One Day At A Time question

Who actually believed that Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli were sisters and that Bonnie Franklin was their mother? None of them looked anything alike.

They looked more alike than the Family Ties or Family families did.

Mackenzie and Bonnie had the same tits.

I love a One Day at a Time thread. You bitches just love tearing apart the angry ginger dwarf with fried egg tits, her gangly smack addict daughter, and that baby homosexual she raised for a couple of seasons.

Do you think Bonnie ever let Joe Campanella cum on her tits?

So while you're here enjoy the view Keep on doing what you do So hold on tight we'll muddle through

Val was very attractive back then.

Mackenzie looked like Geri Jewell’s whore sister.

In an emotional but never-aired Very Special Episode, Ann revealed that both her daughters were "black market babies" she had stolen and hoped to sell to wealthy childless couples or white slavers. At the end of the show, Ann tearfully spoke directly to the camera in an unforgettable monolog that Bonnie hoped would finally get her an Emmy: "I had a change of heart. I decided to keep you and raise you as my own when I realized I liked having something close at hand to slap around when I got pissed off."

I’m pretty sure I wrote this on another thread but my mother hated Bonnie Franklin. She said she acted as if her lines were written on the ceiling.

I was a thespian, you assholes! Now watch me slam this door and emote!

[quote] So WOP on the beat!—I still don't know what that means

It's actually "So up on your feet!"

One of the weirdest episodes of television I’ve seen is the episode where Barbara finds out that Cliff had gotten a friend of hers pregnant. Ann is more pissed at Barbara for being mad at Cliff then she is at Cliff for withholding that bit of info to her own daughter. Cliff is treated as the victim in this.

And I guess Bonnie was going for realism because Ann was out jogging at the beginning of the episode, but she looks like she hasn’t showered in a week.

Given that the girls got half their genes from their father, there's plenty of resemblance between the three of them. All had similar cheekbones, and strong chins.

Bonnie was vile in every way.

Even Linda Lavin hated Bonnie Franklin.

But could Linda Lavin tap as well as Bonnie?

R18 She could tap that ass as well as Bonnie

Also weird--the girls both had dark brown hair, and of course Ann's was flame-red. Yet the girls were the Irish-American ones (their last name was Cooper), while Ann Romano was supposed to be Italian-American.

[quote] But could Linda Lavin tap as well as Bonnie?

Linda hated to exercise but loved to tap, unlike Bonnie.

Are Bonnie's soiled pantyhose hanging in the Smithsonian somewhere?

I can believe Mac and Val as sisters. Bonnie Franklin was poorly cast.

Why did this show last as long as it did? It was terrible.

r24, everyone watched it just so they could feel grateful their mother wasn't Ann Romano.

R24, There were only 3 good channels out of 13 at the time. Not 13,000 like today.

[quote] There were only 3 good channels out of 13 at the time. Not 13,000 like today.

What fancy town did you live in?

Mac and Val looked like Joseph Campanella could be their father, but neither looked much like Slappy Annie herself.

Did Schneider ever pork Ann?

[quote] Did Schneider ever pork Ann?

No, just Alex.

They didn't treat their guest stars well.

A ginger midget was supposed to be Italian? WTF?

I always said Bonnie Franklin should have been cast as Alice Hyatt in "Alice" and Linda Lavin should have been cast as Ann Romano in 'ODAAT' since Lavin looked more 'Italian'.

And what did Ann Romano do for a loving? Something about PR or advertising? In fucking Indianapolis?

Maybe she was proofreading classified ads.

I never understood that apartment

I wish the Schneider in the new version would pork me!

You have to admit Jo Anne Worley would've made a more credible, zany, and likable Ann Romano.

Somehow, a woman who only had a high school degree and was married at 17, got pregnant right away and suddenly found herself raising two daughters on her own when they were teens was able to make her way as one of the top advertising agents at Connors and Davenport with no college education, no college degree and no previous work experience history at all. This was Norman Lear's and Bonnie Franklin's (she always took credit in developing her character) idea of portraying a 'real, divorced, single mother' in the late 70s.

So the message to every single mother with just a high school education and absolutely zero work experience was : You, too, can be a corporate executive at one of the top ad agencies in a big city....eventually quit, and open up your own agency which will compete with the agency you left. In 9 years, your lack of experience and education will eventually take you to London to head up an advertising department for a big corporation.

No education or work experience necessary.

Jo Anne Worley would have made a better Ginny Wroblicki.

R20, I think there are many who hail from (os their ancestors hailed from) Northern Italy who are fair skinned with freckles and red hair. Danny Bonaduce comes to mind.

Why do so many sitcom people work in advertising and PR? There are other jobs, stupid Hollywood! What about a sitcom with a technical writer, huh? You don't think that's funny?

Where did Alice find Too-AWMY? Cause he didn't come out of her vadge.

[quote] And what did Ann Romano do for a loving?

She pulled on her fried egg nipples and borrowed Ginny Wroblicki's vibrator.

[quote]Mackenzie looked like Geri Jewell’s whore sister.

JUNKIE whore sister

Why did Ann Romano always run to answer the door?

Was Mackenzie still dating her dad during this show or had they broken up by then?

I will never understand how such a strident, shrill, and completely unfunny and unappealing actress ever got the lead in a sitcom. There were so many actresses back then who would've been a better fit than Bonnie Franklin. It's a mystery why she was cast.

Big question is why after getting the big job she didn't buy a house and move from the crummy apartment.

Well Peggy Oleson became a copy writer in the 1960s and then head of her department after ten years and she only went to secretarial school and was too dumb to realize she was even pregnant.

Alison Parker went from answering phones to being head of D & D.

While we're at it, what on earth did hot as fuck Max see in fugly stringbean Julie?

The person who superimposes Bonnie's face in video after video frightens me more than John Wayne Gacy.

[quote]I will never understand how such a strident, shrill, and completely unfunny and unappealing actress ever got the lead in a sitcom.

It was actually by default.

According to an interview with Norman Lear a number of years ago, the series was developed solely around Mackenzie Phillips, whom he loved in 1973's "American Graffiti". He wanted to do a sitcom around Phillips, who would be the star and main focus of the series. Each episode was to center around the 'trials and tribulations' of a teenage high school girl living with her younger sister and recently divorced mother, who would play supporting roles to Phillips. Each week's story line would be centered around Phillips' character 'Julie'. He chose Franklin to play the mother, as he found her very 'likable' on Broadway in 1970, in the musical "Applause, Applause!" and promised her he would feature her in one of his sitcoms he was developing for CBS. (She had said early in the series run that she never really wanted to do television, but wanted to stay in NYC and do Broadway musicals.)

Somewhere during development, it was decided that Phillips shouldn't carry the show each week, and the 'family of three' would be the focus (yet many early story arcs were centered around Phillips, though tweaked to give more presence to her mother and younger sister).

I think it was a smart move in the end, as Phillips really wasn't talented enough to anchor the show herself.

Mac was not stable enough to carry a show.

America fell in love with Bonnie's bundt cake mold hairdo.

And Toni Tennille's too

She was also very busy fucking her father.

R62 I wonder if Lear figured out early on that Phillips was 'under the influence' when she was rehearsing the first episodes, and realized it was a mistake to build the show around her ?

Julie just wasn’t a likable enough character. . But Barbara was.

[quote]She had said early in the series run that she never really wanted to do television, but wanted to stay in NYC and do Broadway musicals.

Thank you Mr. Lear for sparing us Bonnie in "Pippin," "A Little Night Music," "A Chorus Line," "Chicago," and/or "Evita"!

When Michelle Phillips, who fucked all of her husband’s friends, has the moral high ground compared to you, you know you have a problem.

Bonnie Franklin as Evita sounds like something from SCTV.

The original pilot when it was called Three to Get Ready was on YouTube a while back. There was even a thread on it here. No Valerie, but Bonnie, Mac and Marsha Rodd playing the role that would soon be occupied by Mary Louise Wilson. Ann works as a secretary in a hospital for a doctor.

I wondered how a wide-lipped, washed out frump could be related to the Eye-talian sexpot.

Damn it r67! The angry ginger dumped the junkie father fucker for ALEX, the obnoxious pole smoker!

r60 I completely agree.

Those are the stuff of nightmares and I scroll quickly past them without laying eyes directly upon them.

Man, was there any show Marcia Rodd DIDN'T get replaced on in the '70s?

[quote] She had said early in the series run that she never really wanted to do television, but wanted to stay in NYC and do Broadway musicals.

If anyone ever had Broadway musical theater talent, it was Bonnie Franklin.

Who else would have had the brilliant idea of harshly shouting out some of the repetitions of "I'm in love" at the end of "I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy"?

I wonder if Mackenzie secretly hoped she and Papa John could double date with Valerie and her dad.

Ok, we heard you. Everyone knows what happened with Mack and her dad.

This may be the most DL thing I've ever posted, but my DVD collection includes One Day at a Time: The Complete Series (it was at a thrift shop and I was going to sell it on Ebay because it was getting rare, and then I didn't) and Life with Lucy, Lucille Ball's final series.

Earlier this week thanks to another One Day at a Time thread here, I popped in Season Nine for a few episodes, and then I put on Life with Lucy. I'm telling you, Season Nine of ODAAT was so terrible it made the unaired eps of Life with Lucy seem like long lost sitcom gold. Season Nine is really about the three couples: Ann, Julie, and Barbara and their husbands. No Nanette or Shelley or Scarpelli.

Even in her 70s with her "scotch rocks, Gary!" voice, orange wig (not unlike Franklin's actual hair color), and lined visage, Ball still knew her way around a laugh most of the time and could summon up some warmth.

R67, that would be Alex as played by Glenn Scarpelli.

Dammit Julie! Stop fucking your father!

On the other hand, they could have done a Broadway musical based on "One Day at a Time," starring Bonnie.

Her big Act I finale: "Today I Am 35."

There would be multiple repetitions of her opening number, "Dammit Schneider!", which she would reprise as "Dammit Julie!," "Dammit Barbara!" and "Dammit Alex!" It would then all climax in her big eleven o'clock number, "Dammit Life!"

Ann Romano made turning 36 is big deal.

I never bought that publicity stunt about claiming she fucked her dad. He was dead for years before she “revealed’ it and drug addicts are notorious, desperate liars. She’s always been shameless.

Plus, Papa John was a rock star. He could have done much better than Mackenzie, who’s a Hollywood 2 at best.

Again, I was the only one MURDERED.

Wasn’t one day at a time created by Whitney Blake and her husband Alan manings as a starring vehicle for her.

R90 - So up on your feet.

[quote]Why do so many sitcom people work in advertising and PR?

Because it's a job where you can bullshit your way to the top overnight. No young kid ever says when I grow up I want to go to college and become an advertising executive. Even the ones with degrees are still bullshiters.

The way I remember the show is everyone watched for Valerie Bertinelli, she was a cute teen and seemed likable. No one cared about the ugly older sister and her ginger cunt mom coping with being 30 something. Of course waiting to see if mom would ever give it up for Schneider. But it never happened because mom's cunty behavior treated him like he was from the other side of the tracks even though that's exactly where she belonged.

I caught a few episodes back when it was on but never really got the love. As others have said, Bonnie was ugly and the saggy tits and mushroom hair didn't help.

[91] I think the Whitney show you're talking about was on the table at CBS at the same time this Norman Lear concept (starring Phillips) was presented. When they realized Phillips couldn't carry the show, they merged it with the Whitney show. (At least that's how I remember what was said back in the 70s /80s).

Interesting that so many 'American Graffiti' stars were being tossed into sitcoms in the mid-70s (Ron Howard, Cindy Williams, Suzanne Somers, Mackenzie Phillips).

R96, like other shows at the time, it was considered progressive in the sense that they tackled topics that were not discussed on TV before. For example, being divorced at that time was still kind of a thing you didn't acknowledge as being common even though it was exploding nation wide back then. So a show about a family without a father was considered kind of edgy. Everyone I knew back then as a kid just watched to see what was going on with the girls. Unfortunately, the script focused way to much on the mother's troubles. Really not a likable character, so self involved.

R98 Very true about divorces on TV. Valerie Harper explained in her memoir how CBS was nervous about changing the show in 1976 and making her a 'divorced woman' on her own. They weren't sure if America was ready for this.

R5- He was HOT 🥵

He certainly had BIG COCK face.

R96- At least they weren’t like Irene Cara’s

RAISIN TITTIES

Was the ex-husband ever seen or heard from? Did the girls ever get shipped off to dad's for holidays or summers or was it like Carol Brady's mystery sperm donor?

Say what you want about "One Day At A Time", but I really do love the theme. Unlike the show, it's uplifting. The man who wrote it, wrote some of my favorite songs from the 1960s.

Musically, my favorite moment is that opening pick-up chord from the piano. Probably because I'm anticipating the bouncy rhythm and lyric I love so much.

Future movie stars, Richard Dreyfuss, and Harrison Ford, were also in American Graffiti. The cast was huge and launched a lot of careers. Amazingly, the only Oscar nomination was for Candy Clark, who wasn’t even good in the movie.

Who the hell was Kiki Dee anyway?

Joseph Campanella played their father. I always thought 'Julie' (MacKenzie) resembled their father and 'Barbara' (Valerie) resembled both parents.

OP do you realize tv is just pretend

It would have been interesting for Julie to date her dad on the show. Mackenzie could have used her method acting skills and perhaps even win an Emmy!

Yes R91 and Whitney's daughter, Meredith Baxter-Lesbian, details in her blameful autobiography what cold comfort it was for her mom to have a hit show...starring someone else.

Whitney created the show when she was a woman of a certain age by Hollywood standards of the time, and she saw Bon-Bon get all the trappings of fame she'd wanted for herself but never quite got. She wasn't the star of Hazel.

Joe Campanella was hot in his younger days.

Bonnie Franklin was a sex symbol. Men wanted to fuck her and women wanted to be her.

No one wanted to fuck her or be her.

Bonnie and Valerie resembled each other a bit. Chubby faces, upturned noses.

These men couldn’t get enough of Ann’s concave breasts and shrill histrionics.

R114 I bet he knows. It’s called having a silly discussion. No one is harmed - except you, apparently. I hope things improve for you, I really do.

I wonder if like so many celebrated women stars Bonnie Franklin had adoring gay men who would follow her around and take her to restaurants and fawn all over her.

"Bonnie, tell us again that story about when Judith ivey was being such a pain..."

R1

Michael Gross was TV father to Justine Bateman. They were believable as looking similar

Meredith Baxter Birney was mother to Tina Yothers. Believable.

R105 - That movie thrust a lot of young (and not quite young) actors into stardom.

Loved American Grafitti. What happened to the guy who played the motor head? He made my little gay heart flutter when I was young.

These obsessive Bonnie videos aren't funny anymore -they're just creepy.

Didn't she answer your fan letters? Or, worse, did she spurn your adolescent advances?

Greg Evigan choosing Julie. LOL.

I'd always heard Evigan was gay, so not surprising he would choose a boy-ish body...

One day at a time. Sweet Jesus. That’s all I’m asking of you.

Valerie was a complete unknown & not a nepobaby. They lucked out there.

Of course Greg Evigan could be gay, but he’s been married for more than 40 years and has three kids.

Because being married and having several children is always a great indicator of heterosexuality.

Loved when Ann slapped Julie. As some poster says, she literally slapped Julie into next week.

I think it was Norman Lear who said Phillips had absolutely no supportive people around her, that it was the saddest thing.

Hated the entire cast, writing, production etc. Didn’t mind Richard Masur, though. He was smart to get off the show.

Richard Masur was horrid - second only to Bonnie herself

Why even bring the show up if you hate it so much?

Was Masur the "David"? What happened to hos character?

R142 what don’t you understand about DL?

I stand, humbly, corrected, R144.

Since Franklin and Phillips had musical talent, why didn't they have Bonnie sing the theme song with Phillips and Bertinelli singing background - rather than get singers who sounded like them ? For years, I thought those three were singing the song.

R145 You’re a good person.

R146, my brother thought the same and almost had me convinced when he insisted Bertinelli was singing the "la dada da" part.

The most terrifying cover of a weekly magazine of all time.

That tiny fried egg tit is threatening to pop out of that velour blouse the angry ginger is wearing at any time.

Mackenzie turned to heroin to cope with the PTSD of this photo shoot.

I remember Franklin and PEOPLE magazine caught a lot of shit for that cover back then, as it was considered to risque for a family magazine. Franklin claimed it was the stylist and photographer to blame, while the magazine said it was Franklin's choice to pose that way. We were barely three months into the new decade.

[quote]why didn't they have Bonnie sing the theme song with Phillips and Bertinelli singing background - rather than get singers who sounded like them ? For years, I thought those three were singing the song.

When I was a kid I always thought Rue McClanahan was the one who sang Thank You For Being A Friend. It wasn't until I was an adult that I found out it wasn't her.

That People cover is hilarous. Whoever did the layout must've had a sense of humor as "The Nobel Sperm Bank" is right next to Mackenzie's ass.

R152 I was also convinced the actors sang the theme songs. I was so sure Cindy Williams sang hers.

Valerie has a hostage look/terrified smile there R149. She's thinking "Help me, People magazine readers"

Do you think Bonnie knew how universally hated she was?

I know Linda Lavin knows about herself and she relishes it because she's a flaming bag of cunt.

I always enjoy the ODAAT threads and all of the hatred of the show. Makes me laugh every time. Never change, DL bitches.

Was Linda always a bitch? How do you know that she was hated? I sure hate her.

It's almost DL lore how Lavin and Franklin should have switched roles but even though Lavin would have been perfect for Ann Romano and would almost definitely have elevated the material, I don't know what Franklin could have brought to Alice Hyatt, especially opposite Polly Holliday's Flo.

Bonnie must have taken a nap the day of the People photo shoot, like she did on taping day, to get her lazy eye more in line.

I can't for the life of me remember the name of the actress, but she was on a show that filmed on the soundstage that was next door to the ODAAT soundstage. She said they would always hear Bonnie Franklin yelling and shouting.

I think it was Marlee Matlin.

I often heard my Gran's Canasta buddies discuss their hatred of Linda Lavin, mostly about her awful singing. But they still watched for Flo, Mel (so rugged and masculine), and that kooky one who looked like Rachel from Another World.

I remember that, R164. I don't know why, but the name that's coming up is Susan Olsen, who said she heard it during the taping of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

Mary Louise Wilson was always diplomatic about why she left ODAAT. She said she didn't like living in LA and wanted to go back to NY. The real reason was that she hated Bonnie.

I worked with MLW once. She was a lot less diplomatic in private. And a lot more hilarious.

It's not every day that an actor abruptly quits a hit tv show and the huge paychecks that go with it. And yes, I know that tv actors in the 70s didn't make anywhere near the salaries that tv actors make today but it was still very good $$$ for the times and a helluva lot more than the NY stage pays.

See also: Julie White leaving Grace Under Fire because of Brett Butler's insanity.

I don't want to say verbatim what she told me because it was told to me in private, but I will tell you this.

Apparently bras weren't the only undergarments ol' red eschewed.

Ginny Wroblicki (MLW) stole every scene she was in with Bonnie who said, “Dammit, this show don’t need no Flo upstaging everyone, meaning me.”

Does anyone know if the special R163 posted about is available to watch anywhere?

Unfortunately for DL the "Bonnie and the Franklins" tv variety special appears to be lost to the mists of time.

Has "Linda and the Lavins" been scrubbed too?

OMG! Mr. Bradley was finger banging Julie!

r175 No, We do not know for sure.

The Franklin family celebrating hard knocks. That must have been great TV

A little tidbit of Bonnie's special. She's, ummm, tapping.

The Holy Grail. Bonnie Franklin and Linda Lavin together. In a Hal Fucking Linden special. Did they give everybody a special back then? Jesus H. this is so bad.

180 responses on a thread about a tv show that has been off the air for forty years.

It’s why I love this place.

Neither Carol nor Mike wrote those letters. Stop trying to stir shit up.

R125- The mother in law from Bewitched Mabel Albertson looked EXTREMELY like her daughter on the show - Those Whiting Girls

The actress playing her look a like daughter was Margaret Whiting

Short retrospective of the behind the scenes of ODAAT starting at 1:01:45. It always amazes me Franklin had script approval and refused to do anymore episodes in season 1 when she was a rank amateur to the world of sitcoms. Other tidbits-BF had no maternal feelings towards Mac during her drug use when the cameras stopped rolling. Valerie stopped talking to her altogether for years. Only Michael Lembeck seemed to give a shit about Mac. And Pat Harrington turning one of the most obnoxious characters ever into a nine year gig.

Linda's caterwauling starts @ 29:00 on that Hal Linden special. I just skimmed through it and all the dogs in my neighborhood started howling.

Valerie had a drug problem herself that she downplayed for years. On Rob Lowe’s podcast a while back she talked about all night coke benders she engaged in back in the 80s

that hal linden shit is almost as bad as the brady variety hour.

Hal had a very nice career in musical theater and even won a Tony. But then he struck gold with Barney Miller. He would have made a good Billy Flynn and introduced Gwen and Chita on Mike Douglas.

A couple of examples of good casting includes Jonathan Taylor Thomas Tim Allen's son on Home Improvement."

Also, Jeremy Licht as Valerie Harper's son on "Valerie." I can sorta see Danny Ponce as a casting also.

To me the best mother/daughter casting was Edina and Saffy on AbFab

True r192. Jennifer Saunders and Julia Sawalha really did look like they could've been biological mother and daughter.

Funnily enough, they're only ten years apart in age.

[quote]Also, Jeremy Licht as Valerie Harper's son on "Valerie."

Jason Bateman actually looked like he could've been the biological son of Valerie Harper and Josh Taylor. He had a resemblance to both of them.

Anyway, back to Bonnie.....

I will slap the first bitch who says Bonnie looked like she could be my biological daughter.

R61 oh. So Norman saw her from this? With the way she acted, you would have thought she did... Just a lot more.

When did Valerie come on? I remember her being more interesting.

[quote] The way I remember the show is everyone watched for Valerie Bertinelli

Not on our network.

Valerie Bertinelli was jerkoff material to a whole generation of straight boys.

I wonder if there were any fucked up freaks who jerked off to Bonnie.

Ann Romano looks like she smells like dirty pantyhose!

R197 it was thought that a lot of Middle American's kids were watching when Mac was at her absolute worst because even they knew she was about to die of an OD.

^^She looked like absolute hell on that show right before they fired her. Even Aunt Edna in Peoria could've told that she was on drugs.

[quote]r61 I think it was a smart move in the end, as Phillips really wasn't talented enough to anchor the show herself.

Not to mention she was on a liquor slicked highway to hell.

[Quote] Who actually believed that Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli were sisters and that Bonnie Franklin was their mother?

I did OP I was shocked to find that they weren't actually related in real life

[quote]R136 Of course Greg Evigan could be gay, but he’s been married for more than 40 years and has three kids.

This may make DL implode in on itself, but Mr. Evigan’s wife was a Broadway dancer who was in both COCO and… FOLLIES! She also ended up on the cover of Playboy.

r196 That was so awkwardly bad

Mary Louise Wilson detailed her brief (one season career) on ODAAT in her memoir. She hated Franklin, and begged Lear to let her out of her contract (and returned to B'way). A few of the things she mentioned about Franklin: A) She truly believed she was the 'moral compass' of the cast, and had to contribute to script approval and story lines B) She thought she was an expert on everything B'way (even though she was briefly on B'way) and used to 'correct' MLW in every conversation.

So ugly Bonnie was only in one Bway show? I remember my mother wondering where Bonnie came from when the show started. No one had ever heard of her.

Did you expect Jill Clayburgh or Lee Remick? Those sitcoms were so cheap. Get a roll of remnant carpet, some plywood walls, some thrift store doodads and... ACTION. They hired whoever worked cheapest.

They had the perfect opportunity to recast Bonnie in that episode where Barbara is sleeping on the couch and she smells a gas leak. The building could have blown up with Ann inside. She gets horribly disfigured and needs plastic surgery. Next season Ann Romano is played by a different actress.

I thought Norman hired Bonnie when he saw her work in You're the Judge. She fucking looked 50 when she was in her teens.

Bonnie did a lot of professional theatre though, even in her time off from ODAAT, and particularly after the show. She was announced for Gypsy at Bucks County Playhouse and was replaced by Joyce DeWitt. She also was scheduled to do a production of The Year of Magical Thinking (which must have been devastating to be working on while suffering from illness of one's own) that she had to bow out of at the very end.

At the beginning, she worked at Paper Mill Playhouse in George M! and A Thousand Clowns, and she played Carrie(!) in Carousel at Jones Beach.

Then in the 1980s Annie in Annie Get Your Gun, at Bucks County. The mind boggles at a 44 year old Bonnie as Annie Oakley. And later that year, she was nude when she replaced in the off-Broadway Frankie and Johnny. In 1998, she played Martha in Virginia Woolf! And in 2011 she was Ouiser in Steel Magnolias at the Rubicon. So she seems to have been diligent about paying her theatre dues.

I didn't realize she was nominated for Emmy, Tony, and Golden Globe awards. So there was that along with being named one of People Magazine's worst dressed.

Also Wikipedia told me she directed episodes of Charles in Charge.

And she was a Democrat, even supporting Mondale.

Imagine being replaced by Joyce Dewitt? What? Ann Dusenberry wasn't available?

I love this thread. I keep laughing.

The Bonnie Franklin and Linda Lavin threads are always DL gold.

Glen Scarpelli lives in Sedona, AZ and seems to love it. His dad was the cartoonist for the daily “Archie” newspaper comic strip.

[quote]In 1998, she played Martha in Virginia Woolf!

I picture Bonnie in her rust cowl neck sweater running around the set yelling, "DAMN IT, George!"

[quote]And in 2011 she was Ouiser in Steel Magnolias

See above, with the additions of a straw hat and a bad Southern accent.

[quote]...she was nude when she replaced in the off-Broadway Frankie and Johnny.

After each performance, nearby diners experienced a rush as audience members subliminally developed a craving for fried eggs.

I envision Bonnie Franklin having an enormous overgrown thatch of orange and gray pubic hair ,that looked like a wrinkled rust colored micromini skirt from the back row of Frankie and Johnny.

From the front row it probably looked like Bonnie was attempting to be modest and placed her beloved fat orange cat in front of her crotch.

Not a fan but I’ll take her over Susan Richardson any day.

The one episode that I remember more than any of them was Ann having a mini-breakdown over the fact that it was her 36th birthday and the girls gave her a surprise birthday party. She locked herself in her room and had her episode. It was clearly BF's written so that she would get an Emmy nomination, yet it was so over the top. I mean, really? 36????

I remember seeing that episode when I was a little kid, and for years I thought that you hit middle age on your 36th birthday.

Isn't that episode where the infamous "Hold me, David" line came from?

Mackenzie shouted every line like she was playing to the backrow. No nuance.

r217 "enormous overgrown thatch of orange and gray pubic hair"

You are nasty - and also that's my favorite comment of the day :)

[quote] I remember seeing that episode when I was a little kid, and for years I thought that you hit middle age on your 36th birthday.

Young enough to be my daughter. Or granddaughter in a red state or 3rd world country. I watched that show in my teens.

Norman Lear used to find a lot his cast members from the B'way stages for his television shows in the 70s - Franklin, Wilson, Jean Stapleton, Bea Arthur, Sherman Hemsley, Ralph Carter (and I'm sure I'm forgetting some). After seeing these actors on stage. he would visit them after a performance, exchange contact info, and promise them he would cast them in a future television show. Sometimes it would take a few years (Stapleton, Arthur) sometimes it would be soon (Hemsley, Carter).

In the case of Carter, the young actor was starring in 'Pippin' on B'way, when 'Good Times' was ready to start production. To make him available for the show, he ended up buying Carter's contract from the producers.

He wanted to do the same for Hemsley, who was starring in 'Purlie' when 'All In The Family' was in production, but Hemsley felt obligated to the production and insisted he finish his contract out. Lear held the part of 'George Jefferson' open for him until he was available, and replaced some of his parts on the show by introducing a new character - his brother 'Henry Jefferson' (who never shared a scene with 'George' and was never heard from again once Hensley joined the cast).

[quote]r206 Franklin thought she was an expert on everything B'way (even though she was briefly on B'way) and used to 'correct' MLW in every conversation.

Outrageous!

By the time ‘One Day at a Time’ aired, Mary Louise Wilson had done 10 Broadway shows dating back to 1955… not to mention scores of off Broadway and regional shows.

Basically it comes down to this: Did Bonnie Franklin have the honor of doing a bomb musical opposite NANCY DUSSAULT at the Theatre de Lys in 1970? No? Well then maybe she should’ve shut her goddamn mouth!

Ann being a cunt to Barbara

R232, hey, the producer of that bomb musical was GOOP's dad. Also in the cast was Jon Cryer's dad.

I liked Sherman Hemsley as a teen. One of few old guys I wanted to fuck. He was cute. It was only after he died I found out he was gay.

Missed chance hahaha

R235, it depends. He was said to like young Latinos.

Ralph Carter was in “Raisin”, not “Pippin” and Henry Jefferson and George shared an appearance on Henry’s last episode on AITF which was George’s first.

Ann Romano was the type of mom who’d end up in a tru crime special today, after her kids saved up their allowance to put a hit out on her.

Mary Louise Wilson did plays with KATE LAWRENCE of “Family” herself!

Meanwhile, what was Bonnie Franklin doing? Following Pia Zadora into the replacement cast of “Dames at Sea.”

Loser.

Norman Lear sitcoms were groundbreaking when new because he was dealing with relevant topics of the day. They were among the few at the time filmed in front of a studio audience so he wanted seasoned actors who were used to that. I think that’s why there’s so much overacting and overemoting in some of those shows. It worked with real pros like Carroll O’ Connor and Bea Arthur. Not so much, if at all, with lesser lights like Bonnie Franklin and her ever present rictus grin.

R238 Thanks for the corrections.

Was Ann ever the recipient of a slap? Because lawd knows she was deserving of one.

Gad, did everyone's mother hate Bonnie in the 1970s? My mom wanted to reach through the Magnavox and "wipe the shit-eating grin off that smug bitch's face".

My mom wanted to be Lynda Carter

I loved how Bonnie and the other writers /s vilified Francine. Thy only normal one on the whole show. Such a feminist show.

r246 Please elaborate. I actually don't know any backstory and am fascinated by this thread.

She was upset and slappy when her daughters got down but she was doing the same thing.

R244. My mother and both of my older sisters hated Bonnie. It was that grin. We didn’t have many channels to watch then. Must be there was really bad stuff on NBC and ABC.

R247 Francine was played pitch perfect by Shelley Fabares. She worked with Ann at the advertising agency. From the behavior you saw on screen she was a career woman who was ambitious but not overly so. The only thing is she was competing with Ann. At the time, she was the funniest and most relatable character on the show. Rather funny too.

So this is supposed to be a feminist light show. All the woman on the show did nothing but tear Francine down. Over anything. It was the same trope that men used on women. I'm not too into the show I just remember my mother and sisters loving the character of Francine and hating the other women when they knocked her down.

here's a clip. Ann/Bonnie just oozes hate for Francine/Shelley

^ Where can I buy one of those Glenn Scarpelli space jumpsuits?

MacKenzie named her dog Franklin after Bonnie.

Back when Valerie first started her cooking show she had Mackenzie on and they walked their dogs and Mac brought Franklin and explained where his name came from.

Was Franklin a ginger Pug/Rottweiler mix?

[quote] MacKenzie named her dog Franklin after Bonnie.

Did she name her dildo Papa John?

[quote]Francine was played pitch perfect by Shelley Fabares. She worked with Ann at the advertising agency. From the behavior you saw on screen she was a career woman who was ambitious but not overly so.

Shelly Fabares was too obvious in playing 'Francine' the way Donna Mills was playing 'Abby' on 'Knots Landing'. Mills played 'the sexy, ruthless, career woman' so much more convincingly.

I had no idea Bonnie had died so young and of pancreatic cancer, which is the worst. And here we are making fun of her. Poor thing.

I’m in the minority but I actually prefer the later seasons over the first few. It became more of an ensemble show. The first three seasons in particular were so redundant. Practically every episode revolves around Julie fucking up and Ann laying into her. Once they started bringing on other characters it fleshed the show out better. And I think Bonnie got much better and warmer as the show progressed.

As the show progressed, Mackenzie Phillips was written out - that's a big reason why the show got better.

R273 = Val, remembering the years when she was young, hot and slender.

R274 she was horrible. So ugly, obnoxious and a horrible, unappealing performer. Always with her mouth hanging open like an albino catfish.

A junkie and a pathological liar, as well. And she let her dad do anal on her.

Vile person.

The later seasons had hottie Michael Lemceck so they win by default

[quote] The later seasons had hottie Michael Lemceck so they win by default

He deserved multiple Emmys for having to pretend to be attracted to Mackenzie Phillips.

I guess I wasn't watching it much in the end. I had forgotten about Hesseman, who I liked.

The show would likely had been cancelled years earlier if it wasn’t for Val. She evolved from adorable kid to striking young woman. She was the girl next door everyone loved and teenaged boys were hot for her.

In the sea of ugliness that was “One Day at a Time,” she was so fun, attractive and refreshing.

Of course now she’s a fat, bitter narcissist desperate for attention. But back then, she was hot!

Fabares looked so much better as Francine than she did as Christine with that terrible perm throughout the majority of “Coach.”

Did Aunt Nanette fuck everyone on the crew to get niece Shelley added to the cast, or was it vice versa?

Who came first?

[quote] And here we are making fun of her. Poor thing.

You must be new here. Now go buy some peach bellini candles at the Oshkosh Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

MacKenzie would have fared better without her dad.

R272 “ Poor thing.”

You realize she’s dead, so she’s unaware of our conversation here.

Didn't Bonnie play the robot in Buck Rogers?

R136- Alec Baldwin has EIGHT children and he's still a HOMO

[quote] MacKenzie would have fared better without her dad.

Then who would have taken her to the prom? I don’t think anyone else wanted to date her.

She’s lucky her dad paid any attention to her with that face. She must have hated Valerie. And Chynna. All her “sisters” were lookers.

Disgusting.

You know MacKenzie's pussy smelled like cat litter and clove cigarettes.

[quot4e]The show would likely had been cancelled years earlier if it wasn’t for Val. She evolved from adorable kid to striking young woman.

At the end of the last season, they tried a few 'back door episodes' to see if Valerie could spin off into her own show - it was her, her husband, her brother-in-law (and baby) and Grandma Romano. Franklin made a cemao in those episodes. But the ratings were poor, so no spin-off was green-lit for Valerie and the rest of the cast.

Same with Schneider - one of the last episodes had him moving to Florida to take care of his dead brother's kids. It was never spun-off.

So you're saying people watched for Mackenzie and Ann, or the ensemble cast?

Maybe they did tune in to see what that sweetheart bitch Ann Romano said lately.

Maybe after it was on for 22 years people were tired of the lot of them.

R295 people watched this crap because they couldn't think of anything else to do

We don’t post paywalled articles, sweetie. Remember, it is always the job of the commenter or poster to engage her readers immediately without extra steps – none of us wants to get around the payroll, even though we all know how . Let’s do better.

Remember the episode in Season One where Julie wants to go to the elite boarding school but Ann rips up the check David writes to pay for it?

It was at a commercial break and Julie was supposed to be angry and horrified. Sh’e’s sitting on a chair and emoting and it just goes on way too long before it cuts away and Julie looks like she’s having a seizure.

David wanted to groom Barbara. It would have been easier to sneak into the bedroom with Julie gone.

[quote] Other tidbits-BF had no maternal feelings towards Mac during her drug use when the cameras stopped rolling. Valerie stopped talking to her altogether for years. Only Michael Lembeck seemed to give a shit about Mac.

Bonnie Franklin was not Mackenzie's mother; they were both adults playing characters related to each other on a TV show. The same is true with Bertinelli and Phillips: they were not real sisters. Phillips was an employee of CBS, and the responsibility of the producers of the show and the other executives. She was not a responsibility of the other actors.

To insist that actors have to be responsible for other adult actors they work with who have substance abuse problems is ridiculous.

Wolfgang Van Halen is fat and furry. His father, Eddie, was skinny and smooth. I guess that means Valerie carries the fat and furry gene. Makes sense. Wolf looks like Valerie with a beard.

Mackenzie should have been under a doctor's care for her substance abuse and for being a victim of incest. She was wrecked in the head from day one. I despise her dead father. How could she forgive him?

Usually TV moms like to put on the pretense that they have maternal feelings towards their TV children.

Not Bonnie.

She had no interest in being a surrogate mom to that gangly smack addict “daughter,” the cloying younger drug addict “daughter,” or that baby homosexual “son.”

Bonnie preferred tap dancing to ripping syringes out of Mackenzie’s hands.

I thought the incest with her father happened many, many years later when they were on the road as a touring “Mamas and the Papas” group. The 80s.

Say what you will about Mackenzie, she WAS very good in “American Graffiti.”

44 years ago today, the cast of "One Day At A Time" was on the cover of TV GUIDE. Not sure what the inside article was about, but at the time Mackenzie Phillips had been fired from the show. So I'm guessing they did a 'inside report' on what was happening at the show (the same as PEOPLE did 2 months earlier).

The firing of Mac must have been a huge deal in the media at the time. Had any show prior to this have one of their leads go through this in such a public way?

This was also around the time that Polly Holliday left Alice.

[quote]R303 BF had no maternal feelings towards Mac during her drug use when the cameras stopped rolling. Valerie stopped talking to her altogether for years.

Mackenzie Phillips endangered their jobs with her drug fueled escapades. Were they supposed to give her a medal?

Many actors realize they’re lucky to land one hit show in their lifetime. If they DO get one, they’re don’t want anyone else screwing that up… and sending them over to Roger Corman or the Lifetime channel.

Now that Val is in love again she’s backpedaling on the “Ed and I were soulmates” thing as a fantasy.

[quote]r307 I thought the incest with her father happened many, many years later when they were on the road as a touring “Mamas and the Papas” group. The 80s.

I was thinking that, too. But her Wikipedia page, at least, says she first… gave herself to her father in 1979.

At least she later had the sense to abort his baby.

Mac on The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Mary Tyler Moore would have been even less motherly to Mackenzie than Franklin. (Her own child shot himself.)

She got a lot of attention for this. I remember seeing and enjoying it but barely remember the plot.

It was big news when she was fired. My dad even talked about it and never watched the show.

[quote] Mary Tyler Moore would have been even less motherly to Mackenzie than Franklin. (Her own child shot himself.)

Buck would never have fucked his father!

I saw Mac as Rizzo and she gave it all the sass you'd expect. However, when she got to Worse Things, it was as if she was really pulling something from deep inside of her. Very impressive.

I can't help but like Mackenzie. She's been through the ringer, but she pulled herself together and is doing well now.

Mac did the Intervention episode of 90210.

[quote]The firing of Mac must have been a huge deal in the media at the time. Had any show prior to this have one of their leads go through this in such a public way?

This was a unique case - being very publicly fired for substance abuse.

According to Carol Burnett, her costar Harvey Korman had an alcohol problem, and could become very belligerent during rehearsals -especially with certain guest stars he didn't personally like. She threatened to fire him from the show a few times, but then he'd straighten out. Lucky for her, they were able to keep this out of the press.

Aside from Mackenzie, the only other situation I know of at that time was Suzanne Sommers being fired from "Three's Company", but that took place a year later.

Lauren Tewes was also fired from "The Love Boat" for coke abuse, but that was also a year or two later.

Apparently there were several stars who should have been fired for substance abuse, like Freddie Prinze during "Chico and the Man" before he killed himself.

When they were fired, Mackenzie Phillips and Lauren Tewes should have done some “The Girls of Harlem Halfway House” TV movie together. It might have bolstered confidence in them, even become a series.

Mackenzie got all glammed up for her 1982 "Love Boat," but did she and Lauren do lines together off Fred Grandy's dick?

I wonder if Mac procured other television starlets (like Lauren Tewes) for her father…. luring them into coke-fueled threeways.

That might even be how poor Lauren got hooked.

Did One Day at a Time ever have a gay episode? I know Alice did once. It was a big deal tackling that topic at that time.

Poor Mac. Hollywood kept pushing her on us as being beautiful and sexy, and she never was. She had to be aware of that fact, too, which would not be a pleasant feeling.

I'm glad she seems to have finally gotten her life together and has been sober for a number of years. She seems like a genuinely good person underneath all the damage.

R325- The real reason she threatened to fired Harvey Korman was he was repeatedly hitting on Lyle Wagoner.

R331- They kept pushing SJP as being beautiful and sexy and she NEVER was either.

R303- When One Day At A Time premiered in 1975 Philips was only 16 years old - so hardly an adult.

R59- I bet he was WELL HUNG too.

They didn’t need to r330; the show was already camp, so a very special pole smoking/muff diving episode was unnecessary.

Bonnie pushed relentlessly for such an episode, thinking it might finally get her an Emmy for this stupid show. She even had two episode treatments commissioned, which Lear and CBS turned down-they were terrible.

Nobody wanted to see Francine tell Ann that their sexual tension could be cut with a knife, as Francine untied her pussybow blouse and spread her legs.

And nobody wanted to see Ann pick up Alex at the police station when the cops busted the little queen sucking dick at the Greyhound station. Bonnie REALLY wanted to do this episode; she wanted another chance to smack the dogshit out of that little twink-“DAMNIT ALEX, STOP SUCKING COCK!”

Of course, Bonnie had a scene written for herself in that episode with a sexy vice cop (played by Lee Horsley) telling Ann she’s too young and beautiful to be the mother of such a nasty little fudgepacker. Ann agrees to go out with him if he can “lose” Alex’s bail paperwork and keep the little homo in jail all weekend.

R303 they weren’t related? No shit Sherlock. What I’m saying is it might’ve helped Mac more with her drug issues if she had a stronger support system with the cast offscreen in terms of friendships and camaraderie. You don’t read between the lines very well, so I spelled it out for you.

R328 Mackenzie "all glammed up" in 1982 - she looks like Pat Benatar back then.

R332 This was after LW left the show. As a matter of fact, she ended up getting rid of HK at the end and brought in Dick Van Dyke to replace him, if I remember correctly.

R311 the show lasted four more years after Mac was fired. They wrote Julie out and life went on. How were their jobs endangered? The show was more at risk for being cancelled and the cast being out of work than Macs firing.

They should have written Mac's drug abuse into the storylines to explain her character's disappearance rather than the lame 'she moved out of state'. Say she was in a treatment center. If Franklin really wanted an Emmy, acting in these story arcs - something so many families could relate to - would have helped.

How did they end up getting Alex?

After Mackenzie left, they brought Alex and his father Nick (played by Ron Rifkin) on-Nick was Ann’s new boyfriend.

After one season they killed Alex’s father off, and although his mother was alive, she wanted nothing to do with that asshole-so Alex lived with Ann.

When Mackenzie returned they started to phase out Alex. I can’t remember how the explained his departure. Maybe Julie sold him to her dealer for an eight ball.

With all the cast changes ODAAT made, at least Bonnie didn’t have to experience this: “Linda, Polly Holliday will be leaving ‘Alice.’ We’re spinning her off.” “Oh, great!” (Wants to jump up and down and clap) “We’re bringing in Diane Ladd. She was nominated for an Oscar playing Flo in the movie.” (Linda throws a chair out the window.)

Glenn got cast on Jennifer Slept here so he left. I think it was explained that he went back to live with his mother. Ann had pretty much washed her hands of him anyway once Sam showed up.

The last season had more of a family feel because Bonnie wanted breaks from doing the show. She was also the one who made the decision that it would be the last year, which initially pissed Valerie off as she wanted it to continue.

R343 Just to add on to what you're saying, another decision to bring Alex in was because Bertinelli had outgrown 'the cute kid' role when she hit her twenties, so they wanted to bring in another 'cute kid'. There's a belief that bringing in another child when the original children age out is a ratings-grabber (ask Robbie Rist as 'cousin Oliver').

His father had died in a car accident, his mother and her new husband were traveling for his business, so she wanted him to stay with Ann to give him a more stable ground and stay in school. His departure was explained a few seasons later as 'his mother settled back in the states' so Alex went to live with her. In fact, he left the show to costar in a failed NBC sitcom wit Ann Jillian. When NBC canceled the show he wanted to go back to ODAAT, but the producers wouldn't take him - they had moved into a new direction of spinning off Bertinelli.

As I explained in an earlier post, CBS wanted to spin-off Bertinelli into her own series (knowing Franklin was not coming back for another season), which is why the final season had less 'Ann and Schneider' episodes, and more of 'Barbara and her new husband / Grandma Romano / Max' episodes in their new house. However, ratings dipped that season as those episodes were pretty horrible. CBS realized her spin-off would be a ratings disaster, so they canceled those plans.

[quote] They should have written Mac's drug abuse into the storylines to explain her character's disappearance rather than the lame 'she moved out of state'. Say she was in a treatment center. If Franklin really wanted an Emmy, acting in these story arcs - something so many families could relate to - would have helped.

That just would not have been a practical plan. It would have necessitated that Mackenzie would eventually have been cured, and there was no way they could know that would happen given how out of hand things had become with her. It could easily have ended up like Lisa Robin Kelly who was fired for drug use on "That 70s Show" and who never got better--she eventually died of an OD.

After ODAAT Val got a sitcom of her own. Something in France. It didn't last long but it was good. Very good.

There was this weird thing in the late Seventies and early 80s where for some reason TV and movies wanted child actors who looked and behaved like cranky little senior citizens from New York City. Quinn Cummings was like this, and so was the awesomely unappealing Eric Gurry (left) from "Author! Author!" Glenn Scarpelli was also part of this bizarre phenomenon.

I’ve always heard both Bonnie AND Valerie wanted to move on, and wanted the 1983-1984 season to be the last. A few Mac haters on here, but the show wasn’t the same without her being on full time after she was fired. To their credit, they gave her multiple chances, but she blew each one.

I think when Valerie and CBS came to the conclusion that a spin-off starring her was not going to be happening, she changed her tune and said the 1983-84 season was enough for her.

But all through the season, when she talked to the press about filming the final season of the show, she hinted that though ODAAT was ending, this may not be the end of 'Barbara Cooper-Royer' and she was excited to be part of a project CBS was developing for her. I remember she had said that during an interview with ET.

Over the years, she proved she couldn't carry a show on her own, and was better as part of an ensemble cast.

Boyd Gaines never speaks of his time on the show and that saddens me

Mac left the show again that final season and in the episode after it’s revealed that she left Max and ran off, Ann says, “Damn her!”

Franklin’s career basically went straight down the shitter after the show ended, didn’t it? I wonder if she was financially set at that point and semi retired on her own, or if she was shocked to find few still wanted to hire her.

R352 I always thought Boyd Gaines was so hot

R353 it was a horrible way to the end the character. She leaves her husband and child, and leaves out of state. It would’ve made more sense to keep her married to Max, but offscreen busy doing something. The show only had ten more episodes left, so it would have been possible.

These IMDB reviews of the show are hilarious. Nobody likes that bitch Bonnie.

I never really believed it because they were actors on a TV Show.

ODAAT might have been 'groundbreaking' but it seems to have buried Bonnie's career.

[quote] At least she later had the sense to abort his baby.

Wow, it’s good to see Mackenzie has something resembling a boundary in her life..

Granted it’s so low it’s buried in a field under 10 feet of horse manure, but I guess that’s as close as she gets to having some sort of moral standard.

Congratulations on aborting your incest baby after fucking your dad for 10 years, Mackenzie. You’re a profile in courage.

There's something really creepy about the posters who keep referring to Phillips as "Mac," like they're close friends with her.

[quote][R303]- When One Day At A Time premiered in 1975 Philips was only 16 years old - so hardly an adult.

When the drug problems were so bad she was taken off the show, she was well into her twenties.

[quote] Franklin’s career basically went straight down the shitter after the show ended, didn’t it? I wonder if she was financially set at that point and semi retired on her own, or if she was shocked to find few still wanted to hire her.

I imagine she had a long conversation with herself in front of the mirror ("Dammit, Bonnie!"), musing about what had happened to her career and why nobody would hire her.

Franklin, even in TV Guide kept badmouthing Hollywood, saying how much she hated TV and Los Angeles and how much she wanted to get back to New York so she could perform on Broadway. She returned as a host of the Tony Awards and her appearance was so controversial that the Theater Guild wrote a letter to CBS complaining that several awards were presented off camera so Franklin could hot the spotlight. She never appeared on Broadway before or after "Applause".

Here's the complete 1978 Tony Awards broadcast that Bonnie hosted. She is hamming it up and is absolutely AWFUL. It's no wonder she never appeared on Broadway again.

^^Bonnie's "internal monologue" starts at 39:56. WTF were they thinking having her be the host?

She was friends with Alexander Cohen and Hildy Parks, who produced and wrote the Tony Awards ceremonies for years. THey would always find some spot for her on the show.

I'm still processing... she played Margo Channing?

Kevin Kline looked great in 78.

[quote]It would’ve made more sense to keep her married to Max, but offscreen busy doing something. The show only had ten more episodes left, so it would have been possible.

Think about it - in the last 10 eps, they were bringing ODAAT to its conclusion, and trying to set the stage for Bertinelli's spin-off. With her, Michael Lembeck, Nannette Fabray and Boyd Gaines were going to make up the supporting cast. If the spin-off did go forth in September, 1984 how would they continuously explain Mackenzie's absence ? Constantly saying she was 'busy doing something' wouldn't cut it.

Yes R349 that's so true. This reached an apex with the hardfaced, unfunny, old before her time comic stylings of Louanne (Sirota).

OMG thanks for the hint about the reviews on IMDB LOL:

It makes me so happy to find like-minded people in this world who dislike Bonnie Franklin as much as I do. The set must be what, 20 feet wide and she's emoting for a stage twice that size. Her signature move was to start stage left behind the couch, swing her arms like an angry toddler and say, "Oh, Julie!" That smug face she would make when she thought she had cut someone down to size made her if possible, look even more idiotic than usual. When I would hear that theme song starting, if I didn't get to the tv fast enough to turn it off, I would run from the room.

I bet that's what happens in her afterlife; people running to get away from her.

[Quote] There's something really creepy about the posters who keep referring to Phillips as "Mac," like they're close friends with her.

R362 such creeps!

I religiously watch this goofy show back in the 70s. Valerie stole the show from Bonnie and Julie.

[quote] I'm still processing... she played Margo Channing?

She played a character that's not in the film "All About Eve" named "Bonnie," who is a Broadway dancer who works from show to show (aka a "gypsy"). They changed the characters considerably (as well as updated the setting from 1950 to 1970) when they made the musical adaptation.

"Bonnie" the character gets to sing the big title song in the first act and also the song "She's No Longer a Gypsy" in Act II. That's how she was nominated for Tony for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for the show.

Bonnie Franklin singing the title song from "Applause."

"It's better than pot! It's better than booze!"

[quote] how would they continuously explain Mackenzie's absence ?

Easy just say “She’s busy fucking her dad.”

No more questions. Ever.

Do you think if Mackenzie’s dad was still alive she’d have an OnlyFans channel with him?

[quote] Do you think if Mackenzie’s dad was still alive she’d have an OnlyFans channel with him?

I’d put nothing past her. She’s quite loathsome.

To willingly fuck your father for 10 years and then act like a victim.

And that’s assuming it’s not a disgusting lie.

[quote] There's something really creepy about the posters who keep referring to Phillips as "Mac," like they're close friends with her.

Why? It's the name she goes by (though she spells it Mack), not a made-up nickname implying intimacy. Even her social media accounts are in the name of Mack Phillips, not Mackenzie. So why wouldn't people refer to her by her preferred name?

Or maybe it's shorthand for people who don't feel like typing.

You mean lazy-asses?

"Phillips" is four more letters than "Mac."

[Quote] Valerie stole the show from Bonnie and Julie.

I always found Valerie/Barbara so insipid

Much like Jamie Lee Curtis, Val masked her narcissism for many years.

Social media truly reveals who he disordered and isn’t.

season 5 had Michael Lembeck

It was crazy how Ann Romano was portrayed as this hot sexy bitch who all the guys in Indianapolis couldn't wait to stick their dicks into.

She was just so repellent on every level.

R372 well the spin off never happened. But if I was casting it and it came to pass, I wouldn’t include Lembeck, and Max and Julie move out of town. If your information is correct, why include most of the cast from the og on a spin off? Just keep the name ODAAT and continue on without Franklin and Harrington.

I like this version of the season 5 opening. It captures Bonnie’s tenuous grip on reality, and Valerie comes across as a stealth cunt.

[quote]Just keep the name ODAAT and continue on without Franklin and Harrington.

But with three of the leads (I'm including MP, too) no longer part of the show, it's no longer ODAAT. It's a different show. Same as when 'Roseanne' killed off the star. The remaining cast spun-off to 'The Conners'. It's a different show without the star(s).

Here is the ODAAT reunion show from 2005:

R394 Franklins role was limited in the last season anyway, with Bertinelli more or less the lead, and they called it ODAAT anyway. And Harrington probably would’ve stayed. He has said they offered him more money, but Franklin didn’t want to go on. Plus Franklin probably would have made guest appearances. So how is a show with almost all of the original cast intact a spin off? They couldn’t continue calling the Conners Roseanne for obvious reasons. But for all practical purposes it’s the soon to be 17th season of the parent show.

Ann Romano was a feisty piece of ass.

I wonder if the curtains matched the drapes so to speak? And how many men immersed themselves in that ginger bush.

I used to love Nanette Fabray when she guest starred on Carol Burnett but came to find her quite irritating on One Day etc. Almost as bad as Franklin.

Wow, I can’t believe this thread is almost up to 400 now.

At least I can still count on Datalounge for my One Day at a Tine fixes.

Michael Lembeck had a great hairy well-built body, great teeth, and great hair. He was gorgeous.

R393 Why are you slamming Valerie?

Matthew perry wanted to slam Valerie

I never trusted Valerie. I always got the impression she was a sneaky asshole

Created by Whitney Blake? WTF?

It must have been a shock for Meredith Baxter-Birney to watch her mother's show for the first time in 1975, r403, and realize Julie Cooper was a portrait of how her mother saw her.

You're The Judge (1965)

I would have sex with the two handsome guys in a second.

Bonnie Franklin also played one of Gidget's friends, Janie, in two episodes of that TV show.

Bonnie's husband for 29 years, from 1980 until his death: Marvin Minkoff.

R401 And he played her brother.

[quote] At least I can still count on Datalounge for my One Day at a Tine fixes.

Did Ann isist on a condom or did she just let the men of Indianapolis raw dog it inside her?

Oh hahaha, r410, did you know that time is part of a fork? Oh reminds me I need a sandwich before lunch.

R399- I bet he was well hung too- with a beautiful cock

[quote]Franklins role was limited in the last season anyway, with Bertinelli more or less the lead, and they called it ODAAT anyway. And Harrington probably would’ve stayed. He has said they offered him more money, but Franklin didn’t want to go on. Plus Franklin probably would have made guest appearances. So how is a show with almost all of the original cast intact a spin off?

Franklin was done with the show and television. Once the show was over it was said she moved back to NYC permanently, and was hoping to do more theater (she did more theater, but not on B'way). Harrington had been written out of the show in one of the last episodes - he had moved to Florida to take care of his niece and nephew (played by Corey Feldman) when he got the news his estranged brother had died. It was considered a 'back door pilot' for his own spin-off, but CBS nixed that one, too.

Once again, the focus was on Bertinelli in the second half of the last season of ODAAT because the network was prepping her for her own spin-off in September, 1984. Here's a better example of a 'spin-off' from an original show once the regular cast leaves (to help you understand the Bertinelli spin-off better):

When Sally Struthers and Rob Reiner left 'All In The Family', and Jean Stapleton announced in December, 1978 she was leaving at the end of the current season, CBS talked Carroll O'Connor into spinning off into his own series, as they couldn't continue with the original show with three original cast members gone. Even though O'Connor stayed on and stayed in the same house which was familiar to AITF audiences for nine seasons, they spun the show off into "Archie Bunker's Place" in September, 1979 and focused on the 'bar setting' with O'Connor. (Stapleton made five guest appearances during the first season as a favor to O'Connor, and then they killed her off before season 2). A few characters from the old series joined him on his spin-off for the four seasons it aired, but none were the original cast members of AITF. It was not a continuation of AITF but his own show.

This was how CBS planned on spinning-off Bertinelli into her own series without original members Franklin, Harrington, and Phillips. They didn't even keep the old 'apartment' setting - the setting was now in a home a distance away from Indianapolis. The characters surrounding Bertinelli were cast members who joined the show in later seasons (like 'Archie Bunker's Place') , not the original cast members. It was not a continuation of ODAAT but her own show.

R416 even without Franklin and Phillips, it would’ve made more sense to not name it something else. They would not have spun off Bertinelli AND Harrington into two separate shows. Harrington had the best shot of the spin off because it was just him alone with a new cast and not most of the ODAAT group. It was being set up as such. It would’ve been in an entirely different city with new characters other than Schneider so another name for the show makes perfect sense. If they were more serious about Valerie spin off, I have no doubt Harrington would’ve stayed. And you’re just proving my point with AITF. Everyone had left except Carroll when they renamed it (Jean made a few guest appearances), so a change in title was in order. What did they do when Rob and Sally left? They kept the title AITF for one season, and the main actors on the show were cut 50 percent. The actors that were going to be retained on the potential Valerie spin off was like 90 percent. If Barbara and Mark alone moved to, say, NYC, then give it a new name.

They should have brought Julie back AND her father. He could have moved into the apartment talking Ann's place. The rest just writes itself.

R417 Not sure how you got your percentages (90% and 50%), but both AITF and ODAAT each lost three of the four main actors from the original show. Only one actor wanted to continue from each (O'Connor from AITF and Bertinelli from ODAAT). I'd say the percentages were the same for each: 75% left each show.

Everyone didn't leave when Carroll O'Connor spun-off into 'Archie Bunker's Place'. He took Stephanie (his costar on AITF for the last two seasons) and Barney (who made regular appearances on AITF for nine seasons) with him - same as what Bertinelli was going to do with her planned spin-off. (And for the record, Bertinelli was living in a house which was said to be far away from the apartment building in Indianapolis).

Bottom line: Neither Harrington nor Bertinelli got their planned spin-offs in September, 1984. CBS did not give the greenlight to either proposed project. Their respective characters came to an end along with their original show.

Would they have kept the same theme?

R417 Sweetheart, go outside for some fresh air.

Bonnie's stage work after "One Day at a Time."

[quote] In 1988, Franklin appeared at the Bucks County Playhouse and at the Pocono Playhouse, both in Pennsylvania, in the title role of Annie Get Your Gun. Also in 1988, she appeared with Tony Musante at the Westside Arts Theatre (in Manhattan) in Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune by Terrence McNally. She later performed in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Pittsburgh Public Theater (July 1998). In 1997, she appeared at Ford's Theatre, Washington, D.C., in All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (September 1999). In 2005, she appeared with Bruce Weitz at the New Theatre Restaurant in Overland Park, Kansas in 2 Across (August–September 2011). She played "Ouiser" in a production of Steel Magnolias at the Rubicon Theater, Ventura, California (October 4–14, 2011).

[quote]In the mid and late 2000s, Franklin appeared in nearly a dozen staged readings in the Greater Los Angeles area with Classic and Contemporary American Playwrights (CCAP), which she founded in 2001 with her sister Judy. During the 2006–2007 season, she appeared in the drama Toys in the Attic, written by Lillian Hellman. She appeared in Neil Simon's Broadway Bound at the Pico Playhouse in January 2008.

[quote] In 1997, she appeared at Ford's Theatre, Washington, D.C., in All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (September 1999).

That would have killed my husband a second time.

I remember in early 2002 Franklin's name kept coming up as being the replacement for Valerie Harper in the Broadway play 'Tale of the Allergist's Wife' (Harper had replaced original star Linda Lavin). Harper was leaving in May, and the rumor was Franklin was going to be the new 'Marjorie Taub'. I was going to be in NYC that summer, and was looking forward to seeing the show with Franklin in it. Glad I didn't buy tickets too early before she was officially announced - for some reason, it didn't work out and Rhea Perlman took over the role until the show closed in September.

I wonder if Linda Lavin stole her thunder so to speak in regards to returning to Broadway. Both their respective shows ended a year apart from each other. Lavin went back to Broadway almost immediately and scored a huge triumph and a Tony with her work on Broadway Bound followed by replacing Tyne in Gypsy.

Though for what it’s worth I would have loved to have seen Franklin tackle Gypsy. I think in some odd way it could have worked or would have been a colossal train wreck. Lavin was just boring and badly miscast. Franklin would have the spiteful miserable part of Rose down pat.

R419 I thought you, or another poster, said Nanette, Michael and Boyd were proposed to continue on with the potential spin off. Not just Valerie. Like I said, if you’re spinning her and Boyd off alone, it makes sense to rename it. Most of the actors retained from the parent show (fine I’ll go by your percentage of 75, I just put down 90 because the cast is larger, it’s still MOST anyway) the title remains the same, or it should. AITF is a different situation. The main cast, at least in its last season, before ABP, was smaller. Even with Danielle added they kept the same name. But when Jean left it really ceased to be AITF. She carried more weight because she was one of the main actors from the smaller cast of regulars including Rob and Sally. Bonnie leaves, but there are other cast members who have been on for years to make up for it. When I think of spin off, I think of usually one, at the most two, actors from the parent show who headline it, with an entirely new cast of supporting actors. ODAAT spin off would’ve had one main and four (including Harrington) supporting from the original. How is this a true spin off?

R421 We’re discussing what constitutes a spin off in terms of actors from the original show, not Israel Gaza, ok sweetheart. So kindly fuck off. It’s all in good fun.

If Bonnie appeared in Gypsy she would demand that Rose slap the shit out of June or Louise.

Can you imagine seeing Bonnie in the replacement cast of Frankie and Johnnie in the Claire De Lune? Not only would we get a shot at both fried egg titties, naked as the day is long, but also her ginger minge on display for all to see.

I have it on authority that Bonnie Franklin was the most hated person in America!

I always thought Franklin would have been an excellent choice for Mama Rose - she should've replaced Daly, not Lavin.

And Pat Harrington could've played a very convincing Herbie.

As 70s tomboys go, V Bert was no Kristy McNichol.

The slap-happy One Day at a Time intro

R434 Alex throwing the potted plant at the end--I can see where Elizabeth Berkley got the inspiration for throwing the basket of fries in Showgirls.

A calculated and deeply felt [italic]homage.

Being Mother's Day, I wonder what kind of gif Julie and Barbara got Anne for Mother's Day ? I'm thinking not a Playtex bra.

[quote] It's almost DL lore how Lavin and Franklin should have switched roles but even though Lavin would have been perfect for Ann Romano and would almost definitely have elevated the material, I don't know what Franklin could have brought to Alice Hyatt, especially opposite Polly Holliday's Flo.

Plus the fact that every time Mel looked at Bonnie's tits, he would have quipped "Wreck 'em."

[quote] I always thought Franklin would have been an excellent choice for Mama Rose - she should've replaced Daly, not Lavin.

I agree. I would have left her my big spoon, shaped just like Norway.

[quote]Being Mother's Day, I wonder what kind of [bold]gif [/bold]Julie and Barbara got Anne for Mother's Day ? I'm thinking not a Playtex bra.

I hate Bonnie Franklin - a very divisive entertainment, no-talent cunt.

[quote]Not only would we get a shot at both fried egg titties, naked as the day is long, but also her ginger minge on display for all to see.

Just imagine all the horny guys fapping in the audience.

[quote]Plus the fact that every time Mel looked at Bonnie's tits, he would have quipped "Wreck 'em."

Or "Pick up - two fried eggs !"

Julie would have been over easy.

Looking at random ODAAT clips on Youtube, I just can't believe that Bonnie Franklin got the lead role in a sitcom. She wasn't funny at all. She was a shrill and annoying little redheaded troll and her acting was so hambone.

Ann Romano was always yelling at everyone, they all should've kicked her in the cunt.

And Ann was some kind of Don Draper type at an ad agency? She was more suited for school bus driver or crossing guard, where she could yell at small children.

Instead of "Adam and Eve on a raft!" (diner lingo for two fried eggs on toast), he would shout out, "Adam and Eve under a green polyester cowl-neck!"

Fascinating fact: In the 1972-73 US touring company of "Applause," the part of "Bonnie," originally created on Broadway in her Tony-nominated turn by Bonnie Franklin , was played by...

...Pia Zadora! (I am not making this up.)

[quote]R386 I always found Valerie/Barbara so insipid

A spin-off focusing on Barbara/Bertinelli sounds eminently bland.

[quote] A spin-off focusing on Barbara/Bertinelli sounds eminently bland.

The only thing more boring than the character of Barbara was her character's husband Mark Royer (Boyd Gaines), who enjoyed golfing.

I wonder what’s the most boring cottage industry they could open on the show.

Maybe they become accountants.

But a Valerie/Eddie reality show would have been pretty entertaining.

A val spinoff would have been worse than the Brady Brides. Not the variety hour but definitely BB.

They copied Kate and Allie the last year by having Max and Barbara work at a travel agency.

[quote] They should have brought Julie back AND her father.

Sounds sexy.

ODAAT should've had a time travel episode, where Alex goes back to stab Ann's pregnant mother in the cooch with knitting needles, aborting Ann and changing the course of history for the better.

You may be interested in p 103-117 of Cue the Bunny on the Rainbow, the memoir of one of ODAAT's main directors, Alan Rafkin, who started in the third year of the show.

Though he's clearly no walk in the park himself, he hated BF's acting but admired her total professionalism. He also writes a bit about Bertinelli and Phillips. Read it for free on Internet Archive.

He also worked with one Miss Lavin on Alice and has some choice things to say about that.

[quote]"It's better than pot! It's better than booze!"

But it's not better than coke!

Any other gossip from Cue the Bunny?

I wrote this a while ago on the High Point Coffee Gal thread, but it seems more relevant here. Let’s get this ODAAT cunting thread to 600:

Bacall threw a whole pot of scalding High Point at Bonnie Franklin during Applause rehearsals.

Like Michael Jackson and his Pepsi commercial, Bonnie suffered 2nd degree burns on her scalp, burning her hair off.

Bonnie threatened to sue, and Betty called her good friend Truman Capote, crying and begging for help-Bonnie threatened to take The Dakota apartment and Bogie’s old suits in the settlement.

Queen Capote, seizing on the opportunity to have leverage over a cunt like Lauren Bacall, called up his friends The Paleys and needled them for help.

Bill Paley signed Bonnie to a CBS contract, and had her sit on her bony ass for a couple of years, until he got fed up paying the evil dwarf for doing nothing, and forced Norman Lear to cast her on One Day At A Time.

Later, after the Paleys stopped speaking to Truman, and Babe Paley died, Bill Paley was overheard saying, “not only did that queer kill my wife, he forced me to give Bonnie Fucking Franklin a job.”

So next time a 600 post One Day at a Time thread appears here, blame Bacall and Capote.

PS-Bonnie’s hair didn’t grow back for several years, which is why she has that ugly mushroom cap hair in the first seasons of One Day at a Time-it’s a wig

What is R461 talking about? Is this a true story? Is it meant to be funny?

R461 The DL wig detectives need to get some early season VHS copies of ODAAT to prove your case.

Apparently r461 took "so wop on the beat" (sic) too seriously

r462 It was attempting to be funny

[quote]What is R461 talking about? Is this a true story? Is it meant to be funny?

It was an EST that was meant to be funny. One giveaway that it's fake was the part about Bacall throwing a scalding pot of High Point coffee at Franklin. For one thing, High Point was an instant coffee, not something brewed in scalding hot pots. For another, High Point wasn't introduced nationally until 1980, 10 years after "Applause" opened on Broadway.

R461 tried his best and fails terribly.

R399- Compare HOT and SEXY Lembeck to Boyd Gaines who was like MILK-TOAST.

Lembeck definitely had that gay porno vibe of the early 80s, whereas Gaines had that 'fratboy' Playgirl pictorial vibe of the 80s.

I think I just saw a Valerie Bertinelli taking a break from social media posted on Facebook. She made the announcement so people don't worry about it. Who are these people?

R471 I, for one would be GUTTED if I didn't have a daily update on what dear Val is up to.

Valerie Bertinelli's son, Wolfgang Van Halen looks like he ate the all the Bridesmaids.

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