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 which aired on CBS from December 16, 1975 to May 28, 1984. Two hundred and nine half-hour episodes were aired.

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. (Blake's most famous acting role was in the 1960s sitcom Hazel). The show was developed by Norman Lear.

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 issues 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).

Theme Song

The popular bouncy theme song for One Day at a Time was composed by legendary Brill Building songwriter Jeff Barry. It was entitled This Is It.

Premise

The show starred Broadway and character actress Bonnie Franklin as Ann Romano (her married name was "Cooper", then she reverted back to her maiden name of 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 thus divorced her husband (who never understood why she left; played occasionally by veteran actor Joseph Campanella) and moved from Logansport, Indiana back to her hometown of Indianapolis with her two daughters Julie (age 17, the older and more stubborn daughter played by Mackenzie Phillips, daughter of John and Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas song group) and Barbara (age 15, the younger, more level-headed daughter played by Valerie Bertinelli). The theme of the series rests on Ann's desire to prove that she could live and raise her children independently. However during the first season, Ann was courted by steady boyfriend, David Kane (played by actor/director Richard Masur).

She was helped in this task by Dwayne Schneider, always referred to only by his last name (played by comedian Pat Harrington, Jr.), who was the superintendent of Ann's apartment building. His "drop-in" visits were so frequent that he functioned as a member of the family. One of Schneider's running gags was his attempts to hide that his middle name was "Florenz" (pronounced like "Florence," he was given that middle name in honor of Florenz Ziegfeld). Schneider would also frequently hit on Romano, employing clumsy double entendres she breezily rebuffed.

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 moved into an Indianapolis apartment building and Ann got a job as an account executive at the advertising firm of Conners & Davenport (Mr. Conners was played by John Hillerman; Mr. Davenport was played by Charles Siebert). In the 1976 - 1977 season only, David proposed to Ann, in hopes of marrying her and move Ann's kids to Los Angeles, but she refused; therefore, David left to work as a lawyer there. That same year, a wisecracking neighbor was added, Ginny Wrobliki, (played by Mary Louise Wilson) who was also "Schneider's" love interest; she lasted only one season as well. During the 1979-1980 season, Julie moved away to Houston with her airline pilot husband Max Horvath (played by director Michael Lembeck); this plot device was written in so that Mackenzie Phillips could undergo drug rehab.

During the 1980-1981 season, Ann left her advertising job and went into freelance business with Nick Handris (played by Ron Rifkin). Ann became romantically involved with Nick, but Nick died in a car wreck caused by a drunk driver, at which point Ann started raising Nick's teenage son, Alex (played by Glenn Scarpelli).

During the 1981-1982 season, Ann went into business with her ex-nemesis at Conners & Davenport, Francine Webster (played by Shelley Fabares); Julie and Max moved back to Indianapolis; and Barbara married her new boyfriend Mark Royer, a dental student (played by Boyd Gaines). During the 1982-1983 season, Ann married Mark's divorced father, Sam (played by Howard Hesseman), and the two daughters moved into a house together.

Julie was written out of the show again in 1983, with the plot line this time being that she deserted her family and disappeared. The show ended with Ann moving to London with Sam and Schneider moving to Florida to take care of his orphaned nephew and niece. Template:Endspoiler

Real-life drama

Series star Mackenzie Phillips became addicted to cocaine, and was fired in 1980 after many highly publicized absences from the set. She returned in 1981 but fell off the wagon again, and was fired a second time in 1983.

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 Top 20 of the Nielsens. 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.

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 Entertainment will be releasing the first season on DVD for the very first time in Region 1.

Cover Art	DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date	Additional Information
File:One Day at a Time S1.jpg	The Complete First Season	15	April 24 2007

DVD Releases

On April 24, 2007, Sony Pictures Entertainment will be releasing the first season on DVD for the very first time in Region 1.

Cover Art	DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date	Additional Information
File:One Day at a Time S1.jpg	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