One Day At A Time (1975) - General Discussion

[cynicat]

On 3/31/2021 at 12:39 AM, Yogisbooboo64 said:

Finally Barbara, who next to Ann was my favorite character.  Her niceness could be annoying af, especially when it came to handling Bob.  I liked her with Mark, he was man enough to call her on her crap.  It was also cool that she remained a virgin until they married.

When it aired, I was a teenager and always liked Valerie Bertinelli.  For the most part, I figured she was a typical teen who could sometimes be stupid.  After watching her cooking show, it's clear that she really IS generally nice, at least that's the way it seems. 

On the other hand, I couldn't stand Ann or Julie.  A lot of shrieking, outrage, and flat out overacting. 

[Snow Apple]

Ann keeps slapping children, even Alex who wasn't her kid. Julie and Alex deserved being yelled at and punished but Ann went too far.

Barbara was also my favorite too. Julie was ok when she acted normal instead of shrieking. Something was missing from the show when she left and replaced with boring Alex.

[Yogisbooboo64]

Saw Dinner at Seven today and both Mark and Barbara were annoying!

Barbara should have informed Mark from the beginning that she had a later date.  And instead of bellowing at her to call her date to cancel I would have given her cab money, drove off and never asked her out again.

I did like him calling her out about the other date though.

 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by Yogisbooboo64

[Maverick]

 Ah Mark, another stellar character introduced by the series.  Didn't he basically kidnap Barbara on their first date?   Having two dates for the same night is a bit tacky, but really if she agreed to go on a date for dinner with someone they really have no right to expect the evening to continue after that.  If she wanted to go home after dinner--for whatever reason--he needed to let the night end.  I know it's supposed to be cute because this is the guy the show hired to be Barbara's twu luv but in the real world, acting like that is creepy.

[Snow Apple]

I agree about Mark. He was disgusting. I also thought of the word "kidnapped." I wouldn't blame him if he walked out on Barbara but what he did was just gross. And then lecturing her like a child.

 The writers of this show don't know how to write men. They are either weak (David, Bob) or creeps (Nick, Max, Mark). They confuse strong with jerks.

[Yogisbooboo64]

While I wouldn’t call Mark disgusting, I do agree that he could be an ass at times:

The Honeymoon is Over – Barbara and Mark live in a rooming house with his annoying roommates, especially Eloise, the heiffa that wore nothing but a towel around everyone.  I liked Barbara reaming them out after another boundary crossed (who in the hell reads notes not addressed to them?!)  And I won’t even discuss them barging into the room at 1 am while the Royers are sleeping.  Barbara should have nipped that shit in the bud right then and there.

First Things First – Barbara wanted to go back to school and Mark acted like a jerk about it.

The Dentist – Because he was nervous about starting his dental practice, Mark whined and took it out on everybody.

[Liamsmom617]

Yeah, I agree. Mark could be kind of a pompous ass, couldn't he? With hindsight, his behavior on their first date (refusing to take her home until the next morning, if I remember correctly) was vaguely threatening, too, although he didn't force anything on her sexually. 

I still tend to see him with the adolescent/young teen lens through which I saw him when the show aired...he is easy on the eyes. However....

On 4/10/2021 at 8:00 AM, cynicat said:

When it aired, I was a teenager and always liked Valerie Bertinelli.  For the most part, I figured she was a typical teen who could sometimes be stupid.  After watching her cooking show, it's clear that she really IS generally nice, at least that's the way it seems. 

On the other hand, I couldn't stand Ann or Julie.  A lot of shrieking, outrage, and flat out overacting. 

OMG, on a recent re-watch, especially the first few seasons, Bonnie Franklin's overacting was cringeworthy. The shuddering breaths...OY!

[Liamsmom617]

On 2/16/2021 at 3:55 PM, Maverick said:

 Antenna TV replaced The Facts of Life with this a few weeks ago.  I knew a lot of it didn't hold up well, be yeesh there's really no one likeable in this.   Schnieder isn't endearing, he's a straight up creeper.   Ann's chauvinistic ex was no prize, but she's a shrew, it's no wonder shrieky Julia turned out the way she did growing up around those two.    David was kind of pathetic is how he chased Ann.   Not as pathetic as Barbara's friend Bob but still.  Barbara was ok (but I seem to remember she got a little annoying in later years).  Ginny was fun, but unfortunately she hated being on the show, hated Bonnie Franklin and Franklin saw her as a threat so of course she wasn't around long.  

 Today was the season 4 premiere where Ed is broke and can't pay child support anymore.   Lots of shrieking and door slamming, as you can imagine.  But...why was this an issue?  Both girls should have been 18 by that point.  Julia, definitely and Barbara close if not already.   Ed wasn't even paying voluntarily as Ann said she'd sue him and win.  I don't see how.

 Never knew that about Bonnie Franklin and the actress who played Ginny (too lazy to look it up on IMDB right now). Can't say it surprises me though.

On 3/30/2021 at 12:51 PM, Kyle said:

Definitely hasn’t aged well. My dad hated it during its original one (though I’ll give him credit for letting us watch it anyway). He did not like the premise where Ann got divorced because she was “bored” with her marriage and uprooted her children. He also couldn’t stand Bonnie Franklin.

Back when it reran in the 1980s, I could tolerate the first five seasons or so, but after Mackenzie Phillips left the show, the wheels fell off. Julie drove so much of the conflict on the show - between her conflicts with her mother and conflicts with her sister. Once she was gone, they really scrambled to find other characters to help center the show: Nick, Alex, Mark, Francine, Grandma, etc. And when Julie returned, it was in a reduced capacity, so it didn’t help that much.

Anyone remember the episode where Ann hit some milestone birthday and locked herself in her bedroom to deliver a monologue do the mirror? Really awful, from what I remember.

LOL!! It was ridiculous. And she was turning...brace yourselves..THIRTY-SIX! 

[Snow Apple]

It was annoying when the girl kept wearing a towel. It's easier to throw on a sundress or robe. But I guess "she's not like other girls."

I liked the actress on Eight is Enough. Sadly she went on to have a difficult life and health issues.

[Snow Apple]

I remembered Ann and Julie being calmer in the later seasons, but I was wrong. In fact, they got louder and more shrill. And by that time, they don't have the excuse of being a single mother or teenager unleashing frustrations.  However, they both have less than perfect husbands to scream and fight with.

[Yogisbooboo64]

We're coming to the end of Season 9, should be back to the beginning the first Monday in June.

God, but how I loathed Katherine!  She's over the top, pushy and annoying, especially in Woman of the House....Barbara should have laid down the house rules the second she moved in instead of letting her take over.

 

[Bumblebee84047]

On 4/14/2021 at 12:13 PM, Snow Apple said:

 The writers of this show don't know how to write men. They are either weak (David, Bob) or creeps (Nick, Max, Mark). They confuse strong with jerks.

Which is such a shame, because in general they hire great actors to play them.  In particular I adore Richard Masur and Boyd Gaines.  Their incredible acting talent is what made their characters at all tolerable.

[Snow Apple]

Mark just get worse and worse. He's angry all the time and dismisses Barbara's feelings. She should have left him when his obnoxious prankster friends overstayed. I don't even blame the friends because Mark never told them to stop. He chose his friends over his wife (and Max and Grandma). And then he has the audacity to get mad at Barbara when she finally pulled a prank of her own. 

[71dude]

Ann moves to London and leaves her aging mother behind? How convenient. Did they even know where Julie was at this time? At least Schneider got decked out for the occasion. 

[Blergh]

18 hours ago, 71dude said:

Ann moves to London and leaves her aging mother behind? How convenient. Did they even know where Julie was at this time? At least Schneider got decked out for the occasion. 

Not to mention that she left behind her (essentially) motherless baby namesake granddaughter Annie behind but the only one who objected was Ann's own 'aging mother' Katherine (the one who was  raising the girl) who the audience was expected to laugh and jeer at for actually wanting Ann to consider someone besides herself before making the move . Oh, and as far as the show was concerned, Julie's whereabouts where unknown from the time of her bolting but she was believed to be safe albeit not willing to interact with her family but Ann wasn't letting that bother her either when she decided to go to London!  However Ann did actually own her role in the finale to Max in having been a contributing factor in Julie becoming a trainwreck (who put her self above even her infant daughter's needs)  so it wasn't entirely without some satisfaction.

[Snow Apple]

Ann probably figured her mom will be fine. Katherine was still healthy, active, and living with Barbara and the guys.

[Snow Apple]

The series finale and potential spinoff was terrible. It may not be too bad if they hadn't made all the new characters "quirky." A mime? Seriously? They introduced too much too soon. At least it wasn't picked up.

[Blergh]

6 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

The series finale and potential spinoff was terrible. It may not be too bad if they hadn't made all the new characters "quirky." A mime? Seriously? They introduced too much too soon. At least it wasn't picked up.

Even by 1984, folks by and large were sick of mimes so what were they thinking?!

[Yogisbooboo64]

On 5/27/2021 at 7:34 AM, Snow Apple said:

Mark just get worse and worse. He's angry all the time and dismisses Barbara's feelings. She should have left him when his obnoxious prankster friends overstayed. I don't even blame the friends because Mark never told them to stop. He chose his friends over his wife (and Max and Grandma). And then he has the audacity to get mad at Barbara when she finally pulled a prank of her own. 

When I was younger, I was Team Mark on this episode.....funny how growing into a woman can change things!

First of all, I hate the kind of jokes at other people's expense, from the guy sticking his head out of the dinner table to nailing Max's slippers to the floor and especially scaring the bejeebus out of Katherine, who ya'll know I can't stand!  Suppose she had a heart problem?  She could have keeled over by the fake snakes everywhere.

Barbara as usual was being nice, at least until the end.

On 5/30/2021 at 12:29 PM, Blergh said:

Not to mention that she left behind her (essentially) motherless baby namesake granddaughter Annie behind but the only one who objected was Ann's own 'aging mother' Katherine (the one who was  raising the girl) who the audience was expected to laugh and jeer at for actually wanting Ann to consider someone besides herself before making the move . Oh, and as far as the show was concerned, Julie's whereabouts where unknown from the time of her bolting but she was believed to be safe albeit not willing to interact with her family but Ann wasn't letting that bother her either when she decided to go to London!  However Ann did actually own her role in the finale to Max in having been a contributing factor in Julie becoming a trainwreck (who put her self above even her infant daughter's needs)  so it wasn't entirely without some satisfaction.

I'm confused by this.

Ann is a grown assed woman with a husband, why would she not take the London opportunity?  She didn't abandon anyone, Max/Katherine/Barbara/Mark are also adults and they take care of Annie so what was the problem?

[Egg McMuffin]

Agreed. Katherine was only in her mid 60s at that point, so it’s not like she needed taking care of.

Ann was self centered plenty of times during the series, but this wasn’t one of them. And I get Ann’s self centeredness much more now than I did when I was younger. Here’s a woman who married and had children very young and never had a chance to live life for herself. I still don’t particularly like the character or the actress or even agree with all her choices, but her actions are more understandable to me now.

Edited June 1, 2021 by Kyle

[Blergh]

Well, I didn't like how almost  everyone was just jaunting hither and yon and barely giving a thought about how this toddler (Annie Horvath) was going to fare- AND making fun of the one person who WAS attempting to put her needs above everyone's wishes (Katherine Romano). 

[Yogisbooboo64]

3 hours ago, Blergh said:

Well, I didn't like how almost  everyone was just jaunting hither and yon and barely giving a thought about how this toddler (Annie Horvath) was going to fare- AND making fun of the one person who WAS attempting to put her needs above everyone's wishes (Katherine Romano). 

Before Ann accepted the position in London, she shared her doubts about leaving with Sam.  It was to his credit by making her see that the loved ones she was going to leave behind would be loved and cared for.  Katherine was just being her annoyingly controlling self regarding Ann's departure.

If anything, JULIE was the selfish one....at least when Ann divorced Ed to become more than Mrs. Ed Cooper she took her kids with her.

Edited June 2, 2021 by Yogisbooboo64

[Snow Apple]

Barbara, Max, and Mark have to work. They didn’t dump baby Annie on Katherine. There were many scenes where Max and the others took care of her. And Katherine loved having someone to take care of. She even tried to treat the adults like children and run the house by herself.

Julie abandoned Annie but the rest didn’t.

[Irate Panda]

This show was before my time, so I am just seeing it in reruns.  I guess I started on the last season because they are now playing the first season and I don’t know how people watched this with all the screeching from Julie and Ann. Man, they were irritating and Schneider came off as a total perv barging into everybody’s apartments.  Also, the lawyer guy is totally pathetic, asking Ann to marry him every 5 minutes.  The only person I like on the show is Barbara.  I did like Schneider too when I saw him in the later season but he was less skeevy by then I guess.  I still didn’t like Ann and Julie had disappeared.  
 

ETA: I didn’t like Ann or maybe just didn’t like the actress, but don’t see why she had should put her life on hold to raise Annie.  Her dad was still around and the others helped.  It’s Julie’s fault for running off.  She could have got a divorce and shared custody if she didn’t want the baby full time.  I’m guessing the actress quit or got fired, but they could have just said the baby was at Julie’s (off screen).

Edited June 6, 2021 by Irate Panda

[opus]

1 hour ago, Irate Panda said:

I’m guessing the actress quit or got fired

Mackenzie Phillips was forced off the show twice due to her drug problems. She ended up gone after season 5, returned in season 7, but didn’t make it through the final season 9. 
 

She’s currently doing well.

Edited June 6, 2021 by opus

[Blergh]

2 hours ago, opus said:

Mackenzie Phillips was forced off the show twice due to her drug problems. She ended up gone after season 5, returned in season 7, but didn’t make it through the final season 9. 
 

She’s currently doing well.

Miss Phillips is currently a counselor for those with substance abuse issues-and, it turns out that, as such, she was considered an Essential Worker through the worst of the pandemic while her former colleagues had few if any options to earn their livelihoods via television productions.  Yes, she's been honest with her issues (including a later backslide) and it seems she's friends with virtually all the surviving castmates including her character's onscreeen husband Michael Lembeck, Miss Bertinelli  and even Glenn Scarpelli (who said she befriended him first thing when he started the show despite her own serious issues ). 

[opus]

2 hours ago, Blergh said:

Miss Phillips is currently a counselor for those with substance abuse issues-and, it turns out that, as such, she was considered an Essential Worker through the worst of the pandemic while her former colleagues had few if any options to earn their livelihoods via television productions.  Yes, she's been honest with her issues (including a later backslide) and it seems she's friends with virtually all the surviving castmates including her character's onscreeen husband Michael Lembeck, Miss Bertinelli  and even Glenn Scarpelli (who said she befriended him first thing when he started the show despite her own serious issues ). 

Yes. And they all  recently did a via Zoom reunion, along with Norman Lear and one of the original producers.

I’ll post it here in case someone who hasn’t seen it wants to

 

 

[cynicat]

18 hours ago, Irate Panda said:

This show was before my time, so I am just seeing it in reruns.  I guess I started on the last season because they are now playing the first season and I don’t know how people watched this with all the screeching from Julie and Ann. Man, they were irritating and Schneider came off as a total perv barging into everybody’s apartments.  Also, the lawyer guy is totally pathetic, asking Ann to marry him every 5 minutes.  The only person I like on the show is Barbara.  I did like Schneider too when I saw him in the later season but he was less skeevy by then I guess.  I still didn’t like Ann and Julie had disappeared.  

It's really hard to go back to some of these old shows if you didn't see them the first time around because you can't help but view them with a different lens.  When I watch now, it's totally cringeworthy.  But at the time, the situations were not as odd as they appear now.  The 70's feel like a thousand years ago.  As for the screeching of Julie and Ann, I can personally say that it was annoying even 50 years ago. 

[71dude]

The old couple in the diner episode always cracks me up arguing about the prunes vs. the cheese. 

[Snow Apple]

The Runaway is the most known episodes but I dislike them and never watch, except for the scene when Ann says "Ok Julie....Don't come back." Drop mike. Exit.

[Irate Panda]

22 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

The Runaway is the most known episodes but I dislike them and never watch, except for the scene when Ann says "Ok Julie....Don't come back." Drop mike. Exit.

I really liked Ann in that scene and I don’t really care for the actress or the character.  Again, this show was before my time, so I’m just now seeing this and the screaming Ann and Julie do make me have to turn the volume down, but I did like Ann didn’t just cave in to Julie.  I try and remember this is a 40-50 year old show, but when it first was on the air was it received as a realistic portrayal of a single mom with teenagers?  I do like it better than the comedy format where the kids always seem smarter than their parents.

[chitowngirl]

1 hour ago, Irate Panda said:

but when it first was on the air was it received as a realistic portrayal of a single mom with teenagers?

When this aired-there were no single moms with teenagers. We had nuclear families or blended families like The Brady Bunch. Maybe The Partridge Family came closest, that I remembered, but Shirley was a widow. Becoming a Singing Family wasn’t really a realistic choice for anyone’s life. I kind of remembered Diahann Carroll’s Julia as a working mom, but I believe she was a widow also. 

Edited June 16, 2021 by chitowngirl

[possibilities]

One thing I notice about a lot of shows from that era is that the actors yell a lot, even when they aren't angry. I really think it has to do with the tech, because there's no other explanation. It sometimes gives me a sore throat just to watch those shows, even though some of them are actually really great.

There WERE some single moms of teens in the 1970s. I had one. My friends had them, too. Way less common than now, but there WERE divorces in that era. And the mothers almost always got full custody, with the dad having something like the kids going to visit every other weekend. My mother loved this show because she DID think it was very realistic.

I even knew two families where the divorced parents shared custody half and half, but that was more unusual.

[Irate Panda]

On 6/16/2021 at 6:17 PM, chitowngirl said:

When this aired-there were no single moms with teenagers. We had nuclear families or blended families like The Brady Bunch. Maybe The Partridge Family came closest, that I remembered, but Shirley was a widow. Becoming a Singing Family wasn’t really a realistic choice for anyone’s life. I kind of remembered Diahann Carroll’s Julia as a working mom, but I believe she was a widow also. 

 

On 6/16/2021 at 6:25 PM, possibilities said:

One thing I notice about a lot of shows from that era is that the actors yell a lot, even when they aren't angry. I really think it has to do with the tech, because there's no other explanation. It sometimes gives me a sore throat just to watch those shows, even though some of them are actually really great.

There WERE some single moms of teens in the 1970s. I had one. My friends had them, too. Way less common than now, but there WERE divorces in that era. And the mothers almost always got full custody, with the dad having something like the kids going to visit every other weekend. My mother loved this show because she DID think it was very realistic.

I even knew two families where the divorced parents shared custody half and half, but that was more unusual.

Thanks to you both for the insight on the culture during that time and the yelling explanation as well.  The only other 70s show I really watch sometimes is All in the Family and I know Archie and the SIL were yelling on that as well.  Gloria’s crying got on my nerves too worse than Archie, her husband, Julie or Ann.  I think maybe it’s the pitch that irritates me. I’m still not sure if it’s the actress or the character of Ann that gets on my nerves.  I’ve only seen the last season of ODAAT and a few episodes of which ever season Barbara and Julie rent the house with their husbands.  I didn’t mind Julie quite as much then.  She wasn’t my favorite, but there wasn’t quite as much screaming, but still didn’t care for Ann, so that’s why I thought maybe it’s the actress I didn’t care for.  I’ll see if there’s anything else online she’s starred in that I can watch and see.

Edited June 18, 2021 by Irate Panda

[chitowngirl]

57 minutes ago, possibilities said:

There WERE some single moms of teens in the 1970s. I had one. My friends had them, too. Way less common than now, but there WERE divorces in that era.

I meant that we didn’t see that dynamic on TV.

Norman Lear shows renewed to be very SHOUTY: All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, One Day at a Time….

[opus]

There was a sitcom about a divorced woman called Fay, that premiered in September 1975,  a few months before ODAAT. But she was in her 40s, and I believe the her kid/s were already married by then. It only lasted 10 episodes (created by Susan Harris of Soap and Golden Girls fame).
 

https://lostmediawiki.com/Fay_(partially_found_television_sitcom;_1975-1976)

Edited June 17, 2021 by opus

[Yogisbooboo64]

On 6/15/2021 at 6:16 PM, Snow Apple said:

The Runaways is the most known episodes but I dislike them and never watch, except for the scene when Ann says "Ok Julie....Don't come back." Drop mike. Exit.

This four part episode is always hard for me to watch.

For one thing, both Julie and Ann were in the wrong….Ann should have stopped with the “I don’t want you to make the same mistakes that I did/when I did this, when I did that.”  How about letting Julie make her own mistakes?

Now Julie?  Sweet mother of God she was an insufferable bitch in these eppies!  First of all honey, until you have your own job and can provide for yourself, you don’t get a say in how your life is run ‘cause you’re living under MY roof so I’m runnin’ it!  Then to have to gall to give that speech to her mother, who she put through emotional hell and sleepless nights?  By the time she and Chuck returned, I would have reamed her out and told Chuck in no uncertain terms that he was no longer welcome in my home.

IMO the episode ended with Ann enabling Julie’s bitchy behavior.

 

[Snow Apple]

Decades later, the same runaway story line was acted out on The George Lopez show and it was still hard to watch. When the daughter came home, she gave the same ultimatum about living her life as she pleases under her parents home. Her mother heartbreakingly but firmly gave the same answer. That she can live by their rules and go take a nap because she look exhausted after her ordeal, or she can leave. That she will not live in fear and ruled by her daughter.

Not much changes when it comes to parent and children dynamics. 

Edited June 17, 2021 by Snow Apple

[chitowngirl]

Ms. Kim said the same to Lane in Gilmore Girls-children don’t make the rules, you may live like that somewhere else.

[cynicat]

Funny, there was a discussion a while back in the Who, What, When, Where?!: Miscellaneous Celebrity News 2.0  forum* about Angelina Jolie giving her mother that ultimatum when she was a teen.  Her mother's solution was to let Angelina's boyfriend move into her house.  Explains a lot.

*The discussion was many pages back  and I don't have the stamina to try to find it

[greekmom]

Loved the series. It was one of my favourite Lear series.  

I always did hate how the writers never gave Barbara a child.  At least they could have tried adoption again after the failed one with Jessie.

[JAYJAY1979]

While Julie could be annoying...when she wasn't on the show..it was missing something.

[Egg McMuffin]

22 minutes ago, JAYJAY1979 said:

While Julie could be annoying...when she wasn't on the show..it was missing something.

It was like Empty Nest after Kristy McNichol left. The sisters balanced each other out. And on ODAAT, so much of the show’s conflict revolved around Julie. When she left, it was like a leg of the stool was missing, and they desperately added all these other characters to prop it up.

Edited June 18, 2021 by Kyle

[Snow Apple]

I have to agree. They lost the mother/daughter and sister conflicts and bonding. They bumped up Katherine and Francine to semi-regulars and added Alex, but it wasn't the same. The spark comes back when Julie makes an appearance even though she was still shrill and irresponsible.

[opus]

50 minutes ago, Snow Apple said:

They bumped up Katherine and Francine to semi-regulars and added Alex, but it wasn't the same.

And added Nick for season 6 and then a husband for Barbara. But of course adding and losing characters is not unusual the longer a series runs.

Edited June 19, 2021 by opus

[possibilities]

I hated Francine and everything about her character. 

[Snow Apple]

8 hours ago, possibilities said:

I hated Francine and everything about her character. 

Me too. I don't watch episodes when it focus on her. I even hate when she just randomly show up in a normal episode just to make a dig at Ann and leave, and Ann is not my favorite person. 

The actresses who play Francine and Katherine are related in real life and both play the most annoying characters in a show already full of annoying characters.

I like Shelley Fabares though. The Donna Reed show was ahead of my time but I catch reruns.

[Blergh]

On 6/16/2021 at 5:25 PM, possibilities said:

One thing I notice about a lot of shows from that era is that the actors yell a lot, even when they aren't angry. I really think it has to do with the tech, because there's no other explanation. It sometimes gives me a sore throat just to watch those shows, even though some of them are actually really great.

There WERE some single moms of teens in the 1970s. I had one. My friends had them, too. Way less common than now, but there WERE divorces in that era. And the mothers almost always got full custody, with the dad having something like the kids going to visit every other weekend. My mother loved this show because she DID think it was very realistic.

I even knew two families where the divorced parents shared custody half and half, but that was more unusual.

FWIW, ODAAT wasn't the first sitcom to depict a divorced mom. That was The Lucy Show (1962) in which her co-star Vivian Vance played Vivian Bagley who roomed with the widowed Lucy Carmichael and Lucy's two kids with her own preteen son Sherman (Ralph Hart). The problem was, aside from a few wisecracks Viv made about her ex being slow or late with the alimony checks (and him being cheap a la Fred Mertz was in another incarnation) , there was really nothing on the show relating to the experience of being a divorced parent. Not only did her ex never seem to even visit their son (not even on the boy's birthdays) but the son never brought up his absent father. Of course, there were very few scenes with mother and son together instead of the five of them in a group setting (or Sherman having interactions with Lucy's younger son)- and those few times there seemed to have been little if any chemistry between the two. Hence, I hope no viewers who happened to be in  divorced families were pinning anything on seeing anything relatable on this show!

[Egg McMuffin]

The kids on the Lucy Show were little more than props, and were completely one-dimensional. And yeah - there was no chemistry between Vance and her onscreen son (there wasn’t much between Lucy and her onscreen children for that matter).

[Blergh]

15 hours ago, Kyle said:

The kids on the Lucy Show were little more than props, and were completely one-dimensional. And yeah - there was no chemistry between Vance and her onscreen son (there wasn’t much between Lucy and her onscreen children for that matter).

True. I know the comedy was much broader in the earlier show but had Miss Franklin not had the chemistry with the performers playing her daughters, I doubt it would have lasted even one season. Of course, chemistry between performers must organically happen and CANNOT be scripted or commanded.  

Still, I feel sorry for any viewers dealing with being part of a divorced family c 1962 who may have been hoping that finally they'd get some kind of representation via The Lucy Show only to have the character's status being barely mentioned much less delved into (as in ODAAT).