One Day at a Time. I hate it but can't stop watching (Discussion of 2017 reboot added at page 5)*

Ugh, yes I have heard of some of those. I've also seen some Martin Scorsese films.

 

This makes me want to try and watch those shows now!

 

At first I didn't know what you meant by cinematic comedies, but then I thought of HBO shows like Girls and Curb Your Enthusiasm, -because network sitcoms are totally dead. I don't subscribe to HBO but I've seen Girls and think it's very funny. But it is very Seinfeldian. Especially in the sense that all the people are sort of awful and types that you would never want to hang out with in real life.

 

You might be disappointed.

 

I really want to watch this show again to see why it's so hated! LOL But I must admit, from what I remember about the show, I liked Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli, but I found Bonnie franklin somewhat unlikable and icy.

I'm more into the '80s sitcoms. I recently bought the "Family Ties" and "Gimme a Break" complete sets. I think Family Ties was very good for its first few seasons. When Ellen leaves and Andy is born is when the show starts to dip in quality for me. And I am still surprised at how funny "Gimme a Break" is. Nell Carter was a true force and had great comic timing and chemistry with the cast, especially Dolph Sweet who played the Chief. The last season is astoundingly awful though.

 

Family Ties will be on Antenna TV in September..

 

These shows may be of high quality, but they also have one thing in common; you have to subscribe to some type of pay TV to watch them. I haven't paid for TV since the 90s, so I have never seen them.

70s TV was free!

 

All available on home video, all available via streaming. You don't know what you're missing. The Sopranos, The Wire, Homeland, and Breaking Bad are among the very best TV series ever made. (Treme, not so much, but it's done OK.)

 

We watched nearly every episode back in the day. Why?

A), It was decent, for the times, characters weren't generic, writers imbued them with distinct, individual, traits and,
B), There was no cable. With 4 channels to choose from. this was the best available during its time slot. Can't remember the options tho

McKenzie Phillips being fired during the middle of the show's run was a pretty big thing back in the day

 

In a Mr Bill voice no!

 

Can't used (B) as excuse. I started watching when there were a lot of options. Although, I used to watch it in the late afternoon/early evening time slots

I liked a lot of those 70's shows (I was watching in the 80's). They felt different. Grittier, bit of a life is rough vibe that attracted me to them. That might sound dumb in relation to this show, but it felt that way. Divorced mon, two kids on her own in a small apt, toughing it out.

I think I mostly watched it for Schneider though.

 

Yikes. As per usual, they're just taking an IP and rebadging it for marketing purposes. I like Rita Moreno but I wish they didn't get her to do a fake accent like that.

 

Today I was working from home and saw that One Day At A Time was playing on TV (sandwiched between The Flying Nun and Designing Women!) Having not seen ODAAT since I was about ten years old (early 80s) I figured I would watch it and see how it held up. Not surprisingly, it was highly dated. Interestingly, the network today played the very last episode back to back with the very first (don't know why they did it in order).

But gosh Valerie Bertinelli was young in the early episode! She was probably 15, years before she would meet Eddie Van Halen. Mackenzie Phillips was just as annoying as I remember her. The biggest surprise was Bonnie Franklin...she was only like 32 at the time of the first episode and I thought she was relatively attractive, with nice legs. As a kid I always thought she was ugly.

And Schneider was...Schneider. Actually, the last episode featured him moving down to Florida (?) where decides to raise his niece and nephew. It was supposed to be a "backdoor pilot" to a spinoff show, but CBS passed on it.

 

There always seemed to feel like an undercurrent of tension on that show. It was a decent sitcom.

 

And Schneider was Pat Harrington... Didn't know about the spin-off possibility, too bad it didn't get the green light.

Listen to the above at: Classic Television Showbiz: Pat Harrington Jr. - Some Like it Hip (1960)

 

I loved the show when it was originally aired. I was a huge fan! When season one was released on DVD ten years ago I bought it immediately. On my next day off I watched five or six episodes. I still love the show! It seems to be a show that entertains me in the right way. I can't say it's a perfect show but it's a great show for me. I have said many times to people throughout the years that when you watch a movie or show, you have to suspend reality. You have to enjoy it for what it is. This is why I love the show & have plans to buy the entire series after the holidays. I can understand those of you who don't like it because it doesn't meet your needs like another show may & that's OK. To each his own & thank goodness we have those choices.

 

That's probably the reason I couldn't watch it as a kid. It always seemed like the mother was on the verge of killing the older daughter (or vice versa).

 

I watched a lot of comedy in my teen years. I would catch One Day At A Time occasionally but even then I considered it a second tier show, not in the stratosphere of The Bob Newhart Show or The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which were my big favorites.

However I did have the (apparently obligatory) crush on Valerie Bertinelli.

 

Agree with Glenn.

I thought of it as second tier Norman Lear, with Sanford, All in the Family, and the Jeffersons as first tier. And it didn't help with the case changes starting so soon--her love interest was cut after two seasons and things got really convoluted after 5.

 

Is there a show even less worthy for a reboot than this turd? Please don't answer.

 

You mention some of the 70s sitcom highlights (I would add Barney Miller and MASH to that short list). One Day At A Time had Ms Bertnelli who is about a year older than me -so yes, major crush. And Schneider's denim vest was always good for a laugh.

 

I remember McKenzie Phillips being all over the tabloid type press back when the show was on for her heroin addiction and the stress it was causing on the show. The other lasting memory was that the two daughters were into Fleetwood Mac and Elton John and you saw their LPs and posters around.