Tuesday, April 10, 2007

One Day at a Time: Season 1


In retrospect, it's easy to tell that "One Day at a Time" was the brainchild of Norman Lear, because it bears all of Lear's trademarks: the staged theatricality, the long pauses and lingering reaction shots following a joke, the formula for family dysfunction that includes insults and shouting, and the blending of standard sitcom gags with a melodramatic treatment of social issues.

"All in the Family" gave us a WASP family with a typical bigot as its head and a hysterical shouting son-in-law and daughter. "Sanford and Son" gave us a sitcom with no women in it, just father and son junkmen with a hysterical shouting son. "Maude" put a face on the middle-class white liberal that we kept reading about in the news in a show were people took turns ranting hysterically. "Good Times" gave us a glimpse of life in the projects with a black family and plenty of sibling shouting. "The Jeffersons" showed us an upwardly mobile black family. And with "One Day at a Time," Lear capitalized on the latest family trend to emerge in the Seventies: the suddenly-single, one-parent household--an all-female family to balance out the all-male one he gave TV viewers with the Sanfords.

From the title sequence, where Ann Romano (Bonnie Franklin) kicks up her heels as she leaves her marriage behind with the kind of glee we saw as Mary Tyler Moore tossed her beret, we're led to believe that this is also Lear's second foray into feminism, following on the heels of the abrasive Maude. But film historians who watch this show will see a faux feminism instead. Ann wears her insecurity and indecisiveness on her sleeve, chooses her course of action based on "gut feelings," and, despite her stated goal of wanting to live on her own and make her own decisions for the first time in her life, keeps talking about how good it is to have a man around the house. But Ms. Romano was a good role model for single parents. She tried to see things from her daughters' point of view, maintained good communication with them, set firm rules and boundaries, advised them and then let them make their own decisions, refused to be manipulated, and apologized when she was wrong. Franklin also brought a believable warmth to the role, and that made all the difference in the world.

The best Lear comedies have actors who can soften the formula and tweak their characters so they make it less dinner-theater obvious. Here, though, there's the built-in limitation of having two-thirds of the spotlight fall on teen actors who are handed stereotypes to work with. Julie (Mackenzie Phillips, who in later seasons would be written out because of a much-publicized drug problem) was a whiny, self-centered 16 year old who shouted all the time and called her younger sister names in virtually every exchange. That can get a little old. Meanwhile, Barbara (Valerie Bertinelli) is the clichéd "good girl" who always studies, plays sports, and goes to her room at least once every episode at Mom's request so the bad girl can get another talking-to. Even as the two girls grow into their roles in later seasons, you can still feel the limitations of character that they're working with.

Lear also loved the gimmick character who can make an entrance or spout a catch-phrase. With "All in the Family" it was George Jefferson and a revolving door of shocking neighbors. With "Sanford and Son" it was the Bible-thumping Aunt Esther. With "Good Times" it was actor Jimmie Walker and his "Dy-no-MITE!" comic relief. With "Maude" and "The Jeffersons," it was the maid. But Lear also had a fondness for building supers, using them in "The Jeffersons" and "Good Times," and here the Super serves that broader comic function as well. Pat Harrington, Jr. plays Schneider, a single woman's worst nightmare: a smarmy, lecherous man with a pass key who can, and does, enter her apartment any time he wishes. Even more unlikely than Romano's passive acceptance and tolerance of his antics is the developing storyline that has Schneider and her divorce lawyer/romantic interest David (Richard Masur) emerging as her and the girls' go-to guys for advice. How liberated is that?

Aside from Franklin's charisma, the show benefits from the writing. There are enough snappy exchanges and zinger lines to compensate for some really topical and dated elements, like "I dig his vibes," which, swear to God, Ann says in all seriousness about a man she starts dating.

In one of the better examples of writing, when secret service men show up on her doorstep because of a threatening letter she wrote to the President, David is off-camera, using her facilities.

Ann: "Shouldn't I have a lawyer?"
Secret Service Man: "Do you have one?"
Ann: "In the bathroom."

when Julie confides to Barbara that she's thinking of giving in to her boyfriend, who's pressuring her to have sex with him, and Barbara promises not to tell. "Cross my heart and hope to die," she says, to which Julie responds, "You don't have to hope. If you tell, you will die."

Fifteen episodes (it was a mid-season replacement show that first aired in December 1975) are included on two single-sided discs, housed in two slim plastic keep-cases with a cardboard slip-case. Here's the rundown:

1) "Ann's Decision"-Ann moves to Indianapolis with her teenaged daughters and gets her first "or I'll move back with Dad" ultimatum when Julie wants to go on a backpacking trip . . . with boys.

2) "Chicago Rendezvous"-Double standards rear their ugly head when Ann wants to go to Chicago with a pilot she barely met. Hey, as the girls say, everybody knows that "divorcees are hot to trot."

3) "Jealousy"-Ann's ex-husband (Joseph Campanella) has a new girlfriend, and it makes Ann insanely jealous that everyone seems to like her a lot. Even David and Schneider.

4) "How to Succeed Without Trying"-David gets Ann a job interview with a PR firm, but her would-be employer is also a would-be sexual harasser.

5) "David Loves Ann"-When younger David proposes to Ann, she turns to her daughters and SCHNEIDER for advice.

6) "Julie's Best Friend"-Ann gets her toes stepped on when David offers to pay for the expensive private school Julie wants to attend in order to impress a friend.

7) "Super Blues"-Schneider thinks he's going to Ann's party, when really she's asked him over to fix the garbage disposal.

8) "All the Way"-Julie's boyfriend wants to do it, and she's not sure.

9) "Fighting City Hall"-In one of the best episodes, Ann gets a visit from the secret service after she writes a complaining letter to the president about a phone company rip-off.

10) "David Plus Two"-When she catches David in bed with an upstairs neighbor, Ann finds herself unexpectedly jealous.

11) "Julie's Job"-Schneider gets Julie a job as a waitress at a sleazy truck stop.

12) "The College Man"-In this Mrs. Robinson episode, Julie's blind date falls for her mom instead.

13) "Father David"-David agrees to chaperone Barbara and Julie's party, but quickly lives to regret it.

14-15) "Dad Comes Back" Parts 1-2-Ann gets a job at a PR firm, her ex- announces he's remarrying, David gets jealous, and Barbara fantasizes that her parents are getting back together again.

Look for Robby Benson and Suzanne Somers in guest spots.

In retrospect, it's easy to tell that "One Day at a Time" was the brainchild of Norman Lear, because it bears all of Lear's trademarks: the staged theatricality, the long pauses and lingering reaction shots following a joke, the formula for family dysfunction that includes insults and shouting, and the blending of standard sitcom gags with a melodramatic treatment of social issues.

"All in the Family" gave us a WASP family with a typical bigot as its head and a hysterical shouting son-in-law and daughter. "Sanford and Son" gave us a sitcom with no women in it, just father and son junkmen with a hysterical shouting son. "Maude" put a face on the middle-class white liberal that we kept reading about in the news in a show were people took turns ranting hysterically. "Good Times" gave us a glimpse of life in the projects with a black family and plenty of sibling shouting. "The Jeffersons" showed us an upwardly mobile black family. And with "One Day at a Time," Lear capitalized on the latest family trend to emerge in the Seventies: the suddenly-single, one-parent household--an all-female family to balance out the all-male one he gave TV viewers with the Sanfords.

From the title sequence, where Ann Romano (Bonnie Franklin) kicks up her heels as she leaves her marriage behind with the kind of glee we saw as Mary Tyler Moore tossed her beret, we're led to believe that this is also Lear's second foray into feminism, following on the heels of the abrasive Maude. But film historians who watch this show will see a faux feminism instead. Ann wears her insecurity and indecisiveness on her sleeve, chooses her course of action based on "gut feelings," and, despite her stated goal of wanting to live on her own and make her own decisions for the first time in her life, keeps talking about how good it is to have a man around the house. But Ms. Romano was a good role model for single parents. She tried to see things from her daughters' point of view, maintained good communication with them, set firm rules and boundaries, advised them and then let them make their own decisions, refused to be manipulated, and apologized when she was wrong. Franklin also brought a believable warmth to the role, and that made all the difference in the world.

The best Lear comedies have actors who can soften the formula and tweak their characters so they make it less dinner-theater obvious. Here, though, there's the built-in limitation of having two-thirds of the spotlight fall on teen actors who are handed stereotypes to work with. Julie (Mackenzie Phillips, who in later seasons would be written out because of a much-publicized drug problem) was a whiny, self-centered 16 year old who shouted all the time and called her younger sister names in virtually every exchange. That can get a little old. Meanwhile, Barbara (Valerie Bertinelli) is the clichéd "good girl" who always studies, plays sports, and goes to her room at least once every episode at Mom's request so the bad girl can get another talking-to. Even as the two girls grow into their roles in later seasons, you can still feel the limitations of character that they're working with.

Lear also loved the gimmick character who can make an entrance or spout a catch-phrase. With "All in the Family" it was George Jefferson and a revolving door of shocking neighbors. With "Sanford and Son" it was the Bible-thumping Aunt Esther. With "Good Times" it was actor Jimmie Walker and his "Dy-no-MITE!" comic relief. With "Maude" and "The Jeffersons," it was the maid. But Lear also had a fondness for building supers, using them in "The Jeffersons" and "Good Times," and here the Super serves that broader comic function as well. Pat Harrington, Jr. plays Schneider, a single woman's worst nightmare: a smarmy, lecherous man with a pass key who can, and does, enter her apartment any time he wishes. Even more unlikely than Romano's passive acceptance and tolerance of his antics is the developing storyline that has Schneider and her divorce lawyer/romantic interest David (Richard Masur) emerging as her and the girls' go-to guys for advice. How liberated is that?

Aside from Franklin's charisma, the show benefits from the writing. There are enough snappy exchanges and zinger lines to compensate for some really topical and dated elements, like "I dig his vibes," which, swear to God, Ann says in all seriousness about a man she starts dating.

In one of the better examples of writing, when secret service men show up on her doorstep because of a threatening letter she wrote to the President, David is off-camera, using her facilities.

Ann: "Shouldn't I have a lawyer?"
Secret Service Man: "Do you have one?"
Ann: "In the bathroom."

when Julie confides to Barbara that she's thinking of giving in to her boyfriend, who's pressuring her to have sex with him, and Barbara promises not to tell. "Cross my heart and hope to die," she says, to which Julie responds, "You don't have to hope. If you tell, you will die."

Fifteen episodes (it was a mid-season replacement show that first aired in December 1975) are included on two single-sided discs, housed in two slim plastic keep-cases with a cardboard slip-case. Here's the rundown:

1) "Ann's Decision"-Ann moves to Indianapolis with her teenaged daughters and gets her first "or I'll move back with Dad" ultimatum when Julie wants to go on a backpacking trip . . . with boys.

2) "Chicago Rendezvous"-Double standards rear their ugly head when Ann wants to go to Chicago with a pilot she barely met. Hey, as the girls say, everybody knows that "divorcees are hot to trot."

3) "Jealousy"-Ann's ex-husband (Joseph Campanella) has a new girlfriend, and it makes Ann insanely jealous that everyone seems to like her a lot. Even David and Schneider.

4) "How to Succeed Without Trying"-David gets Ann a job interview with a PR firm, but her would-be employer is also a would-be sexual harasser.

5) "David Loves Ann"-When younger David proposes to Ann, she turns to her daughters and SCHNEIDER for advice.

6) "Julie's Best Friend"-Ann gets her toes stepped on when David offers to pay for the expensive private school Julie wants to attend in order to impress a friend.

7) "Super Blues"-Schneider thinks he's going to Ann's party, when really she's asked him over to fix the garbage disposal.

8) "All the Way"-Julie's boyfriend wants to do it, and she's not sure.

9) "Fighting City Hall"-In one of the best episodes, Ann gets a visit from the secret service after she writes a complaining letter to the president about a phone company rip-off.

10) "David Plus Two"-When she catches David in bed with an upstairs neighbor, Ann finds herself unexpectedly jealous.

11) "Julie's Job"-Schneider gets Julie a job as a waitress at a sleazy truck stop.

12) "The College Man"-In this Mrs. Robinson episode, Julie's blind date falls for her mom instead.

13) "Father David"-David agrees to chaperone Barbara and Julie's party, but quickly lives to regret it.

14-15) "Dad Comes Back" Parts 1-2-Ann gets a job at a PR firm, her ex- announces he's remarrying, David gets jealous, and Barbara fantasizes that her parents are getting back together again.

Look for Robby Benson and Suzanne Somers in guest spots.

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