Bonnie Franklin

For this Reboot series, we are ending with One Day at a Time. This show was about a divorced mom, Ann Romano (Bonnie Franklin) whose father is not in the picture much anymore. She moves her two teenaged daughters, Barbara (Valerie Bertinelli) and Julie (Mackenzie Phillips) from Logansport, Indiana to Indianapolis. Barbara is the funny daughter who is always doing the right thing, while Julie is rebellious and angry. Schneider (Pat Harrington Jr.) is their building supervisor, and he takes on a bit of a parental role with the girls.

In the early seasons, Ann dates her divorce lawyer David (Richard Masur). However, after becoming engaged, Ann realizes David wants children of his own and she is not ready to go down that road again, so they break up. Her ex remarries and he eventually enters their lives again.

Julie marries Max (Michael Lembeck), a flight attendant, and they eventually have a daughter. Barbara marries a dental student Mark (Boyd Gaines). In the finale, Ann decides to take a job in London and Schneider moves to Florida to take care of his niece and nephew.

The series was created by husband-and-wife team Whitney Blake and Allan Manings. Blake was Dorothy Baxter on Hazel. Blake based the show on her experiences as a single mother raising three children. It debuted in 1975 and aired until 1984.

Franklin was not happy with the scripts in the first season. She said that she threatened to quit unless the quality improved for the second season.

Phillips dealt with substance abuse, and she was fired after the fifth season. She did come back later for a few appearances. When she entered rehab in 1980, the plot was that Julie and Max moved to Houston. In the seventh season, she returned for a two-part episode. In the final season, she collapsed on the set. When the producer asked her to take a urinalysis test, she told them not to bother and she was fired for the last time. Lembeck continued with the show, and he raised their daughter after it was said Julie left them. While Phillips was unkind, to put it nicely, to Bertinelli early in the series, they eventually became closer. Bertinelli was one of the few people who stood by her after she released a shocking autobiography. Later Glenn Scarpelli joined the cast as Alex. His father had been Ann’s boyfriend and after his father dies in a car accident, Alex asks to move in with Ann and Barbara.

Family members Nanette Fabray and Shelly Fabares both took roles in the series; Nanette played Ann’s mom and Shelly was a coworker. Howard Hesseman also joined the cast as Sam who would marry Ann.

The show was filmed before a studio audience. That surprised me a bit. I went back to watch a few shows for this blog, and I was surprised how dark the series was for a sitcom. Many of the shows, especially Norman Lear shows, were not very light-hearted. I remember liking this show as a teenager/young adult, but I must admit, they were hard to sit through the second time around, and it is not a show that I would choose to watch again.

The theme song was “This Is It.” Brill Building composed the music with lyrics by Jeff and Nancy Barry. Polly Cutter sang the song.

It is amazing that the show did so well in the ratings because it was moved around on the schedule eleven times during its run. For most of its life, it was in the top 20.

The show still had decent ratings after its nine seasons, but Franklin decided she was ready to be done. Harrington was the only cast member to win an Emmy. A 1984 spinoff was discussed for Schneider, but that show never came to fruition. It seems fitting for Harrington to win the Emmy. He has 166 acting credits, and appeared in movies with Elvis Presley and Robert Redford. He said 100 actors auditioned for the role of Schneider. He said that he was a family man with four kids and needed to put food on the table, so he went for it.

In 2005, there was a One Day at a Time Reunion on CBS. Franklin, Phillips, Bertinelli, and Harrington discussed their time on the show. The documentary featured private interviews with Masur, Fabares, Fabray, Lembeck, and Scarpelli.

At least three seasons were released on DVD, but I have not seen any references to seasons four-nine.

In 2017 a reboot was made of One Day at a Time. Three original cast members showed up on the new series. Phillips appeared as a counselor and former veteran leading a support group with PTSD, Glenn Scarpelli was in season three, and Lembeck directed the season one episode “Sex Talk.”

The remake was developed by Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce with a Latino cast for Netflix. The stars were Justina Machado, Todd Grinnell, Marcel Ruiz, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Rita Moreno. The Cuban family lives in LA. A single mother and former veteran dealing with PTSD, Penelope Alvarez (Justina Machado) lives with her daughter, Elena (Isabella Gomez), and son Alex (Marcel Ruiz), and her mom Lydia (Rita Moreno). Pat Schneider (Todd Grinnell) is the supervisor. Penelope works for Dr. Leslie Berkowitz (Stephen Tobolwsky). The reboot also focused on some tough subjects including mental illness, immigration, sexism, homophobia, gender identity, and racism. It aired for four seasons.

The critics were all on board. It was listed as one of the best shows of 2017 and received a variety of awards including four Emmy nominations. Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times wrote that it was “lively without being rushed” and David Wiegand of the San Francisco Chronicle felt it “was nicely written . . . and the performances are almost universally engaging.” Verna Gay of Newsday called Machado “flat out terrific.”

This time around, Gloria Estefan sang “This Is It.”

The series was canceled after four seasons. The network said it did not have enough viewers, despite the fact that Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 100% rating for every year. It was praised for dealing with many hard subjects and featuring a matriarchy of three generations of women who make their way through life and support each other even when they don’t agree with each other.

I think that the failure of this show to make it to five seasons is a common factor that we will see in streaming shows. Networks had more of an incentive to keep shows around when there were fewer options. Now there are so many shows available that it’s almost impossible to know what is available to watch. Considering that three networks used to get most of the viewers tuning in, now you can multiply that by hundreds. I’m not sure what it will take to keep a show running more than three years anymore.

I hope you enjoyed taking a look at four reboots that succeeded in bringing back original viewers and building a new fan base for themselves. I’d love to hear if any of these were shows you would root for.

As we wind up the “Valerie”-themed blogs, of course we have to include Valerie Bertinelli.

I’m guessing Valerie Bertinelli might have chosen a different career than acting if her family moves had been to other US cities. She was born in Delaware where her father was an executive with General Motors. Apparently, sometime during her childhood, the family (she has three brothers) lived in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Michigan though I could not find definite dates. Barbara ended up in California during high school. When she lived in California, one of her friend’s dad was a television producer.

She transferred to the Tami Lynn School of Artists to study acting, and Tami Lynn became her personal manager during the 1970s. Unlike child stars who appear on various shows before getting their big chance, Valerie appeared in one episode of Apple’s Way in 1974 and then was offered the role of Barbara Cooper on One Day at a Time which ran from 1975-1984. During the show’s run, she showed up in the Nancy Drew Mysteries show, one movie, and five made-for-television movies.

One Day at a Time was one of Norman Lear’s string of 1970s hits. Bonnie Franklin starred as a divorced mother trying to raise two daughters, Barbara and Julie (Mackenzie Phillips). Schneider (Pat Harrington Jr.) was the maintenance man who became part of their “family.” Valerie was fifteen when the show began. She quickly became one of America’s sweethearts. Although it was a comedy, the show covered some darker subjects. It cast dealt with a lot of drama due to Mackenzie’s drug addiction and personal problems.

LOS ANGELES – MAY 3: ONE DAY AT A TIME cast members, (clockwise from top) Mackenzie Phillips (as Julie Cooper); Valerie Bertinelli (as Barbara Cooper) and Bonnie Franklin (as Ann Romano). (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

In 1981 Valerie took her brother to a Van Halen concert and met Eddie Van Halen. They dated but got married sooner than most people expected. The marriage had a lot of ups and downs; the couple had a son, but by 2001 they separated and divorced in 2007.

When One Day at a Time ended (it was not cancelled by the network, but Bertinelli and Franklin were ready to move on in their careers), Bertinelli again took on one movie role and quite a few television movies.

Valerie turned down several offers because of nudity. She was in the running as Ariel in Footloose and as Chloe in The Big Chill. With no major movie offers, Bertinelli returned to television to star in Sydney in 1990. Matthew Perry costarred in this show as Sydney’s brother, a rookie cop. Sydney moves to New York and opens a detective agency. The show only lasted a season.

Valerie Bertinelli and Matthew Perry (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

In 1993, she again gave television a try, starring in Café Americain. On this show, Valerie is Holly Aldrige, a young American living in France. She gets a job as a waitress at a café where she meets a quirky group of people who become friends, despite her inability to speak French. Unfortunately, this one also lasted one season.

In 2001, Valerie joined the cast of Touched by an Angel for the show’s final two seasons, playing Gloria.

From 2010-2015 she was one of the stars in what might be her favorite role, Melanie Moretti on Hot in Cleveland. Three friends (Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, and Wendie Malick) are heading for Paris when their plane is forced to make an emergency landing in Cleveland. The three pals decide to stay in the city because they think they will be more popular with men in Cleveland than Paris. Their new landlord is Betty White.

I reference this as perhaps her favorite role because it didn’t have any of the drama of One Day at a Time, and she seemed to truly enjoy her time on the show and her castmates. She said her favorite time of day was sharing coffee with her costars on the show. In a Yahoo Entertainment interview, she said “I mean, if Hot in Cleveland came back, I would be there yesterday. I miss that show so much.”

Bertinelli has also discussed working with legend Betty White: “I mean we all know Betty’s funny, obviously, but there was such an ease to it. I know people think I’m crazy when I say this, but she literally glowed. She’s not of this world. She’s just got this beautiful glow aura about her, just because she’s such a kind, sweet soul. And I just adore her.”

HOT IN CLEVELAND co-stars, from left, Jane Leeves, Betty White, Valerie Bertinelli and Wendie Malick pose for a portrait on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Bertinelli also loved the rapport shared by the stars that shined through their performances. As she described them: “You can see how these characters love each other no matter what, no matter how stupid they get. I think it’s just the way we feel about each other, and plus, the writers happen to write some really, really funny shows. I mean, the writers on this were just beyond funny.” The cast still keeps in touch regularly.

During the run of the show, Valerie married Tom Vitale whom she had been involved with for seven years.

Since the end of Hot in Cleveland, Valerie has found a new career as a cooking star. She has hosted Valerie’s Home Cooking, Kids Baking Championship, Family Food Showdown, and Family Restaurant Rivals on the Food Network. Valerie won two Emmys for her Valerie’s Home Cooking show.

Valerie has a couple of famous relatives. Courteney Cox is a cousin, and when Bertinelli appeared on the show, Who Do You Think You Are? about genealogy, she learned she was related to Kind Edward I of England through her mother.

Valerie recently reflected on the reboot of One Day at a Time which features a Cuban family. Although most of the recent reboots have been flops, this show seems to be holding its own. Bertinelli discussed it: “It’s an amazing show. The women that are doing it are really so talented, and it’s got a lot to say . . . they’re doing a great job of staying topical . . . and shining a light on things that we need to look at. And keeping it funny at the same time.”

Perhaps we’ve learned more about Valerie through her cooking show than her acting. What do we know? The first dish she learned to make was lasagna. Her favorite cookbooks are by Ina Garten because “when you follow her directions, it really comes out perfectly.”

Coconut creamer is her must-have item, but she admits that she is a condiment horder especially with mustard, having about fifteen in her fridge. She loves lemon desserts, prefers savory over sweet, and likes to cook to music.

Her favorite food cities are Los Angeles and New Orleans. She credits her mother and grandmother with teaching her to cook. If she held a dinner party and could invite anyone, dead or alive, she would include Jesus, Pope Francis, Barak Obama, and Marilyn Monroe.

Valerie’s personal life has been filled with a lot of highs and lows, like the rest of us, but she seems to have settled into a place where she is happy and productive and just enjoying what she is doing. You can’t ask for more than that.

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