In case you missed it, we here at the Fandomentals love us some One Day at a Time. The Netflix reboot of its eponymous predecessor flipped the script on comedy reboots and served up a critically acclaimed first season. While the show still retains its sense of kindness, the modern day update which included featuring a Cuban-American family, veteran issues, coming out, and more provided a fresh spin on how sitcoms could handle current issues.
It’s no real surprise, packaging the issues of the day within a fun, digestible container has been Norman Lear’s hallmark for decades. This time around the series is helmed by Gloria Calderon Kellet and Mike Royce. They’ve injected a healthy dose of newness (including the wise decision to give the character Schneider an upgrade) while retaining Lear’s signature kindness. The show became especially popular among LGBT fans when daughter Elena (Isabella Gomez) came out as a lesbian later in season one. The journey of Elena’s coming out, not only her own but the rest of the family’s was an open, poignant framing that ended with one of the more powerful and memorable moments of sitcom “television”.
Now we can look forward to One Day at a Time’s second season, as announced today by Netflix with a fun little nod to the show’s original incarnation. Tune in Friday, January 26th to see what the Alvarez family has been up to. Has Penelope (Justina Machado) and her family moved past Victor’s (James Martinez) abandonment of Elena at her quinceanera? Is she still seeing Ben (Jay Hayden)? Is Alex (Marcel Ruiz) still following his dreams of soccer stardom? What about Lydia (Rita Moreno) and Leslie (Stephen Tobolowsky)? Also, will we see Elena get a girlfriend this season? And what’s Schneider (Todd Grinnell) been up to?
Thankfully we won’t have to wait much longer to find out! We can do it FanFam!
