Is Ann Romano universally despised?

[quote]Is Ann Romano universally despised?

yes

This should’ve been a poll.

She was only nominated once in nine years. Sad!

I one of the few who liked both the character and the actor.

She was just “too much.”

It was her overblown dramatics, her attempt at “comedy”, her approach to nearly every situation with high handed, moral judgements. Her ego was gargantuan. She thought she was so hot and beautiful, that every man wanted her.

I’m indifferent.

[quote]And yet they refused to hand BF an Emmy no matter how hard she tried.

That's the problem.

She tried way too hard.

Most of the scripts were shit writing and didn't age well.

Damn, I didn't know anyone had such strong feelings about her. I just know her from the sitcom with Valerie Bertinelli and Mackenzie Phillips.

I see no reason to despise the woman.

I was a teenager in the late 1970s, and I bitched then, about Bonnie Franklin. Years later, my sister asked “why do gay guys hate Bonnie Franklin?” It was hilarious.

r10 Okay, good point. She was kind of a dry ass bitch, nothing glamorous. Her hair and clothes were uninspired. Kind of a meh all around.

But I don't despise her.

And don't forget het emoting: showing her entire dental arch whilst smiling, rapidly shaking her shoulders in an up and down motion to indicate peals of laughter, and her trademark quick exhale and audible sighing intake of breath to show her extreme FEELINGS at that moment.

I was a little kid when it was on and I thought she was far too young to have kids that old. Not talking at all about her acting, just her appearance was totally bad casting for me.

I loved Shelley Fabares and thought she was so glamorous. I wish she and Connie Stevens had worked together in the 80s on a fun detective/spy series.

My mother actually hated her.

She was in Portrait of a Rebel: the Margaret Sanger Story. And she was a Walter Mondale booster!

[quote] I was a little kid when it was on and I thought she was far too young to have kids that old.

r13 I just assumed she was one of those sluts who got pregnant when she was 14.

She should have done a love triangle drama with Alan Alda and Ed Asner.

Bonnie Franklin seemed like a nice person. She was gracious during interviews. She was likable; her Ann Romano character wasn’t. The show’s directors should’ve told her to dial it back. Subtly was desperately needed.

r17 Ewww.

She was wonderful in “Portrait of a Rebel.” The director reined in her hamminess.

Ann Romano was 17 when she got married and pregnant. She was 34 when the show started. But yeah, her acting…

That is a very good point R13. How old were those two "kids" when Ann turned 36 on that famous episode?

Was Ann knocked up as a teen with Julie? That could explain her general disappointment with life.

Can we talk about Julie for a second? She was so hot she could have any man she wanted.

She made straight men gawk.

Shows that were hits back then were often the least-disliked show in its time slot. Remember that competition was limited to three, maybe four?, other channels. It might have proven popular with demographics that didn't often have representation. Divorced mother, rebellious teenagers (and their problems really were modern and not like the travails of the Happy Days crowd), lecherous supers, etc.

But BF was so "of the theatuh" she was grating. My family watched the show but I don't think we ever laughed. We hated the way she always ran the five steps to answer the door. Such an actor-y bit of business on a small set. And she stomped on that damn set too.

She seemed like she was always itchin' to start dancing and singing, probably something from Pippin or Hair.

I think the hair and clothes were purposeful, as she the character was supposed to be struggling.

We had less options back then. We grudged watched a lot of shit if we liked just one character. Some people watched Happy Days just for the Fonz. I liked Mackenzie and Valerie so I watched. My mom couldn't stand us watching the show because Ann/Bonnie wore no bra and was "too affected". Mom was right. Her speeches to the girls were pretty awful. Lots of kiddo these and kiddo that. That ginger mushroom cut was no good either.

Those mushroom cuts were in vogue back then. Joey Lawrence and his little bro had one too.

[quote]It was her overblown dramatics, her attempt at “comedy”, her approach to nearly every situation with high handed, moral judgements. Her ego was gargantuan. She thought she was so hot and beautiful, that every man wanted her.

Sounds like Julia Sugarbaker.

My understanding was that the part was based in part on Norman Lear's wife at the time, Frances, who was an obnoxious piece of work. He later divorced her and she started LEAR'S magazine.

I could take her only one day at a time!

It's interesting because Bea Arthur's Maude was also loud, overbearing and affected but most people don't have the same problems with that character/actor as they do with Franklin/Ann Romano. All the qualities that people hated about ODAAT and Franklin in particular are all pretty much recurring motifs in all Norman Lear sitcoms: they are all loud, hyper-theatrical and at times 'too preachy.' For whatever reason, ODAAT and the Bonstress seem to have not transcended bombast that was very much present in all Lear's other shows as well. Quite honestly, I think her persona was just not particularly likable (may she rest in peace).

I hate Ann Romano but I'd love to tap Bonnie Franklin!

Damn it, Julie!

R32 don't you think Bea is a better actress than Bonnie though?

Mary Louise Wilson’s character was a breath of fresh air, for that show.

Her character, Ginny, balanced Ann Romano’s overblown theatrics. Ginny was a brassy broad. She was like a Thelma Ritter character, who told the truth. It’s sad she was eliminated. I’m not sure, but Bonnie Franklin felt threatened. Mary Louise is a superb actress, and a much better one than Bonnie Franklin.

Maude had gravitas. Ann was just loud.

Dammit, r37! High up on the list of things I never needed to see is Bonnie Franklin pelvic thrusting

R35, yes she was, much better and easily able to convey vulnerability without indicating it, something Bonnie could not do (Hold me, David, I'm scared).

I can confirm that her being despised is, indeed, universal.

Ptui. Glop glop.

I guess her carpet didn't match her drapes.

That must be the last time she ever wore a bra, r47

I've always been perplexed as how Bonnie Franklin, one of the most shrill and annoying actresses ever, who had no comedic talent at all, got the lead in a sitcom.

Bonnie gets her tits out on the cover of PEOPLE. Do you think any guys were fapping to this back in the day?

[quote]It's interesting because Bea Arthur's Maude was also loud, overbearing and affected but most people don't have the same problems with that character/actor as they do with Franklin/Ann Romano.

Bea Arthur was a genius comedienne who was truly funny, impeccable timing and delivery. She could read a restaurant menu and have you laughing.

I’m in the minority as I like Ann Romano (and the late Bonnie Franklin) quite a lot. I enjoy the show (well, the first few seasons) mostly for nostalgia. I play it while I clean, fold laundry, write out bills, that kind of thing.

The sitcom was actually developed by Whitney Blake and Alan Manings. Initially it was developed with Blake and her daughter Meredith Baxter so I’m not sure about Norman Lear basing it on his wife.

Someone on DL said their mother thought Bonnie looked like she smelled like dirty pantyhose. Whenever I see a Ann Romano thread my mind goes to dirty pantyhose

They should've killed of Ann Romano and replaced here with Francine.

Mary Louise Wilson hated doing ODAAT and hated living in LA, she couldn't wait to quit the show and move back to NY.

She allegedly couldn't stand Bonnie Franklin but I don't believe she's ever spoken publicly about that.

I can attest: Ms. Romano is despised. And I am unanimous in that.

Always disliked this performer. Even as a child, I disliked her image, specifically and her projects. One Day at Time? Can't watch, won't watch. She tap danced? Tap dancing is annoying and everything about it irritates. Only very ancient black performers like the Nicholas Brothers and Sammy Davis JR. could transform the annoyance of tap dancing into something great.

Wilson did an autobiography where she blasted Franklin as a know it all about anything and everything. It's also known that she was reconsidering staying on ODAAT but Franklin stomped her tap shoes and insisted she stay gone.

What I found interesting is that Miz Romano always hit people when they got too close to her uncomfortable truths but it was never someone who could kick her ass like Ginny.

Teeny,tiny, eyes and an extra wide mouth curled up in the ugliest smile. Topped off with a mushroom haircut. Nope.

HOW TO ANSWER A DOOR LIKE ANN ROMANO

1. Tuck chin into chest while staring straight ahead

2. Lift shoulders while head is tucked

3. Crouch a bit like a long-distance runner

4. Bend knees

5. BURST out the position while keeping head tucked

6. While running, elevate head and shoulders approaching the door

7. THROW it open

R57 So with you about tap dancing. I hate myself for bringing up this doozie but remember when Ann Romano tap danced in a Shirley Temple number dressed like Shirley singing "On the Good Ship Lollipop"? I think it was a talent show or performance at an elderly facility. It was one of the more painful moments in television history Also, while I am on a rant, why did she need to make such a big deal about answering the door. Such a ham.

A photo of the abject horror that r61 is talking about...

Who?

The Bonnie Franklin and Linda Lavin threads never disappoint.

Those of us who were viewers at the time tuned in for Valerie and Mackenzie. Bonnie and Schneider were just tolerated.

The "Facts" set was next door to ODAAT set and Charlotte Rae said she could hear Bonnie through the walls screaming at the staff and crew.

So many empowering and inspirational characters from that era -- Ann Romano, Juan Epstein, Arnold Drummond...

If someone had slapped Ann Romano, it would have been even more satisfying than when Joan slapped Christina.

But it always comes up on these threads and deserves to be said again. If Bonnie and Linda swapped roles on their shitty CBS series, the network might have actually had something. Lavin especially would have made a far more believable Ann Romano and I think Franklin would have been better with a son, but since she slapped Alex, maybe not.

It’s odd that Bonnie Franklin rarely appeared on TV after ODAAT ended. What happened?

Bonnie rarely appeared anywhere after ODAAAT. She was such a cunt saying how much she hated LA, hated TV and was just trying to improve her name value so she could perform on Broadway. She did that hosting job on the Tonys that everyone hated and she never realized her dream. Sob....

Those mushroom haircuts were hideous, especially for men. The very few women who looked good with it were Toni Tennille and Ann Jillian.

Filthy bitch

Again? We had an in-depth Ann Romano Bonnie Franklin thread not long ago

R73 Glad you bumped this thread!

R70, how ironic! She tried Broadway, which is Mary Louise Wilson’s domain. Mary Louise had the last laugh. She won a Tony award!

My guess is although she was physically unattractive with an off putting personality, and a minor talent, she knew who to do to secure employment in a harsh,competitive field. Yes, hoing is a talent. A soft skill as it were.

Wasn’t she a nepo baby?

When I was a kid I didn't understand how a pasty,washed out looking thing could plausibly be the birth mother of an Eyetalian American sexpot.

Really, what could she have done on Broadway? Her attempt at Nellie on one of those Sylvia Fine specials was absolutely one of the worst performances I've ever seen.

She wasn’t a nepo baby, per se. Her father was an investment banker in Beverly Hills, CA. He likely had impressive and powerful contacts in Hollywood.

R68 I think you're spot on. Lavin as a Mom getting chased around by Schneider would have worked. Bonnie in the diner might have called for adding a tougher character to be her counter point. She kind of gets lost their between Flo and Vera. Maybe throw in Ja'Net Dubois or Telma Hopkins instead of Vera.

[QUOTE] It’s odd that Bonnie Franklin rarely appeared on TV after ODAAT ended. What happened?

Because those who run the industry realized she sucked, after ODAAT?

Frog Mouth Alert

I’m no fan, but Bonnie was a Democrat, plus she supported AIDS Project in Los Angeles.

R52 your post is better suited to the "Let's admit things that aren't easy to admit to" thread.

[quote]she knew who to do to secure employment in a harsh,competitive field. Yes, hoing is a talent. A soft skill as it were.

I can't imagine any man wanting to fuck Bonnie Franklin.

Yes r61 & r62 and I remember that Ann made a corny joke at the end of her number and no one laughed. Something about having to return the wig to Abby Rents or something like that…

If you saw her on Gidget or the Munsters, she looked old even as a teenager.

Part of her problem is that she suffered from short woman's syndrome. She saw herself as an alpha but she was bossy, bitchy and mean because no one took her seriously.

R83, exactly with ugly looking teeth. A lizard mouth. No lips and wide.

R50 She sure loved her creamy, perky tits. That cover makes me feel like I walked in on my sister changing. I don't like seeing it.

She never learned to dress well and that sweater she wore was an abomination.

Valerie always looked cute. I had a crush on her I probably just wanted her hair.

R91, liked to play with the image of being a sex symbol which seemed absurd. No one has ever been more sexless than she was excluding Tony Randall. Tony Randall had talent.

You know she told her stylist she wanted something sexy, edgy and cool. He offered plenty of options but Bonnie kept coming back to this deep V number. No one liked it but she probably was so adamant there was no room for dissent.

Didn’t Lauren Bacall hate the cunt too

Where did she say that R70? She got her start on TV and was born and raised in LA and remained there until her death. Here’s Bonnie at 20 playing a teenager in an educational short film.

"Really, what could she have done on Broadway?"

Annie.

She was from the Patti LuPone school of emoting. She would have done much better on Broadway.

OMG that film was so regressive!

But my bra-lessness was so progressive!

Ann hit me on the head with a fondue pot and then proceeded to slap me quite viciously.

Ann was the lead gypsy in Ms. Lauren Bacall's stage triumph APPLAUSE.

I guess I'm the last one alive who actually saw her in Applause. Back when a show would run for more than a year and there would be no understudies the whole cast was in it. If somebody pushed you in front of a subway train you still showed up for the performance. No that's not true people didn't push people in front of subway trains back then.

R79 This is torture. I want to cover my eyes and ears.

agreed R104, that was painfully bad

But the youtube commenters under the video said it was an amazing performance.

Well, whatever she may have lacked in the talent and looks department, she made up for with pure charm.

She's dead, OP. You won. Move the fuck on.

My mother used to hate her whenever she kissed an actor on ODAAT. She’d take her hand and put it behind the guy’s neck, then flip her palm. It was supposed to be sexy but it bugged the hell out of my mother. Nicholas Koster played one of Ann’s suitors. My mom liked him from one of her soaps and it bugged her the way Bonnie/Ann kissed him.

The infamous slap!

Bonnie and Mackenzie were over the top. The Jim Hutton character was creepy.

God, the show is so dated.

Ann managed to get knocked up at 17. So at least she's not as pathetic as Janis Ian.

How old is Julie in that clip R110? She looks of legal age to me.

That apartment is a disaster. Cheap, clunky, drab, and dreary. The sundry tacky knickknacks litter the place. It’s a miserable hell hole of brown and tan.

R112 I'm not R110 but I saw that episode recently and I seen to recall Julie was supposed to be 17, and Hutton's character was 42.

That's what everyone's place looked like in the '70s, R113.

Well it was Indianapolis…dreary city in a dreary state.

I think the apartment, much like Ann’s wardrobe, was meant to honestly illustrate her station in life.

A few years ago I watched Eight is Enough (the Bradford family was supposed to be upper-middle class, I’d posit), and I noticed that characters often wore the same clothes in different episodes. I’m not sure we’d see that on current shows.

Why is everything in that apartment colored mustard brown?

R118 — I think that color was having a moment in the 70s, much like avocado green, orange, and harvest gold.

I'm not sure its an ODAAT specific problem.

This was in 1979, and you can see the same drab decor on the set.

the seventies taught us that taupe and mustard brown are complementary colors.

It's not that Ann Romano is universally despised, Bonnie Franklin is universally despised. She's a total supporting actress who somehow got a lead role and didn't know what to do with it. Her perky/bitchy personality was almost manic depressive and that might have been good as a neighbor who popped in and annoyed everyone (remember Twinks from MTM) but it was impossible to take as the lead actor.

Getting back to Lavin, her hangdog demeanor would have been perfect for Ann Romano. It even sounds like a character she would play. And you can also see her having two daughters who exasperate her all day and yet is trying to hang on. Since it was a Norman Lear show and Lavin did time on Barney Miller, I'm surprised she wasn't considered. And we would have been spared the ghoulish Bergman's opening song with her numerous jazz riffs. BTW, is Lavin supposed to be the "fresh freckled face"? If anything that's Franklin. Well, the freckled part anyways. If Lavin were on ODAAT, which did not have jokes per se and only one genuinely comic performance from a male, she almost certainly would have done better than on Alice.

that is a good point R122. she would have been better playing Schneider. Only female.

[quote] she made up for with pure charm.

R107 what??

She seems like one of those people that truly had no natural acting talent, but read books about it, and tried the techniques she'd read about.

So basically this show should be used in acting school to teach students how *not* to act.

Or dress.

Why didn't they do a spin off with Mac Phillips and her new beau living together? Instead of just letting the show die after 10 years.

[quote] Why didn't they do a spin off with Mac Phillips and her new beau living together?

Because Mac was a drugged-out mess.

Why did Mackenzie shout all her lines to the back row?

^^so she could be heard over Bonnie’s scenery chewing.

Yankee Doodle went to town fingering his asshole stick a corn cob up his ass then sucked on it for hours

R122, the fresh, freckled face was Alice’s son, Tommy.

R133, that makes sense but nowhere else in the song is anyone referred to except Alice.

Can someone post examples of Franklin running to open the door? I can't wrap my mind around the descriptions posted

R135 Do you have access to YouTube?

I went off on a tear but to answer the op question, YES. Despised. I could not tolerate this performer even as a kid.

R110's clip, ugh. Jesus Christ she was so annoying and unattractive.

Hold me, David..

[quote] Jesus Christ she was so annoying and unattractive.

I always assumed Bonnie Franklin was of Irish background, it wasn't until she died and I read in some of her obits that she was actually Jewish.

She did look better when she ditched her mushroom coif…

She smelled funny 'down there'.

R143 I'd hate to be the one to have verified that

[QUOTE] Why did Mackenzie shout all her lines to the back row?

Because she had the same acting coach as Tootie?

R128 - They had that back door pilot for the Schneider spin-off that didn’t go. I think there were also discussions about Valerie Bertinelli having a spin-off.

R146, I'm actually surprised they never tried a spin-off with Bertinellii, I always assumed she was the primary reason for the show's popularity, especially a couple years in, when she cut and styled her hair and wore tight designer jeans. I always thought she was adorable and assumed she must have had a high Q rating. She wasn't particularly funny, per se, but then no one really was on that show. Schneider was the only truly comic character and he always felt like an interloper into a staged production of scripts produced by the local community center's feminist playwriting workshop.

Why was Bonnie not an EGOT?

She should have won the SHEGOT. As in, “SHEGOT to get the fuck off that stage.”

That episode was terrible. No way would a guy who looked like that go for a butch dyke like Che and why was a butch dyke going for dick and that 3way? 🤢

Enough of Charlotte and Harry too. Is it just me or does it sound like she can't talk like she used to. Do those blown up lips affect one's speech?

R150’s post makes sense here with a few tweaks.

Che = Ann Romano

Charlotte = Barbara

Harry. = Mark

Oops. Wrong thread.

One of the most annoying characters on TV played by one of the most annoying actresses on TV

Schneider seems like someone who would drop a Quaalude in your drink if you left it unattended for a minute.

This should have been a Belgian!

Style icon!

The wore those plunging necklines and V neck collars to hide the fact she had no neck.

I think that Norman Lear had a fetish for no-necked women…

Pippa Scott

Bonnie looking dapper in a top hat.

For some reason Bonnie franklins personal checks frequently turn up for sale on eBay.

I like her. I like the show. The first 6 or so years, anyway.

R66 like Rosemary hearing the coven in her bedroom.

^^😂😂

She's tappin' in Heaven.

And saying "Dammit Jesus!"R166.

It's called the "Bonnie Franklin trot" to the door!

Ann Romano and Florida Evans are the two ugliest TV moms !

This thread is classic DL.

Yes r169.

They’re running neck and neck 😈🥴

To go along with R157's post, let us not forget this tour of ol Bon's grave

I didn't watch it, but Valerie B. had Mackenzie on her cooking show a few weeks ago. I wonder if Bonnie was discussed. The last time Mackenzie was on her show (quite a few years ago), Bonnie was still alive.

Valerie and Mackenzie always said they loved Bonnie

[QUOTE] Valerie and Mackenzie always said they loved Bonnie

Then who was Bonnie overheard screaming at on set? The production crew?

She was probably yelling at Glenn Scarpelli. I bet he was annoying as fuck. Notice how quickly they dumped him when Mackenzie got back from one of her rehab stints or whatever she was doing to convince us she was clean.

[quote] She was probably yelling at Glenn Scarpelli.

Alex was a mean little shit.

Cute young kid introduced to show. Could steal fanbase and limelight from Bonnie.

Maybe she felt threatened.

Bonnie was known to be territorial.

I was 10 when Glenn Scarpelli joined the show. He was a few years older than me. I was SO uncomfortable watching him — he screamed gay… talk about a lot of internalized self-hatred.

With a caring nurturer like Ann Romano, gayness should be no issue at all.

Why did Mary Louise Wilson leave the show?

R182 — over the years I’ve heard/read that Bonnie Franklin was very threatened my Mary Louise and her character. Not sure how accurate that is…

I think Mary Louise Wilson said in her book she hated living in LA and hated the TV process. She suffered through the one season then asked to be let go so she could return to New York to do theater. I believe that’s her official story. If there were problems with Bonnie she took the high road and didn’t mention them.

From the show’s Wikipedia:

After Masur's departure, the producers replaced the romantic interest with a comedic foil. That role was filled by actress and comedienne Mary Louise Wilson, playing as Ginny Wroblicki, a cocktail waitress who becomes Ann's neighbor, best friend and confidante. It was an unhappy casting change all around, as the show’s ratings began to decline soon after Wilson's arrival, the character of Ginny Wroblicki proved to be unpopular with viewers, and Wilson herself did not like the role or get along with Franklin.[6] Wilson wrote that "aside from Lear, nobody thought I was funny...To make matters worse, each character, according to the show's formula, had to have a 'serious' moral dilemma at some point, and I was given some problem about an illegitimate child to work out in these increasingly sentimental scenes that made my bowels shrink."[6] At the end of the second season of One Day at a Time, Wilson was released from the show at her own request after appearing in 14 episodes.[6] The character of Ginny Wroblicki was never seen, referred to, or heard from again except in a fifth-season retrospective clip episode.[6]

[quote]Bonnie was known to be territorial.

Yes. She was known for marking her territory. That's why she smelled like dirty pantyhose.

If the Wroblicki character was unpopular with viewers, why did BF feel threatened? She should want to keep unpopular or incompetent people around, to make herself look better. It's worked for Biden.

She was sultry, sexy. What every man wants. Yet when it came to marking her territory she was as fierce as any male ginger cat.

Bonnie Franklin, Shelley Hack, Linda Lavin- 40 years or so since these broads appeared on TV regularly, but to the old queens here they are the stars of today, leading to multiple catty 600 post threads about these ham bones. This is why I love DL.

[quote] She was sultry, sexy. What every man wants

R188 To whom do you refer - surely not Bonnie

[quote]Bonnie was known to be territorial.

She would piss all over the set.

Richard Masur also left early. On the Gilbert Gottfried podcast, he said he begged Norman Lear to let him out of his contract — without specifying why. He wanted to leave immediately, perhaps with one last show to explain David's absence. Lear made him serve out the season, but finally agreed to let him go. Masur said his last request was to have David killed off "so he could never come back," but Lear didn't agree to that.

My mom always watched the show. I don’t think she minded Bonnie Franklin but she really liked Schneider.

Maude was not universally liked and neither was Bea Arthur at the time. She was a New York suburban character who people on this board probably recognized more than people elsewhere.

Blooper Reel from ODAAT. Makes Bonnie seem pretty human, actually. The set seemed like a lot of fun, based on this clip at least.

41:30 at this clip, here's one "Ann Romano opening the door" moment. I wish someone would make a supercut of all these.

Never understood why they had Pale-Faced Annie playing a Sicilian woman.

Even as a young kid I instinctively disliked Schneider. Something seemed creepy or at least "off" about him.

10:00 in - Ann opens the door!

^also at 18:55...

I feel like I remember reading that the original concept for the show had a wacky/sassy neighbor character but that was dropped in favor of the Richard Masur love interest. When his character left they resurrected the neighbor concept, probably hoping for a fan favorite like Wilona on Good Times. Interesting that Good Times later added an intrusive building superintendent a la Schneider.

R200 - Bookman was a lot funnier than Schneider, in my opinion.

[QUOTE] intrusive building superintendent

It was a thing back in that era. Mr. Roper.

These 70s superintendents certainly had a habit of just barging into the apartment unit. That shit wouldn't fly today.

In the 1957 Hitchcock film The Wrong Man Bonnie plays a kid who answers a door and talks to Henry Fonda and Vera Miles. She was about 13 but the face is unmistakeable.

[quote]In the 1957 Hitchcock film The Wrong Man Bonnie plays a kid who answers a door

Please tell us she did the Ann Romano jog to the door to answer it

She's the equivalent of John Boy from The Waltons. People watched the show despite the fact that many couldn't stand him.

Why was she always running to answer the door and then threw the door open with a big dramatic flourish? God, that was retarded.

I can’t believe Norman Lear remade it with Hispanic actors - I thought, of all the shows to bring back, why one of your worst shows?

R204 - Little Bonnie, along with Tuesday Weld

Good God, she looked 30 even then R209.

Ugh she reminds me of Harriet from Small Wonder in r209’s picture.

I know they say that’s Tuesday Weld but having seen pictures of TW as a child actress (with natural hair that’s darker and straighter) I don’t think that’s her.

r198 I just watched some of that episode and then it hit me. She reminds me of Jerri Blank. Is it possible that Amy Sedaris used her as inspiration?

After working with Bonnie in "The Wrong Man," Hitchcock famously said that if she had only been a few years older he'd have cast her as Judy/Madeleine in "Vertigo," but he was forced to use Kim Novak instead.

"Dammit Scottie!"

R214 She'd have been so great in the shower scene in Psycho.

R187 - Maybe Bonnie Franklin felt threatened/intimidated while they were filming/before the episodes aired.

R208 - I think the Netflix reboot is quite well-done.

Am I the only one who thinks Glenn Scarpelli is hot?

Yes R218.

He was quite cute then, although I was just a little kid. He looks handsome now.

Bonnie was given complete casting control on ODAAT. If she wanted someone out. Norman Lear fired them.

R221 Why would he give her complete casting control? Was she his lover?

[quote] complete casting control

Doubtful

Norman Lear was something of a dictator. Sally Struthers was cast as THE DAY OF THE LOCUST but she had to turn it down because Lear wouldn’t give her the time off to film. And don’t get me started on how he treated the cast of GOOD TIMES…

I’m with R220 — Glenn Scarpelli is very cute now. I didn’t find home remotely attractive when he was young.

[quote]She'd have been so great in the shower scene in Psycho.

She'd have been better as Mrs. Bates.

Scarpelli is attractive but I'd go with a different glasses shape. Also the veneers are way too blindingly white

Glenn Scarpelli was insufferable and a bad actor on ODAAT though.

Absolutely. Scarpelli was the younger male version of Bonnie Franklin, all screechy histrionics.

R228 So was Bonnie.

Not sure I ever saw Glenn trot to the door, however.

Which was my point.

Scarpelli was their Seven.

[QUOTE] Glenn Scarpelli was insufferable and a bad actor on ODAAT though.

It's too bad Bonnie didn't mentor him and give him acting lessons, instead of perceiving him as a threat.

I always remember Scarpelli doing that finger spin thing in the opening credits.

I remembered Scarpelli from 3-2-1 Contact, and I really wanted to like as Alex, but I just couldn't stand his "acting." Someone on DL once said he came across as a used car salesman, acting-wise, and I agree with that. He telegraphs everything, and his pouty please-love-me face was too much. On IMDB, it says that he considers Bonnie Franklin as his acting mentor.

R234 Or tap lessons.

Let's all enjoy several minutes of Ann Romano angrily yelling at Julie and one of Julie's many loser boyfriends.

(You have to admit, that mulberry top looked great with Bonnie Franklin's red hair.)

I wish someone would upload the “BONNIE AND THE FRANKLINS” tv special she did in 1982.

Bonnie and the Franklins isn't available online, but I Hate To Exercise, I Love To Tap is on Youtube.

William Kirby Cullen was too hot for Julie.

I never understood-were they broke or not? The opening credits make it seem like they didn’t have money, since Ann drives her crappy old station wagon to what looks like a run down apartment.

But then she became an ad exec with an assistant she could sexually harass? And she never redecorated? You’d think horny old Ann would ditch Schneider and that dump for a swinging 70s condo once she har a little money.

Guys in Indianapolis were lining up to get a shot at Ann Romano's fiery red pussy.

R241 he was far too bland, like Facts of Life carved from cream cheese boyfriend bland.

He was good for a fuck, though.

Julie always had these hot men in her life. Remember that episode where Greg Evigan played the rock musician who originally was dating Barbara but dumped her for Julie.

Probably because he knew that Julie would put out. What a slut.

Julie was known around Indy at that time as an easy lay.

AKA "The Indy Cum Dumpster"

It was Julie's dancing (shown in the credits) which made her so irresistible to men.

No one could whop on her feet quite like Julie Cooper.

[quote] Ann Romano and Florida Evans are the two ugliest TV moms !

Not all of them could be great beauties like some of us, I guess!

[quote]I never understood-were they broke or not? The opening credits make it seem like they didn’t have money, since Ann drives her crappy old station wagon to what looks like a run down apartment.

They were broke when they started out, but remember that was a pretty amazing apartment suite. It had bedrooms for both girls and for Ann, as well as the living room (with that weird back room with all the hanging plants) and a kitchen.

Plus, Schneider was always around to take care of Ann's womanly needs.

How come Ann never seemed like she was having a ball?

They tried to fit these sitcom female kids into "types" back in that era -- lesbian adjacent tomboy, studious but frumpy and unlucky at love, or stuck up beauty queen.

I forget the backstory. Ann's husband left after introducing Jule to cocaine and molesting her?

You can't be sure at all R252.

[QUOTE] I forget the backstory. Ann's husband left after introducing Jule to cocaine and molesting her?

They had some consensual sex.

r252 Well, this is it, really.

Did the ex-husband ever show up to visit or was he like Carol Brady's missing husband?

R258 - He showed up. I think the story was that he had cheated on her. He was also a lot more financially successful, which Ann resented. His mother (Mother Romano) was also featured.

Whoops! Mother Romano was Ann’s mother — she took back her maiden name after divorcing Mr. Cooper. Sorry!

Ann’s exe, Ed Cooper was played by Joe Campanella (pre Dynasty II: The Colbys).

And Momma Romano was played by Nanette Fabray.

She was also Mary Tyler Moore’s mother in her show.

Dammit Julie! Stop fucking your father!

[Quote] Norman Lear was something of a dictator. Sally Struthers was cast as THE DAY OF THE LOCUST but she had to turn it down because Lear wouldn’t give her the time off to film. And don’t get me started on how he treated the cast of GOOD TIMES…

God bless Norman Lear. Unless she was going to be cast in Jackie Earle Haley's role Struthers would have been dreadful in The Day of the Locust.

Ann's ex was a snazzy dresser:

Why did she still need child support when those are two grown ass women?

R266 - The girls were in high school in the early seasons.

That's not one of the early seasons R267. Bonnie doesn't have the mushroom cut anymore.

ODAAT is widely considered the best of the Lear shows.

R269, you forgot "said no one ever".

[quote] ODAAT is widely considered the best of the Lear shows.

R269 - source?

[Quote] ODAAT is widely considered the best of the Lear shows.

By whom?

ODAAT is widely considered the best of the Lear shows *starring a universally despised actress as a universally despised character*

Ed Cooper showed up a few times the first three years of the series. Then he was never seen- didn't even make it to Julie's wedding.

However, he did show up one final time in year seven for Barbara's wedding.

It was odd that Ann had been married to someone so much older than she. And she freaked the fuck out when Julie dated a 42 year old!

The show was great for about 5 years. The final 4 years just got worse and worse.

[Quote] The final 4 years just got worse and worse.

as did Phillips' drug habit

Dammit Julie! Dammit Barbara!

Never mind.

David's about to get inside me.

[quote]It was Julie's dancing (shown in the credits) which made her so irresistible to men.

Was that dancing clip from an actual episode or just something she did for the credits, r249? The move always stuck with me and I probably tried to imitate it as a young gayling

I did the math. Ann was 15 when she first gave birth.

And those two sisters? Only six months apart in age.

LOL.

Bonnie Fuckin' Franklin?

WTF?

That no-talent bitch couldn't scat to save her life!

Bonnie speaks from the great beyond.

Who’s the guy in the blue shirt?

[quote] I see no reason to despise the woman.

We've honed hating Ann Romano and Bonnoe Franklin into a fine art form.

Well that was useless R280. Why didn't he ask her important questions like whether she regrets the mushroom cut, and if Schneider had B.O.

Did Linda L. and Bonnie have an actual rivalry, or did they sort of function in separate spheres of the TV world?

Alice was a Norman Lear production, R284, so its safe to say they at least met each other.

R285, Alice was not a Norman Lear show.

Bonnie Franklin was a natural ally of the LGB. In fact she was brought into STD classes in the '80s to demonstrate how to put a condom on a banana.

R238 I watched the scene. It was actually a well-acted, well-written scene. Bonnie didn’t yell for several minutes, hardly at all. Not sure what you watched.

Valerie Bertinelli’s hairline was almost down to her eyebrows.

Loudly shouting your lines was considered acting back in that TV era. Bonnie, Kim Fields, Samantha on Gimme A Break, etc etc

[quote] It was odd that Ann had been married to someone so much older than she. And she freaked the fuck out when Julie dated a 42 year old!

A hallmark of Norman Lear lead characters was their hypocrisy. That was the biggest joke on "Maude"--Maude and Walter always espoused liberal sentiments, but they often were somewhat conservative deep down (about Florida's place in the household, about Carol running around with married men, etc.).

R282 I don't know why, but your comment made me laugh so much!

[quote]That no-talent bitch couldn't scat to save her life!

She scatted like hell for me one night in Vegas.

*fap* *fap* *fap*

ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop

[quote] Did Linda L. and Bonnie have an actual rivalry, or did they sort of function in separate spheres of the TV world?

[quote] Alice was a Norman Lear production, [R284], so its safe to say they at least met each other.

Bonnie Franklin and Linda Lavin not only had met each other. They appeared together (along with Cathryn Damon) on the Hal Linden Special in 1979.

The remake was HOT and SPICY — like my decisiones!

I must ask again: why did Barbara tie her basketball to the roof of a station wagon instead of putting it inside?

WHY, Norman Lear? WHY?

Why was Valerie B. such a huge phenomenon in the early 80s? Was it just because she married Eddie Van Halen, or was she also an "America's sweetheart" type of star?

R297 - I think the answer is both — she was already America’s sweetheart, then she became even more of a phenom when she married a bad boy(ish).

R238 the Julie and Chuck saga, which played put over 4 episodes, was excellent. Maybe the best the series ever got. You'd be hard pressed I think to find a storyline like that on another 70s sitcom that was as realistic.

Agreed, R299

Why was there never a crossover episode between Alice and ODAAT?

Because Ann was a sour pill but Linda was FEELING GOOD all the time R301. It would never have worked.

Why didn’t they let Bonnie Franklin sing her own theme song?

R303 — I don’t know, but I always loved the ODAAT theme song. I like Gloria Estefan’s theme for the reboot too.

I read that someone suggested to her that her stage name should have been Belle Ende.

R301, Tommy and Barbara would have fucked like bunnies.

Ann would have tried to fuck Tommy and Julie would have shown him how to freebase.

R299, this is true, but again, what baffles me about this show is that it was never funny and it was a sitcom. While the Julie/Chuck thing was groundbreaking in some respects, it was pure melodrama and I never understood why it would be considered suitable for a situation comedy. The show is so weird because it was on nine years and it wasn't funny. Not necessarily because the jokes weren't funny, but like it was intentionally not funny and Bonnie Franklin seemed proud of that. It always seemed like she was saying in a condescending way, 'We're not the kind of comedy that's funny and goes for laughs, we're the kind of comedy that's serious and NOT funny...' It's just such an odd thing to me.

I did like the year the Tony Awards were presented entirely from Bonnie Franklin's point of view. She could always be counted on to make the most obvious acting "choices," so when the voice-over narration began ("I'll never forget my first time at the Tony Awards"), she, naturally, put one finger to the side of her head to indicate "thinking." That was her big problem as an actress. Everything was indicated instead of acted.

It's obvious Julie is the true dancer of the show, from the opening credits.

R310

Holy crap imagine that image in r311 coming at you on a dark foggy night.

Bonnie Franklin took acting classes in high-school and never moved past that skill level.

Oh Bonnie! The world needs you now. President Biden needs you!

[quote] I must ask again: why did Barbara tie her basketball to the roof of a station wagon instead of putting it inside?

Because she and Julie wanted to tie their mother to the roof instead, but Ann insisted on driving. So there was no more room in the station wagon.--something else had to go.

OK wait so they moved all their shit to the new apartment in that station wagon? How many trips did they make?

R316 probably less than a handful. I think the apartment came furnished.

An episode of Truth Behind The Sitcoms featuring ODAAT starting at about 1:02. Fucking unreal that Franklin started controlling the scripts at the end of season 1. Apparently Lear gave her some power, which in turn made her ego grow. No wonder Masur and Wilson wanted to get out of the show. Mac also talks about Franklins indifference to her drug problems.

Bonnie died far too late.

Richard Masur was the polar opposite of cute/handsome/sexual - a block of wood had more charisma.

R 318 Watching a little bit of that show suggests to me that Bonnie Franklin, at least early on, made the scripts better. Or at least inspired them to write better scripts. She complained about the season 1 scripts, and refused to come back for season 2 if they didn't improve. If they weren't about something. And season 2 starts off with the excellent Julie and Chuck saga.

[quote] She complained about the season 1 scripts, and refused to come back for season 2 if they didn't improve.

Dammit, writers!

"We'll write better scripts when Bonnie stops flashing her bra-less tits at us."

Thank you R318 its nice to see at least one person on this thread not kissing Bonnie's ass.

They had to put that basketball on the roof because there was literally no room in the car with all that stuff--their whole lives! It was effectively the same scenario as the people trapped on that Sub last week.

The basketball on the car roof in the One Day At A Time opening is equivalent to the glove on the beer bottle in the Laverne & Shirley credits. Silly visual gimmick to help set the tone of the show

r236 Wow I completely forgot about 321 Contact! Honestly, I haven't thought about that show in over 30 years. Watching the opening theme now (great song about how touching is good), it's an odd show....it was lots of science skits I think? Definitely a show I would watch alone if nothing else was on, but even back then I knew it was a nerdy show and never discussed it with friends.

R297 All the straight young guys I knew then thought she was hot. Or actually *the* hottest girl.

I never really got the obsession on DL with Alice or ODAAT. I was not crazy about either show, or Linda Lavin or Bonnie Franklin, but my response was not to watch them. Did a large number of gay men watch and memorize everything about these two shows because they didn’t like them. Did you all hate-watch them? I know I sound stupid to you but I can’t imagine thinking a show was bad yet knowing every episode, cast member, detail of the set, etc.

[quote]I must ask again: why did Barbara tie her basketball to the roof of a station wagon instead of putting it inside?

Wait, Julie/Mackenzie was a heroin addict who was sleeping with her father...

and how Barbara packed the basketball is what you're worried about?

Remember, at the end of the opening credits in the first season Barbara walks into the apartment dribbling the basketball.

I know that Mackenzie was problematic but she’s a rape and incest survivor. She was first raped by a guy who lured her into his car by promising her drugs…or something like that. Then that disgusting thing happened with her father. Not excusing her behavior but explaining it.

[quote]Then that disgusting thing happened with her father.

Um, it was a 10-year relationship with her father, according to Mackenzie's book.

Where is the info that she refused to do season 2 unless the writing was better?

R329 Its from the animal magnetism of having Pat Harrington and Vic Tayback on on the shows. Every DLers dream.

^ Stow it, Dinghy!

[quote]Is Ann Romano universally despised?

I think there are some villagers in Siberia who don't despise her.

She sang on the Tonight Show when Carson wasn't hosting and went into the audience, which is a no no. She was never invited back.

[quote]She was never invited back.

...for reasons that are well known to her.

Yes r336, THAT ten year disgusting thing!

There was some consensual sex. So what. It was no big deal.

What is that thing Vic wears on his head? Is that what they used for hairnets back in that era?

Mel's hat looks kind of like a rolled up sailor's cap.

In the navy these hats are knows as "Dixie Cups".

Mel always looked like a Navy vet to me - tattoos before they were ubiquitous; knowing how to cook; etc, etc.

[quote] They had to put that basketball on the roof because there was literally no room in the car with all that stuff--their whole lives! It was effectively the same scenario as the people trapped on that Sub last week.

If only the car had imploded on Ann Romano.

If Bonnie left after the first season, they could have replaced her with Barbara Sharma.

[quote]Does anyone believe Kyle and Mauricio have anything but a business relationship at this point?

Why?

Why couldn't that have happened before we had to endure 9 seasons of this abortion?

I don't despise her.

R344 you’re serious? Incest is not a big deal?

Did Mackenzie ever reconcile with her siblings and Michelle? The only one that supported her was Chynna.

You mean like this R352?

[quote]Is Ann Romano universally despised?

Only by people who worked with her, have seen her work, or know who she was.

^ Or smelled her...

OMG, the fetid odor coming from her crotchal area...I can't even...

I can remember in an interview to promote the final episode she said "I had a wonderful 8 years with the show, and a 9th year that was not so wonderful." As I recall, maybe half or more of those season 9 episodes took place at Max, Barbara and Mark's home, and Bonnie was sidelined for many of them. I don't think she liked that. I wonder how she felt about being married off to Howard Hesseman.

I know Pat Harrington was mad at Bonnie. They offered everyone beaucoup bucks to return for a 10th season, but Bonnie put the kibosh on the notion. Pat wanted that payday.

Why do you think the show was so popular that it lasted 9 seasons?

R357, Valerie Bertinelli.

R356 in the Truth Behind The Sitcoms up thread, Harrington and Franklin confirm she wasn’t happy. Franklin said they had a new director which apparently she wasn’t crazy about, Mackenzie had been let go for the last time, which definitely put a damper on the show, and the scripts were getting worse. Plus Ann wasn’t the center of the show anymore. Bonnie and Valerie wanted to move on, but they gave the show one last season.

R357 the show was a moderate hit, hovering around the number 10 spot or close in every season ending tally of the ratings, except the last season when the bottom fell out. Even Mackenzie’s comings and goings couldn’t derail the show, but Valerie was popular, and the ratings were high enough to keep it on the air. It overstayed its welcome, but a lot of shows did in those days.

R359. Thanks. Good facts. Isn’t Top 10 more than a moderate hit, though?

[quote]Um, it was a 10-year relationship with her father, according to Mackenzie's book.

Hold on tight, we'll muddle through, one fuck at a time!

R360 only four of the seasons it finished in the top 10, the rest were 11-18, except the last when it was 44 (my bad when I looked it up last night I thought most were closer to number 10). So the average is less than the number 10 spot, so I think below 10 would be considered a consistent moderate hit show.

There were rumors that the show was super big in the Midwest because the kids knew Mac was super fucked up on drugs and couldn't wait to see how bad she looked in the next episode.

I don't understand why Ann's ex molested Julie but didn't touch Barbara. She was way hotter.

Hates to exercise.

[QUOTE] I can remember in an interview to promote the final episode she said "I had a wonderful 8 years with the show, and a 9th year that was not so wonderful." As I recall, maybe half or more of those season 9 episodes took place at Max, Barbara and Mark's home, and Bonnie was sidelined for many of them. I don't think she liked that. I wonder how she felt about being married off to Howard Hesseman.

And why was Bonnie still obsessed with "rivals" at that point? As a person of quite mediocre talent she should be glad she had that 9 year gig at all.

Bertinelli has admitted she was hoovering as much coke as Phillips was but nobody was watching her.

Well it's her husband's fault R369. He's the one who got her into it. And she only using it for weight control.

R363 Just curious, why were kids in the Midwest more interested in that than kids in other parts of the country?

# This is life, the one you get so go and have a ball.

# This is it. (This is it.)

# Straight ahead and rest assured you can't be sure at all.

I ended it, because they wouldn't let me sing the theme song.

And if that cunt Linda Lavin could sing the theme to her show, why not someone with real talent, like me?

R329 in the early '80s, CBS began to run Alice in the mornings, and ODAAT in the afternoons after school. At 10-12 years old I watched them every day. I watched and enjoyed them unironicly. Alice only during summer vacations and days off, since it was on at 10am.

Ann and the girls became such a pivotal part of my life. When the show ended in 1984, I cried.

Circa 1981, when ODAAT was on CBS daily in the afternoon, I realized the episodes where she had the longer hair were better.

In the earlier episodes we saw her boss Mr. Connors played by John Hillerman. Later we only saw Mr. Davenport. Even though the firm was Connors and Davenport, we never saw them together.

Right before Ann left to start her own firm with Francine, Hillerman returned for one final episode.

Is Shelly Fabares still alive?

I have heard there are some remote villages in Uzbekistan, where Ann Romano is revered as a god.

[quote]When the show ended in 1984, I cried.

MARY!

I remember in the late 1980's, WGN ran Andy Griffith, Alice, One Day at a Time and Welcome Back Kotter from 1 to 3 every afternoon.

Linda Lavin and Bonnie back to back.

^ Linda scats...

Bonnie can only fart

R381 really unfunny.

^ So are you, shit for brains

I miss Bonnie's fried egg tittles

[quote]I miss Bonnie's fried egg tittles

You mean those wrinkled little over well done fried egg titties?

Ann's mom

Don't Mess Up This Good Thing

That's actually not a bad song, r387, save for Scarpelli's vocals.

[QUOTE] Linda Lavin and Bonnie back to back.

I would watch that on eternal loop.

R387 this song is on Janet Jackson’s first album!

Did Bonnie ever release an album?

I can kind of see now that I read more recent posts, why some of you guys would know so much about the show, if you watched it in reruns every day. I watched it occasionally when it was on once a week in prime time. I’m old. I forgot younger people saw it after school. In reruns. It’s a totally different experience seeing a sitcom every day.

(After school we mostly had cartoons. he networks used to rerun shows and I’s see them in the morning, when I was a little kid, like I Love Lucy.)

*the

Ann was even more obnoxious in daily reruns.

And so was her "beautiful" daughter Julie.

I'll never understand why at the peak of their fame, Bonnie and Linda did not do a tastefully done nude pictorial together...

Both Linda and Ann had very full bushes...

The cost of the waxing alone was prohibitive.

[Quote] Did Bonnie ever release an album?

Bonnie never unclenched long enough to release anything

r397 Really unfunny.

wtf is that R399

The Ann Romano trifecta: an unhinged rant, striking a child, and a frantic dash across the living room.

They should've jointly hosted SNL.

[quote]They should've jointly hosted SNL.

Ann and her fried egg titties?

Looking at that clip at 401 and wondering where they even found a sweater that hideous? Wardrobe must have loathed Bonnie

Why is Ann running back into the apartment if there's a gas leak?

^ the writers hated her too!

At least she eventually got rid of her bellend hairdo.

What’s a bellend hairdo?

🔔🛎️or is it a bell bottom hair don't

The thing about Ann Romano/Bonnie Franklin is the powers that be expected the viewer to deny what they weee seeing and hearing.

That woman was flat chested, shrill, small, melodramatic, loud, poorly dressed and saddled with unflattering ginger hairstyles, but the viewer is supposed to accept several facts that defy credulity.

We were told that Ann was Italian, the mother of two tall dark haired daughters and irresistible to men. It is gaslighting on the part of CBS and Norman Lear.

Julie was beautiful, dammit!

Bellend is UK slang for a dickhead. Bonnie's mushroom hairdo made her resemble a dick.

[quote]Why is Ann running back into the apartment if there's a gas leak?

Ann: Hurry Schneider! Barbara is dying on the couch!! There is a deadly gas leak and we are ALL going to die unless you stop clowning and, FOR ONCE, take your job seriously by finding and stopping the leak! If you don't, I will be forced to slap you, and slap you HARD before I pass out and die!!!!

Schneider: Calm down, Miss Romano. I had a big plate of baked beans for lunch but have finally stopped farting. The gas leak is FIXED!

Ann [yelling and raising her hand]: SCHNEIDER!!! I may just slap you anyway!!!!

Barbara [waking up]: What was that horrible smell? Was Julie freebasing again?

Ann: We can't blame Julie this time. It was just one of farty old Schneider's gas attacks!

Schneider [sheepishly]: Sorry Barbara. But, now that you mention it, I did see Julie freebasing in the stairwell.

Sudden explosion and smoke billowing into apartment, Ann seen running fast out the door as Schneider and Barbara collapse on the floor, followed by the haunting pre-credit title:

PLEASE TUNE IN NEXT WEEK FOR THE CONCLUSION OF THIS SHOCKING VERY SPECIAL TWO-PART EPISODE: "Strung Out Julie Fucks Up Again"

What was the point of that episode? Was there an explosion? Did she sue the building owners? Having a gas leak is one of the lamest story lines I can think of.

R410 Short women with red hair (assuming it’s natural but why would you?) can marry tall, dark guys and have tall, dark daughters. It was the daughters looking nothing alike that was a head scratcher.

[QUOTE] We were told that Ann was Italian, the mother of two tall dark haired daughters and irresistible to men. It is gaslighting on the part of CBS and Norman Lear.

And all this time I believe that Ann was the dark lady Cher sang of.

R414 I think Schneider's retarded nephew bravely fixed the leak, while being instructed by Schneider on the phone. I wish I was joking.

[quote] That woman was flat chested, shrill, small, melodramatic, loud, poorly dressed and saddled with unflattering ginger hairstyles, but the viewer is supposed to accept several facts that defy credulity.

The viewer was also supposed to accept that when Mackenzie Phillips was at the height of her drug addiction and looked so horrible that no lighting or makeup could hide it, her character Julie was considered so hot and such a prize that two good-looking men were fighting to be her husband.

Julie was just easy...straight guys want easy, the woman can be an absolute troll, but if it's steady pussy, they're here for that.

The Now Voyager troll needs to do some work with One Day at a Time

Barbara might pass as Italian, but the other two no.

Also, wasn't Ann supposed to be a high school dropout or at best have a diploma? And yet within a season or two she's an ad exec? I suppose it could be argued that the stakes in Indianapolis advertising in the mid-'70s but still it seems much, especially since the presupposition would be that since she doesn't have the academic credentials she must have something else going on that makes the powers that be want to give her promotions to executive, which would mean: great personality, works well with people, attractive...none of those are in any way believable...

Julie Cooper was written in a way that made her popularity understandable. Even when Greg Evigan threw Barbara over for her. And she was actually a damn good singer.

I don't get people who hate the first 4 years of this show. It was great!

I always felt that for a Norman Lear show it never found that hook or that tone that made many of his shows good. No matter who could have played the parts there was nothing inherently funny in most of the characters (unlike Archie, Edith, Maude, her friends, her maids, etc.). The premise of the show wasn’t anything potentially funny.

[quote]I don't get people who hate the first 4 years of this show.

I think it's clear what the audience wanted. Hmmm, the show got canceled a season after I left. Funny....

[QUOTE] I always felt that for a Norman Lear show it never found that hook or that tone that made many of his shows good. No matter who could have played the parts there was nothing inherently funny in most of the characters (unlike Archie, Edith, Maude, her friends, her maids, etc.). The premise of the show wasn’t anything potentially funny.

Well according to what Mary Louise dished the show was conceptualized as a series of interconnected Very Special Episodes. But that failed because the show carried no emotional weight. Because Bonnie and Schneider impossible to take seriously.

Norman Lear was a chaste man. He insisted that Ann and David's relationship remain unconsumated.

The problem was ODAAT could never decide what it wanted to be when it grew up. Was it a youth show like Facts of Life or more an adult-oriented show like Maude?

It was a little bit of everything and a whole lot of nothing. ' And unrealistically presenting Ann and Julie as sex bombs didn't help either.

[quote] He insisted that Ann and David's relationship remain unconsumated.

So who had bigger blue balls -- David or Donald Hollinger?

Bralessness expedited uneducated Ann's climb up the patriarchal corporate ladder. It was a single mother's only way to reach the top.

I’ll just put this out there…

Bonnie was a wonderful actress. She should have won an Emmy several times for her delicious Ann Romano character.

R433 that’s so fucking mean!

I wish I had thought of it first!

R420, I hated that scene. It was so hammy, self-indulging and stupid. Who in the hell talks to themselves, in a monologue, that goes on forever?? Christ, that bitch wouldn’t shut up!

R434 Bonnie from the great beyond

She was no (two-time Emmy winner) Hope Lange.

I just watched R401's video. That looks like child abuse, the way she is hitting that tiny girl on the sofa.

Ginger whore

Yes, in all the universes that exist.

Once I had seen Richard Masur (David) in 1981’s Fallen Angel, I had trouble watching him on ODAAT, or anything else.

[quote] her approach to nearly every situation with high handed, moral judgements

She portrayed a 70s feminist. How else could she have approached the role

After I saw Richard Masur play the mentally challenged supermarket bag boy with a crush on Gloria in All In The Family, I had trouble watching him on ODAAT, or anything else.

Maybe if you saw him naked in The Changing Room on Broadway, you might have problems seeing him in anything else.

R445 what does he look like naked?

Masur as a bratty man-child in Scavenger Hunt is a lot more entertaining than any of his ODAAT work. He was paired with Cloris Leachman so it must have been a toss up of who was more difficult to work with. At least Cloris (probably) wore a bra

I'm 61 years old, and I have NO FUCKING IDEA who "Ann Romano" is. Please just dry up and blow away . . .

Well SMELL YOU r448, and I’ m guessing that scent is dirty pantyhose.

Bonnie, Linda and Susan…troika of television mediocrity.

R448 Then you don't have to hate her.

R450, Susan who? Certainly not TV's Sweetheart?

R452 Susan St. James

Lucci? Anton? Powter? Anspach? Sontag?

[QUOTE] He was paired with Cloris Leachman

Never could get into her. Her name always reminded me a bit too much of Clorox Bleach.

[quote]Susan St. James

That's Susan SAINT James to you, bitch!

Cloris Leachman said that as a child o kids made fun of her and called her Chlorine Bleachman.

*other kids

SUSAN RICHARDSON!

R410. Ha. You nailed it.

But I know Italian gingers. They do exist. Usually mixed with Irish or German. David Caruso or Rene Russo, anyone?

r450: then what the fuck are you doing on this thread??

Sorry, r450: I meant r448.

No worries r462 r463.

I would not hired her.

R448 Yet here you are

Wouldn't hire, I mean.

I can't believe Bonnie didn't get billing in the Applause poster! She was nominated for a Tony for pete's sake and sang the title track. There would have been no 'Applause' literally without Bonnie Franklin.

R468 “literally”

Oh, dear!

What else is there?

Can anyone explain why redheads are called gingers? Ginger itself is brown. Unless it’s because of Ginger Grant.

I think it is because of Ginger Grant.

Danny Bonaduce is another Italian-American ginger.

R468 She has billing on the poster under Brandon Maggart and next to Lee Roy Reams.

Never thought about it before but is Applause the only show where Betty Comden and Adolph Green wrote the book but not the lyrics?

[quote]Once I had seen Richard Masur (David) in 1981’s Fallen Angel, I had trouble watching him on ODAAT, or anything else.

YIKES. I watched this last night on YouTube. Masur plays a childlike pedo (coach of a girls' softball team) who scouts for kids with unstable home lives and passes them on to another creep who makes CP. He was excellent in the role.

So was Dana Hill as his victim — she was an adult at the time but due to some medical condition she looked like an elementary schooler. You never saw body parts but when she would pull down her top and expose her bare shoulders it was genuinely disturbing.

A really grim and not at all campy TV movie from 1981. And I laughed my way through "Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway" and that stuff.

Leigh McClosky in that Dawn movie was hot.

R477 Fantastically disturbing

Ginger was a derogatory term for the Irish used by the British in the 19th century because of their traditionally red hair.

It's a British term, and it comes from their colonial occupation of Malaysia in the 19th century. The Malaysian ginger plant is bright red.

R480 But didn't Americans start using it because of Harry Potter? I never heard it before that. (And I hate it.)

Ginger Spice was the poster warrior for Ginger Empowerment. Fight the Ginger stigma! Embrace your outer Gingerness!! It's a Ginger Spice World!!!

[quote] [R480] But didn't Americans start using it because of Harry Potter? I never heard it before that.

That was about the time it began to be popular in the US. I think the use of the term on a "South Park" episode was actually a bigger factor in popularizing it, though.

In the late 90s Geri Halliwell of the Spice Girls temporarily changed her sobriquet just for the purposes of the US market to "Sexy Spice" (although she was still called "Ginger Spice" back in the UK) because her recording company thought Americans would not understand why she was called "Ginger," since the term was not used here for redheads then.

Let's go back to using redhead.

Where can I get a "Bonnie Franklin's Fried Egg Titties" t-shirt? Redbubble?

an early TV appearance of Bonnie

Not to be confused with the 1975 show, Karen, starring Karen Valentine.

R487=Karen Valentine, since nobody else on the planet remembers Karen from 1975

R485 here

Why is the opening so utterly tired? This looks like it was filmed in the '50s, not 1975. ODAAT looks cutting edge by comparison.

Why does her bike have that prominent flag? Is that supposed to be a safety feature?

Today Karen's bike would sport a prominent Pride Flag. Even if she is not Gay.

Thank you R489! I had a nice guffaw.

Bonnie Franklin was such a troll, it was just unbelievable that Ann Romano was portrayed as this hot, eligible single woman who all the men in Indianapolis were lining up to stick their dicks into.

[Quote] all the men in Indianapolis were lining up to stick their dicks into.

Why not? She had a pulse didn't she?

[quote]an early TV appearance of Bonnie

And even the freeze-frame from the video clearly shows that she was already an incredibly annoying presence, even with that brunette bouffant, before she became a bottle redhead.

She already looks 40 years old in r486's screen cap.

A young and already annoying Bonnie Franklin in a 1965 short (sponsored by Crisco) about a teenage baking contest. Even the way she holds that prop cake in the opening scene pisses me off.

R498 who are the gaylings @ 7:28?

"Karen" (the Debbie Watson one) was part of "90 Bristol Court," three related sitcoms on NBC. All three featured characters who lived in the same apartment complex. Only the handyman appeared in all three series. The other two shows were "Harris Against the World," starring Jack Klugman, and "Tom, Dick and Mary, " with DL superstar Joyce Bulifant. The latter two were cancelled early; only "Karen" made it to a full season.

Bonnie Franklin almost makes Linda Lavin seem tolerable. Almost.

Did Bonnie ever set a tap-dance routine to one of Linda Lavin's scat numbers?

Danny Thomas was a big fan of Linda Lavin's scat numbers.

"Karen" star Debbie Watson later starred in a sitcom based on the movie "Tammy" that also flopped, after which she disappeared.

Debbie Watson was the poor man's Deborah Walley.

This thread is starting to piss me off.

Did Schneider and Ann ever fuck? He looked like he smelled like BO and an ashtray. And of course Ann had the stinky pantyhose issue....

Schneider liked anal. Ginger asshole Ann wouldn’t go for butt stuff, but that smack addict Julie would do anything for $20.

$10.

This thread is fucking gold! You bitches never disappoint when it comes to Ann Romano.

I still don't feel we've answered the question of whether she had an actual fanbase.

Somehow the topic went divergent.

Someone must’ve liked her.

I liked the show, and rewatched it a few years ago… but after this thread I’m rethinking it.

I’d love to know what Bonnie Franklin’s Q Rating was in the 70s.

I would guess people watched it more for Schneider, Barbara and Julie than her.

R491 - along with banana seats and “high” handlebars those flags were popular bike accessories in the early 70s — for kids at least, not sure about Karen; adults didn’t really ride bikes in my neighborhood back then.

Guess we will 600 this thread out, and start all over again, maybe in the fall, for yet another BF ODAAT thread.

An Ann for All Seasons

I can't imagine that Bonnie ever imagine her fame would transcend her lifetime nor the esteem (or lack thereof) in which she is held. I'm sure she's somewhere in the afterlife she's telling Mary Louise Wilson, 'Good talk, bad talk, at least they're still talking about me!'

I’m still alive, ya fuckin’ dildo!

R491 - Those were a big fad - supposedly for safety.

In later years my grandmother would put one on her parked car if in a lot, to be able to easily spot her car when returning from shopping or the like.

[Quote] "Karen" star Debbie Watson later starred in a sitcom based on the movie "Tammy" that also flopped, after which she disappeared.

She starred in 1967s The Cool Ones as the go-go girl who goes off!

Bonnie is up in heaven, clogging away!

R488 I barely remember it but I never heard of that other Karen sitcom with Debbie Watson.

I know why Julie ended up on drugs. It was because Ann was a bad mother!

op I am sure someone likes Anne romano (Bonnie Franklin) just not on this board.

Of course Universal does take in the entire universe and we have not heard from other planets.

Universal despised her. So did Paramount and Warner Bros.

If she was such a great mother, why did her daughters drop out of school and run away?

[R498] I agree with you. The hammy way she's 'stressing out' over carrying a massive cake through the school halls is very 'actory' and the premise is so stupid. Nobody carries a cake in the hallways of a school. She was on a whole different nerdy planet, wasn't she?

[quote]I still don't feel we've answered the question of whether she had an actual fanbase.

You know the Bonnie Franklin clubs they had in most of the girls' high schools.

Watching her perform in musicals made me think of the old Our Gang series. Bonnie is Spanky but without any of the charm of lovableness.

My mom used to feel this way about Anita Gillette.

She has a large gay fanbase.

^^What’s his name and how large is he?

Bonnie's used pantyhose should be hanging in the Smithsonian!

Dear god are you trying to get it defunded, r534?

This board is her fanbase. They know every episode and still post about her 40 years later.

R498 R528 She reminds me of Betty Hutton. She knows she sucks but is so desperate for any attention at all that she will mug and clogdance and flash her tits and slap her daughters around.

Even as a young gayling on the spectrum (before we knew what that was in the '70s) I knew enough not to mimic Bonnie Franklin nor Ann Romano when trying to act normal in public. Barbara Eden, Linda Lavin, hell, even Brett Somers, but not Bonnie franklin.

I despise Ann Romano, but I just ADORE her brother Pecorino.

I've heard that straight teen boys had a big thing for Valerie Bertinelli and that was a big reason for the show's popularity.

As usual, straight teenage boys have a lot to answer for, R540.

[QUOTE] Even as a young gayling on the spectrum (before we knew what that was in the '70s) I knew enough not to mimic Bonnie Franklin nor Ann Romano when trying to act normal in public.

Why would the idea of mimicing her in any way ever cross one's mind in the first place?

Well I heard straight boys had a crush on Bonnie, not Valerie.

^^They wanted to peel off her dirty pantyhose and make sweet love to that ginger snatch.

R538 are you a lesbian or are you M2F?

Since I had a lot of straight friends I can tell you they did think Valerie Bertinelli was hot, and of course Farrah, as well as Adrienne Barbeau. And the chick who played Gabe Caplan's wife on Welcome Back, Cotter. Earlier, Peggy Lipton. And Julie London on Emergency. We only had three networks, and a lot of families had only one TV, so wee watched whatever was on. The one I never totally understood was guys having the hots for Kate Jackson, Though now I can totally see it now, I couldn't at the time.

Bonnie’s Wikipedia photo is creepy. She has the eyes of a psychopath.

[quote]Why would the idea of mimicing her in any way ever cross one's mind in the first place?

I always mimic here whenever I carry a huge frosted cake through crowded high school corridors and stairwells using one hand.

[quote]Bonnie’s Wikipedia photo is creepy. She has the eyes of a psychopath.

And the hair of a Wookie. If those flowers were meant to give her a softer look, they failed miserably.

. . . mimic her . . .

Some posts mention Bonnie Franklin’s read hair as dyed… other posts mention her ginger crotch…

She continued the longtime Hollywood tradition of Jewish actors being cast as Italians.

Maybe Bonnie could have replaced Gwen in Chicago. Dammit Velma.

[quote]Since I had a lot of straight friends I can tell you they did think Valerie Bertinelli was hot, and of course Farrah, as well as Adrienne Barbeau. And the chick who played Gabe Caplan's wife on Welcome Back, Cotter. Earlier, Peggy Lipton. And Julie London on Emergency.

What am I -- chopped liver?

There was an early episode where one of the boys (I think Tommy's friends but he was high school age) had a crush on Alice and she thought she could shake him loose by saying they should get married. Needless to say, it backfired and the kid was thrilled. These are all really weird ideas on the part of the writers and producers.

If I remember correctly, her high school fiancé abruptly broke off the engagement when Alice told him she would be singing "There's a New Bride in Town" at their wedding.

Marcia Strassman of “Welcome Back Kotter” was indeed a dish R546

Gabe Kaplan decidedly less so.

Newly divorced Ann now a liberated empowered feminist would have been very freaky in the sheets. Much like Laura Petrie.

You have to respect that.

Marcia and Kate Jackson were a couple for a while. They were both the dykiest dykes ever.

Kate Jackson had class, she always wore a bra!

"Making Love" was originally a Lesbianic coming out story starring starring Kate and Marcia, with Gabe Kaplan in the tragic rejected spouse role Kate eventually played.

R555 what about the episode where Tommy had the hots for Vera and her straws, and Vera thinks maybe it will work out between them, but Alice talks her out of it. I honestly don’t know how this episode was ever filmed.

Damnit, R563. You made me go and watch that episode. That was not how it played out. Tommy was in love with Vera, and oblivious to how freaked out that made her. The creepy part was Vera throwing him out, locking the door, and getting into bed, and creepy Tommy climbing in through the window to give her a necklace.

Vera went to Alice for advice on how to handle letting Tommy down. Never did Vera think that maybe it could work between them.

Postscript- in those season 4 episodes, you FEEL the frost between Polly Holiday and La Lavin. In Polly's final episode, she barely looks at Lavin.

Nancy McKeon was a better actress than her brother was an actor.

Polly became the breakout star of Alice and was getting all the attention and Linda was PISSED. Linda wanted Polly gone ASAP.

Bonnie would have been so good in the lead role in "An Unmarried Woman". I don't understand why they gave the part to Jill Clayburgh.

"I cast Bonnie as Erica, but, first, she refused to wear a bra, even in the earlier part of the movie BEFORE Erica has her consciousness raised. Then her improvised dialogue in the scenes with her admittedly annoying teenage daughter took a dark and disturbing turn I had not intended, with Bonnie repeatedly threatening to 'slap the shit' out of her. Finally, Bonnie felt using the catchphrase 'Hold me, Saul' would add emotional depth to the blossoming relationship, while I respectfully disagreed and had security remove her from the set."

I just watched the episode when a devastatingly cute Greg Evigan chooses Julie over Barbara. I can't continue.

This thread is dragging across the finish line--there are discussions about Alice and Tommy....

C'mon bitches, let's get back on track and talk about Bonnie's stinky pantyhose.

Rosie liked her

From that video at r570 whoever did her work did a great job.

She was 52 in that video and looks good for her age, but I don't think she had surgery

And so yet another Bonnie Franklin thread on DL nears its 600th post. She remains endlessly fascinating here, even if the rest of the world has forgotten her.

Again, do not get the hate for her. She was perfectly fine as Ann Romano. This stuff about her pantyhose and putting her face on other people I don't really like. It's just cheap and unfunny, and, I don't know, disrespectful and mean. Feels like punching down.

I know, DL pointless bitchery. Whatever.

[QUOTE] Again, do not get the hate for her. She was perfectly fine as Ann Romano.

Then your taste must be in your feet, R574.

she looked so much better in the slightly longer hair in R572 s pic

Everybody, I think we've found Ann's fanbase. It's R574. An army of one.

Dirty Pantyhose would be a good name for a band.

It always cracks me up when the scolds like R574 come on here. Where do you think you are toots, the NYT comments section?

[quote]She was perfectly fine as Ann Romano.

Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. Except for you, because of that one remark. It was a horrible performance, on so many levels. So much worse than Linda Lavin as Alice, and Linda was pretty bad in her own right. How Bonnie Franklin got to star in a network sitcom is a deeper mystery than that of who built the Egyptian pyramids.

[QUOTE] She was perfectly fine as Ann Romano.

Well if the character was intended to be completely grating and unlikeable, then I guess she was successful at the role.

Instead of Linda Lavin I would have liked to have seen what Polly Holiday would have brought to the Ann Romano character. Or Beth Howland and her straws.

Bonnie (may she rest in peace) was just not funny or likable at all. A series lead will frequently be the least funny character (MTM, Seinfeld) but they are either a good 'straight man' or likable or both. Unfortunately, Bonnie was neither. I would argue that Lavin was not funny either, but the character was generally likable. With that said, Bonnie does have the coloring of a natural redhead, so the coloring of the hair was a good move.

[R558] I agree Gabe wasn't what you'd call "good looking", but as a young gayling in the 70's I used to look forward to watching to see his ass in those tight 70's pants! He had a pretty good body (in the early seasons anyway). I wish I knew how to post a link.

In what fucking universe has Linda Lavin ever been likable?

Oh, scat, R585!

R579 no really scolding. I just find it unfunny and gross. Peace.

R583 Did she (or anyone on the show, really) ever make me laugh? No. But she was perfectly servicable and believable as Ann.

She was the lead of a network sitcom for 9 years. Not too many can say that.

I just watched an episode with Ann asking out a client (so unprofessional!) played by Nicolas Coster, and he was pretty damn hot!

You just know Ann did anal.

Ann's antics

[quote]You just know Ann did anal.

But she kept her pantyhose on so guys would think it was her first time.

R592, so did they just tear a whole in her pantyhose?

R593 Sadly, no

Barbara I can't get this semen out of my control top!

You mean

DAMMJT Barbara! I can't get this semen out of my control top!

Someone here is not one of her fans??

That picture at r597 explains why MacKenzie turned to smack. Bonnie takes center stage, looking like a lunatic with the creepy smile and the fried egg titties threatening to slip out at any moment from that hideous sweater, not to mention the dirty pantyhose scent.

She had no choice but to shoot up as a coping mechanism.

R598 Sounds 100% accurate

I want to watch a Lifetime Intimate Portrait about here - what situation created this monster??