One Day at a Time

Just like Ann Romano (Franklin), this show's a survivor.

"One Day at a Time" is one of those great shows that came out in the '70s that showed how far women had come in TV terms. In the '60s, you'd never have seen a show about a divorced woman who moved to Indianapolis with her daughters (Phillips, Bertinelli) to start a new life for themselves.

And what a great character they had in Ann Romano: spirited, opinionated, a fighter and someone who didn't take the bull that men fed her and fought tooth and nail for everything she had. A lot of that strength was from anger, naturally, but she modulated it well.

Then there was always Schneider (Harrington), the apartment super where she lived. Something of a ladies' man, he was always around to fix someone's pipes (if you know what I mean), but Ann wisely kept her distance. She knew a goof when she saw one, and Schneider's scenes were largely played for laughs. Good choice.

In fact, the whole series had a great run and never lacked for story lines (women's rights, divorce, suicide, runaways) but was a real showcase for Franklin, who was terrific. Hey, TV suits; give her another series as good as this one!

Ten stars for "One Day at a Time", a TV series whose "Time"-ing was perfect.

This series was okay but I find it hard to watch for one reason: Bonnie Franklin. She is utterly charmless. In episode after episode, men all her irresistible. She is the opposite of attractive; she is repellent. I am not only referring to he negligible looks but her personality and her delivery.Every time she would utter her signature line "Oh my Gawd " stretching out "g-a -w-d ", i wanted to scream. And the ridiculous jokes about her having dyed her hair. She was obviously a redhead with her skin pigmentation. Why bother ?; it is not like Lucille Ball who was not a natural redhead. She is just so obnoxious.During the course of the original run she was reported to have held out for extra money because she was the "star "; this is one case where not only could she have been replaced by another actress, I wish she had been.

Even as a kid, I knew that I was watching something that had never been done before. It made me want to watch it more, if only to see my mother that uncomfortable with the messages conveyed; messages about birth control, the ERA, per-marital sex....can you see where I'm going here? Ann Romano was the divorced mother of two girls, one a potential beauty queen, one not so cute (but you got the idea that was her choice somehow). The chaos in their eyes was, we now know, genuine. The actors were in as much a state of flux as our nation. Women were emerging as independent beings who didn't need a man to make their way in the world. The entire sit-com was played out, probably 90%, in the Romano living room. I think they wore the same 5-6 outfits through-out the entire show. The mostly absent father was played as a philandering, abusive, schmuck and largely only used as a way to man-bash. The maintenance man, Schneider, made phallic gestures with his ever present hammer and was never really fleshed out as a character but at the end of the run he was suddenly more evolved and flirted around with Anne...never made any sense to me at all. I loved the complicated teenage angst, as I was approaching that age myself, and the questions that as a young girl I never realized I was even entitled to ask. It was the 1970's and women were cutting their hair, burning their bras, tossing their inhibitions to the wind...but at my military family household you would never have known it was happening. If I have one criticism of this show, and it's been a 'thing' with me for 30 years, it's the physical language used in the portrayal of Anne by Bonnie Franklin...I never understood her intense anger. She wasn't just driven to make it on her own, you got the idea she was capable of violence if her rights were challenged. It might have been because she was petite but her chin always seemed to be up and stuck way forward...unnauturally posed so that you could actually see her neck rather than her face, and during those shots she was typically photographed from the side...you'd never have seen her face-on otherwise...it was truly 'in your face' and she'd effect that pose while grinning...it was almost maniacal. Again, the actress and the character were both up against a wall. The show had it's critics but refused to back down. A lot was on the line and everyone was watching. There were moments where she seemed less frantic, less controlling, and had touching moments with her daughters...but they were few and far between. By far, the daughters were the central characters, especially Mackenzie Phillips character, Julie. She was too tall, too thin, had acne and was a perpetual wreck...she embodied the way a lot of teen girls felt back then. Everyone wanted to be Barbara; organized, clean, funny, beautiful. A lot went on in that living room!

Ann Romano (Bonnie Franklin) is newly liberated after divorcing her husband. For the first time, the 34 year old is in charge of her own life. She moves to Indianapolis with her rebellious daughter Julie Cooper (Mackenzie Phillips) and younger daughter Barbara Cooper (Valerie Bertinelli). The building has an intrusive super named Dwayne Schneider (Pat Harrington Jr.).

The show struggles to find the extra characters. With Mackenzie Phillips' drug problem, the show really only could maintain three main characters for the entire run. Of the ancillary characters, I like Bob Morton the most. He is the classic clueless innocent and a great butt of the joke. He and Barbara running away to Chicago is probably my best memory of the show. David Kane is probably the easiest to incorporate but Ann's love life needs more drama than he could deliver. Eventually, she ends up with Alex and Nick Handris. For some reason, Nick is abandoned and she keeps Alex to give the show some youth energy. Francine is a good work foil although she could have connected with Schneider to give her more screen time. No matter who they tried, the show never fully incorporated these extra characters. For all the attempts, I'm always surprised that the show didn't try to incorporate Mackenzie Phillips' real life drug problem. One expects the dark subject matters from a Norman Lear show and this show has that. It just doesn't have Mackenzie's troubles. Maybe it cuts too close to home.

Overall, I always find Ann too angry. It actually fits when she's fighting with Julie but whenever Julie leaves, Ann is simply angry. She needs a bit of Barbara in her role. Talking about Barbara, she isn't allowed to build on characters of her peers. She has Bob at first but she never has a long-term female best friend. It's not until Mark that she gets a partner. As for Max and Mark, they are great late show additions. They do need to stay closer to the apartment. It seems obvious that they could stay together in apartments next door. The characters need better connectivity. This is a show with the mission of showing the new world of the divorced mother. Despite the many potholes in the road, it achieves that over its nine seasons run.

This was one of my favorite shows, at least for the first few seasons that it was on. This was one of the first shows that dealt with divorce and more importantly how it effects the children. Bonnie Franklin did a wonderful job as Ann and Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli were great as Julie and Barbara respectively. However, the character that really made the show was immortal Dwayne F. Schneider played by Pat Harrington. He brought a wonderful sense of humor to offset the more serious moments of the show. However complaint I do have a few complaints about the show. One is that I think that once Julie was written out of the show it should have ended there. Another is that like so many other shows that struggled for ratings, they fell into the trap of bringing on the cute kid character in the form of Alex. Also, if Ann was truly trying to be the modern independent woman, why did she wind up getting married towards the end of the show?