One Day at A Time - Premise

Premise

The show stars Broadway character and former child actress Bonnie Franklin as Ann Romano, a woman who, echoing sentiments common to the 1970s, felt that she had always been either someone's daughter, wife, or mother and wanted to "find herself." She divorces her husband (played occasionally by veteran actor Joseph Campanella) and moves from Logansport to Indianapolis with her two daughters, seventeen-year-old Julie (Mackenzie Phillips), the older, more rebellious one, and the more mature fifteen-year-old Barbara (Valerie Bertinelli). The theme of the series rests on Ann's desire to prove that she can live and raise her children independently. However, during the first season, Ann is courted by steady boyfriend/lawyer, David Kane (Richard Masur).

She is helped by Dwayne Schneider (Pat Harrington), the superintendent of Ann's apartment building who is often referred to only by his last name. His "drop-in" visits are so frequent that he is effectively an unofficial member of the family. One of Schneider's running gags is his attempts to hide that his middle name is "Florenz" (pronounced "Florence", in honor of Florenz Ziegfeld). Another running gag involving Schneider revolves around his fanatical obsession with his tool belt. In the early episodes of the series, Schneider also frequently hit on Romano, employing clumsy double entendres that she breezily rebuffed.

During this time period the show reflected a trend found in other shows such as Barney Miller, M*A*S*H, Good Times and All in the Family in its mixture of a sitcom format with elements more commonly associated with drama series or made-for-TV movies of the week, including multi-week storylines dealing with social issues, including:

Pre-marital sex: Teenager Julie wrestles with the question of losing her virginity when her boyfriend, Chuck, wants to go "all the way" with her. After much self-examination, she decides against it. This subject was brought up in a later episode with Barbara facing that problem.

Teen runaways: In a four-part episode at the beginning of the second season, Julie gets into a heated argument with Ann about how she should live her life as an adult and turns to her boyfriend, Chuck, for support. She and Chuck end up running away from home and having to live in Chuck's truck and then in an old, abandoned home. Schneider eventually manages to find them via CB radio. Julie and Chuck soon find themselves robbed and having to seek aid from Barbara.

Age disparity in relationships: In a four-part episode during the third season entitled "The Older Man," Julie is dating a man more than twice her age, much to Ann's consternation. When the couple comes home from a date very late one night, Ann berates the man, but when Julie gets in Ann's face ("You lonely, Ma? You want him??"), Ann angrily slaps her. (The slap loudly hit full in Phillips' face, causing a shocked reaction from the studio audience.)

Suicide: In a two-part episode during the third season entitled "Barbara's Friend," a new girl at school is overeager in forming a friendship with Barbara and begins hanging around her incessantly. When Barbara shuns the girl because she finally got on her nerves, the girl attempts suicide by drug overdose. Though she survives, it is revealed her problems go much deeper, owing to, among other things, a neglectful mother.

Birth control: When Ann confronts Barbara about "the pill", Barbara says that she's not on the pill, but just wanted guys to think she was. Ann replies, "If they think you are, you'd better be."

Infidelity: Julie moves back home with her new fiance and his friend Max in town. As the two men leave, Ann and the others inadvertently catch Julie secretly kissing Max goodbye and exchanging 'I-love-yous'.

Sexual harassment: Barbara decides to fight back against a teacher who makes a blatant pass at her. She later finds out he made similar advances to a classmate. Initially, the two decide to expose him, but the classmate backs out at the last minute.