‘One Day at a Time’ Preview: A Single Latina Mom and a Sexy Schneider in L.A.
Legendary TV producer Norman Lear is an executive producer on Netflix’s remake of his groundbreaking classic 1975-84 CBS comedy, and the new One Day at a Time certainly honors the spirit of the original series, but viewers of the streaming show should also be prepared for some updates.
The theme song? It’s the same tune — “This Is It” — but rearranged by Gloria Estefan and husband Emilio, and performed by the Grammy-winning singer. While the original centered on newly divorced Ann Romano (Bonnie Franklin), mom of teen daughters Julie (Mackenzie Phillips) and Barbara (Valerie Bertinelli), the reboot follows Penelope Alvarez (Justina Machado), a military veteran and nurse who’s a single mom to teens Elena (Isabella Gomez) and Alex (Marcel Ruiz). Penelope’s mom, Lydia (EGOT winner Rita Moreno) also lives with the fam, and instead of Indianapolis, the Alvarez family resides in Los Angeles.
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“I want to put [Latino families] out there the way we should be put out there,” says Machado, a veteran of series such as Six Feet Under, ER, and Queen of the South. Adds remake creator Gloria Calderón Kellett, “We really try to make an homage to what Norman has done… really, his whole pedigree. Our audiences laugh and cry every episode.”
One character who promises to provide some of those laughs in the preview: Dwayne Schneider, who, in the reimagining of Pat Harrington Jr.’s building super character, is a young hipster (played by Todd Grinnell) who owns and resides in the building the Alvarezes call home. Despite his sometimes clueless nature — like explaining “mansplaining” in the clip — this Schneider will also prove to be an endearing, almost surrogate member of his tenant family.
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But his perfectly coifed head and facial scruff have also earned him a nickname, Kellett says: “sexy Schneider.”
“Everyone came in and wanted to do an homage to Pat Harrington, and there just is only one Pat Harrington,” Kellett tells Yahoo TV. “So we took a step back and said, ‘Who would this guy in Echo Park be?’ And we thought, really, it’s populated right now by young hipsters, and it just came so perfectly wrapped in Todd Grinnell… he’s sexy Schneider.”
One Day at a Time premieres on Netflix on Jan. 6.
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