Gloria Calderón Kellett on Why the CBS Debut of ‘One Day at a Time’ is a ‘Big Deal’ [Interview]

One Day at a Time is getting new life once again. 

The beloved and award-winning series, which is inspired by Norman Lear’s 1975 sitcom of the same name, first premiered as a Netflix original series. It then moved to Pop TV for its fourth season, and now, it’s about to have its network television premiere on CBS.

All episodes of One Day at a Time Season 4 will air on CBS, which is not only a chance for dedicated fans to re-watch the episodes, but it’s a chance for new viewers to enjoy the series. CBS will air back-to-back episodes on Mondays at 9/8c beginning October 12th (UPDATE as of October 5th: this is a new date.)

I recently spoke with co-creator and co-showrunner of One Day at a Time, Gloria Calderón Kellett, about why that network TV premiere is so important and what she’d like new viewers to know about the series.   

“I’m thrilled because, first of all, Norman Lear started his career at CBS, and it feels like that is the way to reach the most people, is traditional network broadcast television,” Calderón Kellett said of the show’s upcoming CBS debut.

“I grew up on that type of television, and I worked at CBS for many years — How I Met Your Mother and Rules of Engagement — so I just know everyone over there. I’m just thrilled that David Nevins and everyone at CBS is giving us a shot to have our broadcast premiere with them.”

Calderón Kellett said the broadcast premiere is a “big deal” for the show. “We really want to get the word out that if people want more One Day at a Time, the best shot is a home at CBS where we could make the show for many more years and have a proper broadcast home. So it’s thrilling. It’s really thrilling, and we’re so excited, and we want to make more.”

One Day at a Time, like many shows, was forced to stop filming early this year. While the hope was that Season 4 would resume, that’s no longer a reality.

“The rest of Season 4 is not going to happen. Our set is down,” Calderón Kellett confirmed. “What we shot of Season 4 is our Season 4. So now it’s determining whether or not we get a Season 5. So we need to do well on CBS to get a Season 5.”

The broadcast premiere on CBS also means there’s an opportunity for new viewers to watch the series. Calderón Kellett shared what she’d like those new viewers to know about One Day at a Time. 

“I’d want them to know that this is a traditional multi-cam sitcom, but it is in the style of Norman Lear. So he has traditionally for many, many years, been the king of social commentary with comedy and he has done it so successfully on All in the Family, and on Good Times, and The Jeffersons, and Maude — the list of shows that he’s been a part of is pretty endless. And he’s really good at holding up a mirror and having those great kitchen sink conversations that American families are having. This one is through the lens of a Latinx family, but it’s very relatable to any family right now that is experiencing the trials and tribulations of this moment.”

“Penelope Alvarez is a single mom, a veteran. She has PTSD. She is struggling to raise her a young lesbian daughter who’s a social justice warrior, and her son, who is handsome and charming and navigating what it is to be a popular kid and a sports guy,” Calderón Kellett continued.

“She also has her older mother living with her who is a very traditional religious woman. So you have these conversations that are organic to this family, which is a traditional Catholic point of view, and she’s a moderate, Penelope’s a moderate, and then Elena’s very much a liberal. So it’s all great for this conversation,” she said.

“Then, of course, you have, for those that know the original show, Schneider is now the building owner, the landlord, and the handyman. He gives us the white man perspective. He’s a good guy that’s trying. And Dr. Berkowitz is Penelope’s boss and he has become… Both of them have really become members of the family. So lots of laughs and we try and talk about real things too.”

When One Day at a Time moved to Pop TV for its fourth season, it did so in a way that really welcomed new viewers who hadn’t had the opportunity to see the show’s first few seasons on Netflix. 

“It was a reset, and we got to use the census, which is obviously very important for everyone to fill out for 2020. We used that as a way to reset, and we were fortunate enough to have the amazing Ray Romano play our census guy. And it just made for a great comedic scene where you very quickly, if you’ve never seen the show, you get to know who everyone is, what the relationships are with one another.”

Calderón Kellett thinks new viewers will be able to jump in to the show easily, not only because of that reset, but because of the nature of its storytelling. 

“I really feel like the beauty of comedies, in particular, is that if the characters are really well laid out… I started watching Schitt’s Creek starting Season 3, and I knew pretty quickly in one episode who everyone was and who they were to one another, and that’s all the information I needed. So, obviously, I became a fan of the show and then started over to see the first two, but I didn’t need the context of those to enjoy myself. And I think that’s the case with this show, and people can just kind of jump in and understand pretty quickly who these people are to one another in order to enjoy what’s to come.”

Calderón Kellett also spoke to the fact that many Latinx television shows and shows about people of color find themselves being canceled quickly — and what she believes needs to happen in order for that to change.

“Well, I think we need to be given a fair shot. The playing field is not even, and that’s something I’ve definitely spoken about ad nauseam for me. I don’t know that it’s changed anything per se, but I at least want those that are in the know to recognize and start to pay attention to what’s happening. I’m very curious about who gets the microphone. Who is given the microphone to tell their stories? Who is given the microphone to promote their stories? So that’s morning talk shows, daytime talk shows, nighttime talk shows too. That’s commercials. That’s ads,” she noted.

“And traditionally, Latinx stories and stories about people of color in general, BIPOC people, they don’t get the same opportunity to promote that dominant culture white shows get.”

“I think that if we’re going to be promoting, let’s promote everything and then give everything a shot to get seen. And obviously this is a business, but one in four Latinos goes opening weekend to see a movie. We have the numbers, we have the people, we just need to let them know that we exist so that they can see us and give us a shot. And we are not a monolith. We are not for everyone. That’s okay. But I, again and again, find people that Tweet at me, ‘Oh my gosh, I just found your show. How did I not know this existed?'” Calderón Kellett said.

“It’s shocking to so many people that they still never heard of us, because there’s a lot out there. So for me, CBS is incredible because it is just… It’s broadcast TV. It’s access. It gives us so many more opportunities for people to get to know us.”

Calderón Kellett mentioned Vida, The Baker and the Beauty, Broke, and Grand Hotel as just a few examples of shows that were canceled too soon and that were “given a shot” but expected to get viewers too quickly.

“If you want these viewers, you’ve got to give it a second, and I feel like the shows that get a second get to live longer. I mean, even now the market share is so tiny, you’re fighting for so few eyeballs. But even when I was growing up, I remember Seinfeld did not get good numbers the first few years. It took a while, but people just kept it on because they thought it was good and funny, but it was given an opportunity to blossom. I think a lot of shows were given an opportunity to blossom that eventually found an audience, and I want that for my community and for our shows as well.”

“By the way, that’s with everything, right? That’s what dominant culture does too. There’s just so much, it’s hard and I understand that it’s a business and that you got to do what you got to do, and you’ve got to choose some things, but I would just love for some of our shows to make it through and get the type of promotion that some of these other shows get consistently.”

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One Day at a Time makes its network debut Monday, October 12th at 9/8c on CBS. 

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