his remarried mother, Felicia (Elinor Donahue). Actress Mackenzie Phillips returns when Julie and Max move back to Indianapolis. Barbara marries her new dental student boyfriend Mark Royer (Boyd Gaines).

During the eighth (1982-83) season, Ann marries Mark's divorced father, Sam (Howard Hesseman), Julie gives birth to a daughter named Annie, (named after her mother) and the two daughters and their husbands move into a house together.

The show ends in its ninth (1983-84) season, with the 'family' moving off for different reasons. With continued health problems for actress Mackenzie Phillips she was written out of the show when her character of Julie deserts her family and disappears. Ann and Sam move to London after she accepts a job offer. Schneider moves to Florida to take care of his orphaned nephew and niece.

Real-life drama

Mackenzie Phillips became addicted to cocaine during the show. In the 1977-1978 season, Phillips was arrested for public drunkenness, and possession of cocaine that was found in her purse by officers. In the sixth season, Mackenzie's addiction was getting out of control which caused her to show up late for rehearsals, often incoherent (forgetting her lines), and making false excuses for not showing up for tapings. Executives, ordered Phillips a six week vacation to seek help for her drug habit. Unfortunately, she did not seek help for her addiction, Mackenzie stated in several interviews such as, "I had a massage, haircut, teeth fixed, as I returned to the set I went "Ta-Da!""

In February 1980, Phillips was called for a meeting with the shows producers. Assuming that she was going to get a raise, she was given a choice; 'clean up, or be fired.' She was given a drug test and, unfortunately, failed and was fired from the show.

In the fall of 1981, Mackenzie won her job back for One Day at a Time as a guest. A year later, Phillips reuturned to cocaine and her weight plummeted to under 100 pounds. There was a clause inside her contract that stated 'DRUG TEST ON DEMAND'. In the shows ninth and final season, Mackenzie collaped on the couch on the set. One Day's producer Patricia Fass Palmer, woke Phillips up and wanted her to have a urine test. Palmer stated in several interviews, "She said to me, 'Patricia, if you wait until tomorrow, and it will be okay. Can you do that?' I said, "I can't, I'm sorry." Palmer, also stated "she picked herself up, and she left. None of us had not seen her for a long time, after that." Finally, Mackenzie was fired that very day co-stars were devastated.

Michael Lembeck, who played her husband Max states at first hand, "She said Lem, 'I know it's wrong that I crave it, I know it's wrong of jiving the distance to get it, and I know it's wrong that I purchase it, and I can't stop.'"

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, and performed by RCA recording artist Polly Cutter.

Ratings

The highest the show ever got in the Nielsen ratings was #8 during the 1976-77 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. Available 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
• 1983-1984: Not in top 30

Syndication

CBS aired daytime reruns of the show for three years. From September 17, 1979 to February 1, 1980, it aired at 3:30pm (EST) on the daytime schedule; in February 4, 1980 it was moved; the time depended on the TV market. Most affiliates aired the show at noon or 4pm. It moved to 10am in September 28, 1981, and a year later, it was replaced 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 "Tube Time" on-demand network.

In Canada, the show can currently be seen weekdays at 4:00 PM ET on the digital cable specialty channel, DejaView.

Selected "Minisodes" from the first three seasons are available to view for free on Crackle.

Cast reunions

The One Day at a Time Reunion was a 60-minute CBS retrospective special which aired on Tuesday February 22, 2005 at 9:00pm ET, reuniting Bonnie Franklin, Mackenzie Phillips, Valerie Bertinelli and Pat Harrington to reminisce about the series and their characters. Recurring cast members Richard Masur, Shelley Fabares, Nanette Fabray, Michael Lembeck and Glenn Scarpelli shared their feelings about their time on the show in separate interviews. The special was included as a bonus on One Day at a Time: The Complete First Season DVD set.

On February 26, 2008, Franklin, Phillips, Bertinelli and Harrington reunited once again to talk about life on the set, Phillips' drug problems and the show's theme song on NBC's Today Show as part of a week-long segment titled "Together Again: TV's Greatest Casts Reunited".

Bertinelli, Harrington and (on tape) Franklin appeared on the September 10, 2008 episode of Rachael Ray to celebrate Ray's 40th birthday.

DVD release

On April 24, 2007, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the first season on DVD. It is currently unknown if the remaining 8 seasons will be released.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date
The Complete First Season	15	April 24, 2007

External links

• Museum of Broadcast Communications page on One Day at a Time
• Out.com interview Glenn Scarpelli comes out
• One Day at a Time at IMDb