One Day At a Time/Trivia

• Development Hell: The show was originally conceived in the 1960s, and took more than 15 years to reach the air.
• Ear Worm: If you were a TV watcher in the 70s, you can still sing the theme song.
• Executive Meddling: CBS executives almost forced a name change before the show reached the air, because they were afraid that, with "One day at a time" being a motto of Alcoholics Anonymous, audiences would think the show was about a recovering alcoholic.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: By the end of the show's run, the cast had included a small who's-who of Hollywood, including former teen idol Shelley Fabares, actress/singer Nanette Fabray, Howard Hesseman, John Hillerman, actor/director Michael Lembeck, and dozens of others. Given how many of these performers made one of their earliest appearances in this show, there is considerable overlap with Retroactive Recognition here.
• Real Life Relative: Nanette Fabray, who played Ann's mother, was the aunt of Shelley Fabares, who played Ann's partner Francine.
• What Could Have Been: Allegedly, the episode of All in The Family in which Edith was almost raped, was originally written as an episode of One Day At a Time, with Ann as the victim.
  • The show was originally inspired by and conceived of in the 1960s as a vehicle for actress Whitney Blake and her daughter Meredith Baxter, but by the time it finally went into production both actresses were too old for the roles they had inspired.

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