CBS takes it ‘One Day at a Time’ again by airing series reboot
Who could have foreseen “One Day at a Time” returning to broadcast television?
By the same token, who could have foreseen a coronavirus pandemic prompting the avenue where the show began to pick it up again?
As TV strives to fill its fall schedule when many of its series aren’t ready with new episodes yet, outlets are seeking other programming relatively fresh to viewers. The reboot of the Norman Lear-produced “One Day at a Time” has had runs on Netflix and Pop TV, and it has come to Global TV and CBS with its fourth and latest season (first shown earlier this year by Pop) now airing Mondays.
The original 1975-84 show revolved around a divorcee (Bonnie Franklin), her two daughters (Mackenzie Phillips, Valerie Bertinelli), and well-meaning but often intrusive building handyman Schneider (Pat Harrington Jr.). Developed by Lear’s fellow executive producers Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce, the update keeps the basic premise and puts a Hispanic family at its core.
Justina Machado (also a contestant in ABC’s current “Dancing With the Stars” season) plays the military-veteran mother, Isabella Gomez and Marcel Ruiz portray her children, and Todd Grinnell is Schneider ... with muchhonored veteran talent Rita Moreno also a hugely notable cast member as Machado’s mother.
In the tradition of “All in the Family,” “Maude” and other Lear series, “One Day at a Time” deals with universal issues while keeping its characters specific and clear. “I never sat down to cure America of its problems,” the iconic Lear maintains. “We just reflect them. I think that’s what television does, what theater does. It reflects the problem, and then we get up, walk out and talk about it. And live our lives perhaps just a hair differently as a result.”
“I don’t think this show has ever had any trouble being topical,” says Moreno, one of entertainment’s relatively few EGOTs (all of whom have won Emmys, Grammys, Oscars and Tonys). “The truth is that we’ve talked about homosexuality. We’ve talked about the trouble with the VA (Department of Veterans Affairs), one of my favorite episodes. We’ve talked about everything ... alcoholism, depression.” Moreno adds that she’s “thrilled at the support that we’ve gotten, just more than we ever dreamed.”
Indeed, the revised “One Day at a
Time” has earned praise and awards for its consideration of ethnicity in contemporary times.
“It just is political to be Latino in America right now,” Calderon Kellett reasons, “so people are talking about what is happening in their homes, and that’s what we reflect on the show. If it feels organic, it’s because it’s mostly always something that really happened to us (producers or actors) or one of the writers in the room.”