# One Day At A Time Reunion tonight! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-at-a-time-reunion-tonight/291399 "2005-02-22T20:29:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-at-a-time-reunion-tonight/291399/1 "2005-02-22T20:29:01Z")
CBS is showing a [Reunion Show](http://www.cbs.com/specials/one_day_at_a_time/) tonight. Are you watching? [Remember the theme song?](http://www.sitcomsonline.com/sounds/onedayatatime.wav) What a great show that was. It was fearless in dealing with issues forthrightly without excessive romanticism. It was funny and touching and sometimes heart-breaking. An often forgotten; but powerful show. One of Norman Lear’s best. As good as Maude or All in the Family if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-at-a-time-reunion-tonight/291399/2 "2005-02-22T20:33:59Z")
So is Mackenzie Phillips going to reminisce about how much cheaper coke used to be back in the 70s? ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-at-a-time-reunion-tonight/291399/3 "2005-02-22T20:42:58Z")
You’re assuming she _remembers_ the 70s, or even the 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Pashnish\_Ewing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8797f3/32.png) [@Pashnish\_Ewing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pashnish_Ewing)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-at-a-time-reunion-tonight/291399/4 "2005-02-22T20:43:51Z")
I always thought Mackenzie took the opening lines to the theme song a little too much to heart… _This is it (this is it) This is life, the one you get, So go and have a ball!_ But, yeah, very underrated show. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-at-a-time-reunion-tonight/291399/5 "2005-02-22T20:53:48Z")
I’d be curious to see reruns of the show (Are you listening, TVLand and NickAtNite?) becaause all Lear’s shows in the 70s dealt with gritty, contemporary issues like inflation, unemployment, sexuality, and drugs. But looking back, what strikes me is the tone of innocence those shows have when viewed today. I was just watching an ep of _Good Times_ on the new black channel TVOne (the one where Thelma’s dating pre- _An Officer and a Gentleman_ Louis Gossett, Jr.), and the show appeared positively quaint. JJ’s jokes aobut the winos on the corner, supposed to be topical back then, seem so old-fashioned in the wake of the crack epidemic that followed in the 80s. ODAAT likewise would appear to be naive in some ways. I remember an episode dealing with the mother going to a singles bar, and her only concern was finding a decent guy–testing for HIV and other STDs was not even on the radar back then. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-at-a-time-reunion-tonight/291399/6 "2005-02-22T21:43:55Z")
I wonder if Bonnie Franklin still overacts? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-at-a-time-reunion-tonight/291399/7 "2005-02-22T21:50:42Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > So is Mackenzie Phillips going to reminisce about how much cheaper coke used to be back in the 70s? In fairness, she’s been pretty up front about her drug problems, and a review I read of the reunion show said she addresses the issue. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-at-a-time-reunion-tonight/291399/8 "2005-02-22T22:35:38Z")
Realy a great review of teh show by Tom Shales in the Post – his take (paraphrasing) was that it was a groundbreaking and “important” show but that it wasn’t a very funny show. It was actually a nice review that doesn’t come acroos by my summation. Julie’s run away!!! Second only to JJ’s been shot!!! ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-at-a-time-reunion-tonight/291399/9 "2005-02-22T22:50:25Z")
I had such a crush on Valerie Bertinelli back in the day! I was more than a little hurt when she hooked up with that Van Halen guy! ---
**Author:** ![ussentinel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ce7236/32.png) [@ussentinel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ussentinel)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-at-a-time-reunion-tonight/291399/10 "2005-02-23T06:40:44Z")
I skipped my usual “House” on FOX to catch this. The cast really seems to be aging well and this is arguably the best MacKenzie Phillips has ever looked. Like most guys my age, I had the hots for Valerie Bertinelli. Meh, there weren’t too many cute young women on sitcoms back then like there are now. ODAAT was recently rerun locally here and I had forgotten how depressing and how many ordeals there were, bordering more on drama than sitcom. The reunion was an okay show (I woulda like more of the character’s later loves shown. If they did, I missed it) and they didn’t totally dodge Phillips drug problems. I would like to personally thank the one in charge of showing the clips of the musical numbers. For as little as you saw Ms. Bertinelli’s legs during the show’s entire run, they sure showed 'em here. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-at-a-time-reunion-tonight/291399/11 "2005-02-23T06:58:36Z")
I always found it so ironic that poor Mackenzie Phillips not only had a much cuter _fake_ sister with Bertinelli but also had a much cuter _real_ sister with Chyna Phillips! No wonder it drove her to drugs… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-at-a-time-reunion-tonight/291399/12 "2005-02-23T08:57:36Z")
> [@zagloba](#): > > I had such a crush on Valerie Bertinelli back in the day! I was more than a little hurt when she hooked up with that Van Halen guy! According to the imdb, she and Eddie are still married and have a teenage son. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-at-a-time-reunion-tonight/291399/13 "2005-02-23T09:03:45Z")
And looking through more of the imdb, I had no idea that Pat Harrington was the voice of Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-at-a-time-reunion-tonight/291399/14 "2005-02-23T09:09:03Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > According to the imdb, she and Eddie are still married and have a teenage son. They’ve been split for three or four years.