The program centered around Ann Romano, a tele- vision character who found herself struggling through many of the same experiences facing real American women. Married at 17, Romano was now divorced, raising two teenagers more or less on her own, and entering the job market for the first time since her marriage. Played by Bonnie Franklin, Romano was not TV’s first divorced woman or mother (Diana Rigg in Diana preceded her, as did Vivian Vance on The Lucy Show), but she was probably—to that time—the most realistic. Romano struggled with money, fighting for every penny of the child support that was supposed to come from her frequently deadbeat ex-husband. She struggled with finding a job. And she struggled to be both father and mother to her two children, Julie (Mackenzie Phillips) and Barbara (Valerie Bertinelli).

Just as the portrayal of Ann was without romanticism, so was the depiction of her two children. Throughout the series, Barbara and particularly Julie dealt with issues of birth control, sexuality, virginity, alcohol, and drugs with an honesty and forthrightness that Gidget and other previous TV teens never dreamed of.

Rounding out the cast was apartment-building superintendent Schneider (his first name was hardly ever used), who, over the course of the series, played an increasingly important role in both the program’s plots and the lives of the girls. In this role, actor Pat Harring- ton, Jr., also frequently supplied some much-needed comic relief in the midst of the ongoing exploration of serious topics.

One Day at a Time went through many cast changes during its run and developed various, almost convo- luted, plot twists and turns. When the show began, Ann was working for an advertising agency, then later founded her own company. One season she became engaged, only to have her fiancé killed by a drunk driver. Then, for a time following his death, she became legal guardian to his teenage son. Daughter Julie married and had a baby, only later to abandon her new family. Ann’s mother (played by veteran actor Nanette Fabray) even- tually became a series regular, appearing in almost ev- ery episode. Finally, daughter Barbara married (having remained a virgin until her wedding night) and the next season Ann married Barbara’s father-in-law. The series ended with Ann, now remarried, moving to London with her new husband to take an exciting new job.

For all the problems that were played out in front of the cameras, just as many occurred behind the scenes. Phillips was fired from the series in 1980 because of her ongoing drug addiction. She would later return to the series, only to be written out again when she suffered other health problems.

In some ways, one of the first television shows in the “dramedy” genre (a hybrid of drama and comedy to be later embodied by series such as The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd), One Day at a Time made ex- tensive use of multipart episodes (one three-parter dealt with Julie running away from home), focused on contemporary issues (one episode dealt with teen suicide), and incorporated political messages into its stories. Nothing was ever easy or dealt with offhandedly on One Day at a Time. The decision not to shy away from difficult themes in the series’ portrayal of con- temporary life, especially of women’s lives and of female adolescence, set the program apart from others of its time. Thus, the series helped expand the dimensions and role of U.S. television comedy.

Less brash and politically explicit than Lear’s other feminist comedy heroine, Maude Finley, Ann Romano (who took back her maiden name after her divorce and preferred to be referred to as “Ms.”) was more “middle of the road” and therefore easier for audiences to accept as a realistic type of character. This wide appeal, along with the popularity of series’ stars Franklin, Harrington, and Bertinelli, allowed the show to endure for an eventful and trendsetting nine-year run.