There are TV shows that are timeless, and there are TV shows that are very much of their time. This show unfortunately falls in the latter category. Come with me, brave traveller, to the TV sitcom era defined by fixed indoor sets and laugh tracks, where a lull in the pace can be quickly remedied by a knock on the door and the injection of an oddball character only distantly related to the actual story. Looking back this "hit" show over the span of decades, the flaws become more obvious. Bonnie Franklin was the tofu of situation comedy -- the picked up the flavor of whatever was happening around her. Valerie Bertinelli was simply precious, and a perfect smile that was often more interesting than the dialogue. MacKenzie Phillips did a great job as the difficult and sulky child because, apparently, that's who she was in real life. (The daughter of the lead in the Mommas and Poppas, this "wild child" was tabloid fodder for decades.) Richard Masur's career seemed to both begin and end in this series, and he went on to take a senior position, I recall, with the Actors Union. As the series progressed, the producers were stymied by the fact that Harrington, cast into a secondary role, was stealing every scene he was on, AND, at the same time, scoring big with viewers. They wrote him bigger and bigger parts. Anyone watching this series today however might question why the "super" was spending so much time in the apartment of 3 women ..? Some individual episodes even tried to hint and romance between Franklin and Harrington, but the audiences were not very happy with that theme, and it died quickly.
Review of One Day at a Time
