TMC
01-26-2018, 09:23 PM
http://uproxx.com/sepinwall/one-day-at-a-time-season-2-preview/
Rita Moreno has won all four EGOT trophies. She is a living legend. She breathes such life and energy into everything she says and does on Netflix’s One Day at a Time remake that she wrings huge laughs out of lines and gestures that wouldn’t be funny coming from virtually any other performer.
Even the great Moreno can still miss a line, though — especially if the material is good enough.
It’s an August afternoon on the show’s Los Angeles soundstage, where Moreno and her co-stars are doing a run-through of the second season’s eighth episode, a flashback to Elena’s birth and the turmoil that followed. Moreno’s fellow living legend, producer Norman Lear, is watching from a respectful distance, along with showrunners Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce, director Phill Lewis, other members of the crew, the writing staff, and various Netflix executives. Everything is going swimmingly until Moreno blows her cue, leaving everyone standing around waiting for her to speak.
“I got too distracted watching the scene,” she confesses. “It’s really good!” A crewmember quips, “Someone should put this on TV!”
This isn’t just banter or self-aggrandizement. It’s a really good scene, from a really good episode of a stealthily great show(*), and one that’s learned to pivot pretty effortlessly from broad comedy (in this one, Moreno’s Lydia and Tony Plana’s Berto can’t keep their hands off each other, much to the dismay of Justina Machado as their daughter Penelope) to sincere and sober discussion of real-world issues, as Elena’s blissful newborn days are disrupted by serious events. By the time the episode’s climactic scene has been filmed, several crew members and Netflix executives are audibly crying, prompting writer Dan Hernandez to break the tension by quipping, “This isn’t funny at all! We’re gonna be here a while!”
Rita Moreno has won all four EGOT trophies. She is a living legend. She breathes such life and energy into everything she says and does on Netflix’s One Day at a Time remake that she wrings huge laughs out of lines and gestures that wouldn’t be funny coming from virtually any other performer.
Even the great Moreno can still miss a line, though — especially if the material is good enough.
It’s an August afternoon on the show’s Los Angeles soundstage, where Moreno and her co-stars are doing a run-through of the second season’s eighth episode, a flashback to Elena’s birth and the turmoil that followed. Moreno’s fellow living legend, producer Norman Lear, is watching from a respectful distance, along with showrunners Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce, director Phill Lewis, other members of the crew, the writing staff, and various Netflix executives. Everything is going swimmingly until Moreno blows her cue, leaving everyone standing around waiting for her to speak.
“I got too distracted watching the scene,” she confesses. “It’s really good!” A crewmember quips, “Someone should put this on TV!”
This isn’t just banter or self-aggrandizement. It’s a really good scene, from a really good episode of a stealthily great show(*), and one that’s learned to pivot pretty effortlessly from broad comedy (in this one, Moreno’s Lydia and Tony Plana’s Berto can’t keep their hands off each other, much to the dismay of Justina Machado as their daughter Penelope) to sincere and sober discussion of real-world issues, as Elena’s blissful newborn days are disrupted by serious events. By the time the episode’s climactic scene has been filmed, several crew members and Netflix executives are audibly crying, prompting writer Dan Hernandez to break the tension by quipping, “This isn’t funny at all! We’re gonna be here a while!”