Reboots, One Day at a Time & Rita Moreno

In this episode of Advanced TV Herstory, host Cynthia Bemis Abrams examines the current trend toward reboots and extended franchises of movies and TV series from the 1970s, 1980s and the 1990s. Cynthia identifies the subtle but modern changes made to Norman Lear’s classic series One Day at a Time as a great test case for 21st century viewing tastes. The original One Day at a Time (1975-1984) ran for 204 episodes and tracked the lives of an Indianapolis single-parent household. Bonnie Franklin as Ann Romano was a working mom to Julie (Mackenzie Phillips) and Barbara (Valerie Bertinelli) encountered conflicts and situations of coming of age, feminism and new morals and the working world. The reboot features 86 year old Rita Moreno, America’s most prominent and acclaimed Latina actress, and Justina Machado.

Books mentioned

Rita Moreno’s Memoir

Norman Lear’s Even This I Get to Experience

Mackenzie Phillips High On Arrival

Mackenzie Phillips Hopeful Healing: Essays on Managing Recovery

Valerie Bertinelli’s four books

TV sitcom with single mom, Norman Lear, second wave feminism, representation on TV, TV sitcom with family of color, family-based comedy, EGOT, Rita Moreno racism insights, racism in Hollywood, racial bias in hollywood casting, racial passing in casting, TV plots about teenage sex, TV plots about school bullies