MovieChat Forums > One Day at a Time (1975) Discussion > This show went on way too long

This show went on way too long

posted 9 years ago by dollymaeflow
28 replies | jump to latest

I have recently gone back and watched some of the episodes from the last couple of seasons, and I had forgotten how horrible they were. Season 9 was atrocious. It felt like a completely different show. The only episode from season 9 that was good was "Off We Go", which should have been done a couple of years before. By season 5 the show really was starting to run its course. Julie and Barbara weren't in high school anymore, and even though Barbara still lived with Ann it wasn't the same. The show was in is glory years when the girls were in high school, and Ann was making her mark in her career, etc. This show probably could have gotten 5 quality seasons. Why not call it quits and go out on top?

I hate when shows run on too long and become very bad and almost unwatchable. "All in the Family" was notorious for this. It definitely should have ended when Mike and Gloria moved to California. The episode where they left would have been the ultimate series finale. But no, that show went into a 9th season which was horrible and even spin-offs that were even more horrible. "Leave it to Beaver" ended just in time. Actually, it probably should have only lasted 5 seasons rather than 6 like it did, but its last season was still high quality.

Another thing that bothered me was that the wardrobes became too glamorous in the later years, glamorous to a point that the show no longer had a realistic feel to it. It was so realistic in the beginning because their everyday dress was ordinary, and the furniture ordinary. All shows that ran into the mid-1980s were guilty of these stupid makeovers.

"One Day at a Time" should have ended with maybe Barbara going off to college, Julie getting married and even having the baby, and possibly Ann deciding she was finally ready to get married again, and then all 3 going their separate ways. They certainly could have had a better ending for Julie. Maybe they could have had her move back to Logansport to be close to Ed. Something better could have been done. Doing that to Julie's character made Ann's character seem like a failure in a way, that she couldn't do a better job with Julie. And, I am glad the show ended before they could shift the focus to the two couples living in that house. That was so boring! Barbara should have gone to a 4-year university. Isn't that what Ann hoped for her girls, that they would find their own identities first before getting married? That would have made more sense. Maybe end with Barbara leaving the nest for college.

Even if everything else was left the way it was, the "Off We Go" episode should have happened in season 8, and there never, ever, ever, ever should have been a season 9!!!!!

[–] jarrodmcdonald-1 9 years ago

You make some interesting points, though I do not agree with many of them.

The one I disagree with most is the comment regarding wardrobe and furniture. In the beginning, she was starting over with the girls and barely scraping by.

But after she goes out on her own and begins her own ad agency, and we see it becoming successful, then of course she would have more money for better clothes and furnishings. All of us do that-- when we have extra money, we buy the things we had been wanting to have all along and splurge.

I don't think the later seasons go overboard in this regard. It shows how Ann was becoming more and more prosperous. And when she married Sam, he was a successful architect, so he would have had nice things and brought some of those items into her home. So season 9 should reflect this, and it does.

As for the final episode, I do like it very much-- but one plot point is wrong. I don't think they should have had her move overseas. I really do not think Ann Romano would have left her mother and her granddaughter, and would have just moved away with things unresolved with her oldest daughter (Julie). They should have had her get a job in a bigger city in Indiana, or maybe Chicago-- where it was definitely a step up, and she and Sam would leave but they wouldn't just totally abandon their family and go far away. Or if it really had to be England (though I do not think Ann going to England was at all necessary) it could have been for just a year or two, with her planning to come back to her agency that Francine would run temporarily in her absence.

I also think one flashback at the end was not enough. They should have had a longer montage with memories of all the years they spent in the apartment, including Alex living with them. It did not need to be an entire episode of clips-- but her leaving should have triggered a few more memories. I have a hard time believing the scene they selected was the one thing she most remembered about living there.

[–] rivkahchaya-372-42432 9 years ago

They should have had her get a job in a bigger city in Indiana, or maybe Chicago

Chicago, OK, but there is no bigger city in Indiana. Indianapolis is huge. It's the third biggest capital city in the country, and the 14th (sometimes 13th, sometimes 15th, depends on how you count) biggest city overall. Mostly Indiana has as few college towns, and rural areas. There's a reason Ann went from Logansport to Indianapolis.

I think it's a good point that Ann wouldn't have left her granddaughter, especially motherless, and I never really got why they had to have her go to Europe.

Heck, simply moving out of what wasn't a very nice apartment, because it was what she could afford back in 1975 would have been enough.

I do agree that the 9th season was a mistake. When the show was on, it was my favorite show (next to Masterpiece Theater, which has also really overrun its course), and I was happy to have a ninth season, and disappointed when it was canceled, but looking back, I can see that the quality really dropped. Now, I don't know what it would have been like with Mackenzie Phillips. I assume many scripts were hurriedly rewritten, and may have been a lot better originally. We'll probably never know, though.

[–] happipuppi13 9 years ago

I may repeat some things I've said in other posts so please bare (bear?) with me.

First of all ,I mentioned elesewhere that most of the changes that had to be done to ODAAT were due to the personal problems of MacKenzie Phillips ,which spilled over into the workplace.

Has she been able to get clean and sober ,they never would have had to have Nick & ALex (which I have no problem with) not would they have had to have the Julie character run away for good. I wish Mac & Valerie would do a TV movie that reunites the sisters. Even 30 years later ,it still feels like an unresolved issue from the show.

I also beleive that Season 9 happened because just like ABC with their long running shows ,CBS held onto their '70s successes ,like a drowning person holds onto a floatation device.

Hoever ,I don't feel it hurt the series at all. Things happen the way they happen and there's nothing anyone could do about it then or now. True ,they could have just cancelled the series out right but then fans would have been angry.

The finale a year sooner? No ,because if Ann suddenly got this great job offer with al that ws going on in that season ,it would have rang false. I thought it was great that in the fial season she felt ready to not only to love but marry a man again. That was the kick off closes off the premise of the series.

She divorced to find herself and she had done that & all that happened in Season 9 leads to the job in Europe. As for her grand-child ,she can fly to the U.S. with the money she'd be making. The only hole left was th whereabouts of daughter Julie.

SO I think the whole series was meant to happen as is. 

Go for it or just be a gopher!
(MR.) happipuppi13 🐕 *arf,man!*

[–] dbrockskk1 9 years ago

bear believe would have rung false How old are you??

suzycreamcheese RIP Heath Ledger 1979-2008

[–] jarrodmcdonald-1 9 years ago

You're right about Indianapolis being the largest city in Indiana. But she could have gone to Chicago.

When they had Nanette Fabray's character (Ann's mother) whining in the finale, trying to place a guilt trip on Ann for moving-- in a way, though it was played for laughs, I kind of agreed with her-- why did Ann and Sam have to move so far away?

For Ann to leave an aging mother, and a very young granddaughter seemed a little selfish. I just think the Ann Romano we know would have really grappled with the decision. And I also don't think she would have so easily turned the company and all the clients she probably had close relationships with over to Francine just at the snap of a finger. I don't think she ever fully trusted Francine, and she would not have wanted to see all her hard work go down the drain. The finale is kind of rushed when you look at it. They should have had a three or four episode arc to cover all those angles more in-depth, and it would have provided opportunities for more flashback clips.

And if Mackenzie was banned from the set, like Suzanne Somers was banned from 'Three's Company,' they still could have filmed her in a separate location on the phone, maybe calling Max about the baby. There is a way they could have had Julie appear, briefly.

As for the apartment building, they could have had it catch fire-- and that could have been one of the reasons they all had to leave-- because Ann needed to find a new home, and Schneider needed to find a new job.

[–] rivkahchaya-372-42432 9 years ago

I know Indianapolis pretty well, and it always bugged me that when Ann was doing better, she didn't move out of what must have been a really low-rent place in 1975. On the one hand, I can see her not wanting to change school districts for the girls, but there are plenty of ways to move to much nicer places without changing schools. Indy doesn't have rent control, like New York, so people don't find a place and stay there forever. It also have a very mobile population, and it's very easy to upgrade your living space when you get a raise or better job.

Ann never moved because that would have meant leaving Schneider, so yes, I get that, but it was something that always bugged me. She would have moved at least once, and probably twice in the nine years of the show, realistically.

If the writers had actually known anything about Indy, they could have had her living in one of the complexes (there are a lot on the West side) that have lower-scale apartments, and higher-scale ones in the same complex, so she could have upgraded without leaving the complex, Schneider, or the school district.

Also, having the place burn down is pretty unlikely, but having it gentrify is actually a fairly likely scenario. The tenants might have been given notice of impending construction. A lot of Indy had gentrified since the 70s, and particularly a lot in the 80s, and we don't know exactly where Ann and the girls lived (just not in Carmel), so that would have made perfect sense.

I had trouble with Ann leaving her family, especially Annie, but then, we don't know how long she stayed away. We really don't know how things played out. We don't know if Julie came back in a year for a "Kramer vs. Kramer"-style face-off with Max; we don't know if new fertility technology helped Barbara and Mark, and they eventually had five children. We just don't know.

[–] dollymaeflow 9 years ago

I wish they would do an reunion movie to clear up some of those questions.

[–] rivkahchaya-372-42432 9 years ago

Without Bonnie Franklin? Too depressing.

[–] jarrodmcdonald-1 9 years ago

Well, it was mostly a work of 'fiction,' so the apartment building could have burned down. The diner on Happy Days caught fire and was remodeled.

Not sure about gentrification, because I'm not sure if the name of their neighborhood was ever firmly stated (it may have been in an early episode but I don't remember).

It could have been a building that changed ownership once or twice while they lived there and certain upgrades occurred. Also, when Ann started making more money, she could have gotten the owner's permission to make slight renovations inside her unit, even if the rest of the building stayed the same.

In a way, I am glad the writers didn't have Ann move during ODAAT's run. Other series, like 'The Lucy Show' or 'Laverne & Shirley' and 'Gimme a Break!' had the lead females change homes (sometimes move to different cities) and those kinds of format changes almost destroy a show's overall continuity.

Also, in most of these sitcoms, the apartment is a character. Certainly, Ann Romano's apartment has a unique charm and character all its own.

[–] happipuppi13 9 years ago

To reply to one thing only.

Go to Chicago?  As if she doesn;t live in a cold enough climate in Indiana. 

Let's see Paris ...Chicago. I'm 42 or 43 like she was, my
own kids are grown and I have this choice. Heck ,I'm going to Paris!

You guys act like she's never going to return to Amercia. From what I gathered in the finale ,she'd be making the most money she ever made ,be in charge of what they asked her to come over for ,which would allow herto travel extensivley.

It's just a case of 'not seeing her everyday' like they had.

Go for it or just be a gopher!
(MR.) happipuppi13 🐕 *arf,man!*

[–] jarrodmcdonald-1 9 years ago

Not trying to be argumentative, but I live in the midwest and I am also 43. I've moved away (to Los Angeles for ten years and I also lived in Japan and Korea for 18 months, not military) so I've done the life away/abroad thing-- and I moved back. Most of my relatives would never think of jetting off like I did. You tend to stay where all your family is, cold climate or not, if you want to remain close to your elderly folks before they pass, to remain close to your kids (who will be looking after you when you become elderly) and especially to stay around to watch your grandkids grow up.

This was a case of the writers coming up with some fantastic happily ever after for Ann & Sam-- but I just don't think it works for this show. This was a show grounded in midwestern values and a show about family. Not The Facts of Life Goes to Paris. Or in this case, London.

[–] rivkahchaya-372-42432 9 years ago

I agree. I'm a native New Yorker, but I've actually lived about half my life in Indiana, and jetting off to London leaving behind your whole family, including an elderly widowed mother, a motherless small granddaughter, and daughter who might be in the midst of acquiring a child or children in the next year, isn't a happy ending by the standards here. It's something Ann would do only grudgingly if she needed to send the money back to her children, say, not something she would consider exciting. She might do it in ten years, when it would be a good opportunity to have Annie spend summers with her there, and her mother might not be around anymore, and Barbara and Mark would probably have their family settled. Plus, by then, she'd have the degree she finally decided to go back and get. It's a happy ending by LA standards, but not by Hoosier standards.

[–] jarrodmcdonald-1 9 years ago

Yes. I think they should have had a multi-episode arc. Like where she and Francine get a new client who is based in London. The client wants Ann & Francine to work on more of his advertising ideas over there. And Ann grapples with the decision, going through all the things we've been discussing-- not wanting to leave her mother, Barbara & Mark, and Max and Annie.

The twist should have been that Francine finagled her way into the new job in London. But then even Francine decides to do the decent thing and back off, letting Ann have the job. But Ann tells Francine to take it and spread her wings.

With the extra money coming in from this account, and with Sam's own financial success, they can afford their own house. And on their one year anniversary, Sam surprises Ann with a new place he designed for her. Then that would have led into the final episode of them packing and moving out of the apartment. We would know Ann is still near her family, and that she is still running her own business that she built up from scratch and that she had moved on to the next phase of her life, which was beyond the apartment they had all outgrown.

In the pilot for Schneider's new show, the apartment building still could have burned down-- causing him to leave and take the new job in Florida.

[–] dollymaeflow 9 years ago

All that is excellent, jarrod!! I love it and wish things had happened that way. I agree with everyone else that Ann wouldn't want to leave her family and move overseas, especially with so many things unresolved. Another reason why I detest the 9th season!!

[–] jarrodmcdonald-1 9 years ago

Thanks dolly. Yeah, the more I think about the end of the show, we sort of have Ann pulling a stunt Francine would have pulled, putting herself first and going overseas. It's out of character for Ann, who never would have left her family.

[–] mikeflw1 9 years ago

I'm going to guess a lot of the people commenting in this thread didn't see, or forgot, the episode when Ann and the college professor had "a thing" going, and he asked her to move to Greece with him, at his archeological excavation site/job.

Ann's answer to that invitation (in season 6) was a recital of all the reasons she should go, including how everyone supported her going, and the eventual "No" because it was not "who she was".

After that episode, (several episodes later), she quit her new VP job at Connors and Davenport when it required her to move to Texas(?), (still in season six I believe). She changed her mind, and wanted her original (not VP) job back with Mr. Connor, but it was too late because other people had been hired, including a relative. That led to her starting her own agency with Alex's father (the artist, who she first "met" at the unemployment office).

The show had been 'toying' with the idea of Ann moving for some time in season six, perhaps testing the audience reaction, maybe even preparing for the end of the series. But, we know it ends in season nine, so there were plenty of clues that Ann was still changing/evolving from the hapless divorcee of season one. By the time season nine arrived, she was no longer the woman who turned down moving to Greece, with the full support of everyone around her.

BTW, I didn't get to watch season nine when it originally aired, and Antenna TV has scrambled the episodes up quite a bit by taking a "Mother's Day Marathon" assortment of episodes from across the seasons, and not re-airing those episodes in order with the rest. From the comments about how Antenna TV was skipping episodes prior to that marathon, I have to guess that was their original plan, and they most likely bought the 'rights' to air the episodes only once. (Ouch!!!)

As far as not "ending on top" goes, the shows were "issue driven". As an example, Barbara being sexually harassed by one of her college professors was an issue. Max and Julie had their credit cards rejected buying Ann a dinner, (and other financial problems remaining after the airline strike). Another issue was Barbara meaning to tell her former boyfriend that his new girfriend (All-The-Way-Farraday) had quite a "past", but she couldn't... (are men's and women's "past" the same?) There were plenty of "issues" used, and there were plenty more that could have been used.

Fashion/wardrobe?
In terms of competing shows, ODaaT did manage that pretty well, but other TV shows were providing incredible (unbelievable?) competition in that regard. Shows like DYNASTY, DALLAS, HART TO HART, REMINGTON STEELE, CHARLIE'S ANGELS, and others like them were over the top... The time frames may not line up precisely with ODaaT, but show ideas and funding activity have to circulate in Hollywood for years before they get green-lighted, and eventually aired...

[–] happipuppi13 9 years ago

This was a case of the writers coming up with some fantastic happily ever after for Ann & Sam-- but I just don't think it works for this show. This was a show grounded in midwestern values and a show about family. Not The Facts of Life Goes to Paris. Or in this case, London.

Happily ever after? That's only to be 'asssumed' by the viewer or not.

In fairy tales ,the lead character goes through mostly 'fictional' things ,to have that happy conclusion. This show is (mostly) real life and Ann had to deal with the real world for 'really" the first time in her life between 1975 & 1984.

She came out the other end of it victorious and also ...why shouldn;t she think of herself first? She did what her parents said asa child , she then played 2nd fiddle to her husband.

She also fought to keep her daughters from the temptaions that are out there for young people and to get them raised to adulthood. She had a man she loved get killed in a car crash and put up with many jerks (male and female) on her way to the success she finally & deservedly earned!

Again ,Paris? You bet!

Go for it or just be a gopher!
(MR.) happipuppi13 🐕 *arf,man!*

[–] Hoohawnaynay 9 years ago

I agree with the original poster the last couple years were awful...

[–] happipuppi13 9 years ago

Sorry ,can't agree with that.

Including syndicated reruns ,I've seen all of these and I liked them all.

I think it's futile to complain about something that can't be changed.

Just accept it all for the way it is and how it went at the time.

You'll enjoy the show a lot more.

Go for it or just be a gopher!
(MR.) happipuppi13 🐕 *arf,man!*

[–] jerry81 9 years ago

You know, dolly, I was thinking about "One Day at a Time" recently, and I agree with you that this show ran longer than necessary.

I remember learning that the only reason why the show ended after its 9th season was because Valerie Bertinelli and the late Bonnie Franklin announced that they were going to leave at the end of that year. The show's network, CBS, wasn't thrilled with this because they wanted to renew the show for two more years! Can you imagine how the show's quality would've turned out if that happened?!

In my honest opinion, the show ran for two years too many. Since the premise of the show was about a divorced mother raising her children on her own, exploring the lives of Julie and Barbara as adults and even Ann's life in the empty nest was unimportant and pointless. The show should've ended after its seventh season. The end of that year would've been a good time to have a series finale with all the new life adventures for the characters combined - Barbara getting married, Julie having her first child, Ann moving up in the business world, Schneider moving away to look after his niece and nephew in Florida.

Don't get me wrong. "One Day at a Time" was a very good show and worth checking out as much as possible. I appreciate how the show tackled a lot of subject matters that were taboo for their time. Some of these matters include the following - pre-marital sex, teen runaways, age disparity in relationships, suicide, birth control, infidelity, sexual harassment. Anyone who's never seen or heard of "One Day at a Time" should definitely check it out.

[–] Hoohawnaynay 9 years ago

Yeah the last year or two were really a YAWN FEST...boring stories and jumped the shark and they just strung it along way too long. I LOVED the first few years.

[–] Lovetvshows 8 years ago

The show jumped the shark when Alex and his father were added to the regular cast line up. I liked the series better when Ann was dating and raising her two daughters by herself.

[–] jtmovies 8 years ago

And to think CBS offered to renew the show for two more years, but Bonnie Franklin declined. Could you imagine this show lasting to 1986?

[–] mikelutton35 8 years ago

1986 that would of been way to much talk about overkill

[–] TMC-4 (19416) 6 years ago

https://web.archive.org/web/20061031153728/http://www.jumptheshark.com/o/one_day_at_a_time.htm

[–] TMC-4 (19416) 7 years ago

Why do so many people dislike One Day At A Time?

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showpost.php?p=2290935&postcount=4

I watched this show in the early 80s and it was Ok. I have to admit that I didn't like seeing reruns of the earliest episodes when Ann was dating David Kane and they were just a bit too pushy about the women's lib/divorce issues in the scripts. I actually remember seeing the episodes where Ann dated the married guy when they first aired in prime time in 1977-78. But I can stand the show more from season 5 onward when they began giving the girls husbands. If I could watch any episodes now they would be the ones from the last 3 seasons, those are most interesting because of the marriages and there is a bit more growth to the characters in those shows: I recall the last season 2 parter where Barbara and her husband tried to adopt a little latino child.

I remember this show had a good long syndicated run in the 80s and early 90s and it was on cable up top about 1999, but I guess it's sometimes strident feminism makes it a bit dated now.

As for Bonnie Franklin she seemed miscast in the part at first, she was too young and didn't look like any Italian American I've ever met, but I grew to accept her in the part, which is another reason why I prefer the 80s shows. Seeing her with Joe Campanella who played her ex-husband in the first few seasons was too strange- he seemed more like her uncle than her ex-husband.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showpost.php?p=2292006&postcount=5

Seasons three and four were very good seasons for the show and it began to hit its stride. The first season shows were weak and Bonnie Franklin looked too young to play a mom of teenagers plus they made her look too homely at first. In season three you began to see Bonnie looking more prettier especially when she cut her hair in season 4. Season five was tragic because it was when MacKenzie Phillips' drug and alcohol problems became apparent and obvious. Those episodes were sad to watch because you can see the downward spiral she was in and how horrible she looked and sound. When she was let go from the show the following season you can see the big hole that was left in the show. Ron Rifkin and Glenn Scarpelli did not do a good job filling the void. I thought Ann's romantic relationship with Nick was not very good and no chemistry between Rifkin and Franklin whatsoever. Season 7 got better when Julie began making appearances and the show pick up its stride again but it was beginning to age some. Season 8 was full of transitions and changes and that should had been it final season. Here was all that happened that year:
Mark and Barbara got married.
Julie and Max gave birth to Annie.
Ann met Sam, Mark's father, and they began dating, got engaged and got married.
Alex began dealing with losing his father.
Grandma Romano facing her husband's death.

About most of the 8th season was dealing with many changes of the characters. The final season was a yawn and it showed that it wore its welcome out. It was good to see Ann Romano came out on top with a husband and the opportunity to run her own agency in London. She came a long way.

I did love the addition of Francine played by Shelley Fabares. I definitely had a crush on her but I could not stand the character of Francine. She reminds me of many of my co-workers.

Also another thing to look at. Her and her former husband, Ed, were many years apart in age. You can look at them and tell they were at least ten years apart in age. Joe Campanella and Bonnie Franklin did not seemed compatible. I thought her and David Kane were. The co-dependency those two had would had got tired and old quick.

[–] pioneergrrrl (2389) 5 years ago

This was when there were only 3 networks...MUCH harder to kill off a show.

[–] JosephQCat (706) 3 years ago

It was a 4 year show that went on for 9 years. Contrast that with Good Times which if it had worked out its differences with John Amos and overhauled the writing staff could have gone on for 9 years.