Do you think Bonnie Franklin hurt the show?

[Anna Karenina]

Damn it, TMC!

Are you currently reading the same thread on another site that I am about Miss Franklin? LOL.



It is mean but hilarious.

[rusty spike]

I think that she hurt the show because her character of Ann was unable to evolve as the show went on.

Also, had the show continued for two more seasons; wouldn't Bonnie demand a raise as the star of her show? With falling ratings, I think the right decision was to cancel the show because it had run its course.

[AMackII]

Not Exactly. I think she did help the show as the lead character

[TMC]

Originally Posted by rusty spike

I think that she hurt the show because her character of Ann was unable to evolve as the show went on.

Also, had the show continued for two more seasons; wouldn't Bonnie demand a raise as the star of her show? With falling ratings, I think the right decision was to cancel the show because it had run its course.

Did Bonnie Franklin/Ann Romano show any sense of maternal instinct and chemistry? I mean the character was often so shrill that it was almost as if her daughters were her sisters, her competition (in effect). She just often seemed bossy, aggressive and unpleasant instead of say, more dejected and understanding.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Smiley13

IMO she hurt the show. Ann was an obnoxious and annoying character. The constant yelling was ridiculous. What did this woman have to be so angry about? She is the one who walked on on a nice life and disrupted her family.

Bonnie Franklin's style of acting was simply put, not suited for a sitcom at all. She acted as thought she was still on a Broadway stage, "projecting" with her voice and mannerisms for all she was worth.

[opus]

I still don’t get this question. The show was a major hit, had big ratings mostly throughout, and ran 9 seasons. Would it have been even bigger with someone else?

[icecream]

Originally Posted by TMC

5. Creators wanted to do 2 more seasons but BONNIE DECIDED 9 years was "enough." Screw the other actors opinions!

Screw the facts! Valerie wanted it to end as well.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by opus

I still don’t get this question. The show was a major hit, had big ratings mostly throughout, and ran 9 seasons. Would it have been even bigger with someone else?

I guess a better question would have been......did she play a role in the show lasting longer?

[CJMD03]

I never thought she was really wanted again on a primetime show. She was pretty dreadful when she was on daytime’s Young and Restless.

[TMC]

Was Ann Romano from ‘One Day at a Time’ one of the most irritating characters in TV history?

Question: Was Ann Romano from ‘One Day at a Time’ one of the most irritating characters in TV history?

Oh yes.

In fact, despite having NINE seasons and 209 individual episodes, the writing staff was never able to explain why a man wanted to be romantic with her…and things never seemed to get to that point anyway.

Let’s review:

1. If you were a certain type of man, you weren’t closing the deal with Ms. Romano - David, her divorce attorney and the first man she dated following her divorce (Irony?) got all the way to getting engaged with her and he never spent the night or even got a quick tugger in the car. Basically she was chaste woman with two daughters and the producers tried to sell that one for 10 years. And they partially succeeded.
2. Ann Romano wouldn’t let **** go - If she got a bur underneath her saddle, she’d not only complain till it was removed, she complain that it ever go there in the first place. If you watch the series now nearly 40 years after it’s left the air, you realize that when she wasn’t complaining she really wasn’t saying too much.
3. Ann was a busybody - “Mind Your Own Business” was not a concept that she could relate to and it certainly didn’t represent to she acted and reacted during the series. Ann was up in everybody’s business, whether she was helpful or not.
4. Ann sucked at concealing her body language - Basically, what she was thinking (which seemed to consist mostly of a complaint or a sarcastic/snide comment) was what you could discern was coming your way simply looking at her stance and her crossed arms. For some who was a parent, Ann didn’t seem to have the whole thing down pat and even before she said anything, her disappointment wafted off of her like a sour fragrance.
5. Ann Romano was the LEAST funny character in what supposed to be a sitcom - When she stopped whining long enough to have a mature or substantive conversation, it was rarely a joke and always a scripted. The character was so unfunny that you almost felt sorry for her. Until…well…almost. Basically the least interesting person in a sitcom is usually the dullest or the most irritating.

Were there more irritating characters in the history of North American television?

Certainly.

Mrs. Kravitz, Dr. Bellows, Sheldon Cooper, Cousin Oliver, etc.

However Ann Romano was an unlikable character who managed to become even less likeable as the show wore on. In what has to be a unique achievement, her character hasn’t improved over time and in many ways is worse when viewed NOW (2025) than she was fifty years ago.

Ann with her trademark suspicious look….

[TMC]

One Day at a Time season 7

Although there were additional principals in the early years (Pat Harrington Jr. as building super Dwayne Schneider, who stuck around for the entire run; Richard Masur as Ann’s divorce attorney and boyfriend, David Kane, written off after 22 episodes; and Mary Louise Wilson as Ginny Wroblicki, the wisecracking neighbor, who lasted a mere 17), the primary focus was on Bonnie Franklin as Ann, Mackenzie Phillips as Julie and Valerie Bertinelli as Barbara. They were all three of them pretty awful, at least to start. Bertinelli was so green that the producers had her take acting lessons after the first season. Phillips had a raw, nervy vitality, but her performing style — if you can even call it that — was undisciplined and unfocused. And then there was Franklin. She had pluck and sincerity and occasional warmth — and not much else. As an actress, she was a mass of contradictions, few of them flattering. Her face was both round and rubbery, her body language at once obvious and curious. She could go from 0 to 100 in the bat of an eye, but struggled with all the digits in between. She didn’t so much process emotions as arrive at them, often clumsily — and ostentatiously, as if announcing, “Here I am being concerned.” “Here I am being furious.” It’s probably tacky to note that Franklin, prior to being cast as Ann Romano, had enjoyed her greatest acclaim informing a Broadway audience, “What is it that we’re living for? Applause, applause” — but it’s also sort of inescapable. On the One Day at a Time soundstage, at least in those early years, that still seems to be her MO. Everything seems designed for maximum effect. If one were to be charitable, one could call her acting choices bold, but that does a disservice to all the genuinely intrepid performances to come out of the ’70s — especially from the Lear shows. Offhand, I can’t think of a Lear-show performance so brash yet so unsubtle. Or so inconsistent. For every moment Franklin manages well, you can point to two other bits she doesn’t pull off at all. (She’s especially bad at things that are straight out of Acting 101 – e.g., Ann has a cold, Ann dissolves into laughter.)

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Smiley13

IMO she hurt the show. Ann was an obnoxious and annoying character. The constant yelling was ridiculous. What did this woman have to be so angry about? She is the one who walked on on a nice life and disrupted her family.

I never realized what exactly was it that people had an issue (if you want to call it that) with Bonnie Franklin's acting style or on-screen performance as Ann Romano until I read something that summarized or described her whole vibe. That "vibe" being that nagging, edge-of-your-seat tension where the character's (or actor or actress's) energy just grates, even if it's not outright villainous.

[RetroTVNitekatt]

Originally Posted by Brian Damage

I don't think she necessarily hurt ODAAT, but she was too angry a lot of times. I read an old article where she credits the late Carroll O'Conner for telling her to speak up if she didn't like something about the scripts.

And look where that got O'Conner - Years of butting heads with Norman Lear, (Who thretened to kill off Archie, and eventually did kill off James on "Good Times" because John Amos was another actor who dared to speak up!) and then After 11 1/2 seasons, CBS was sick of dealing with O'Conner as well,and cancled "Archie Bunker's Place" after it's 4th season with decent rattings! (#22 with an 18 share!)

Look at the last season of ODAAT - Bonnie is basicly phoning it in most of the time (and she's only in 20 of the 22 episodes), not to mention CBS moving the show around, not even aring reruns some weeks...and then running it against a top 20 show ("Fall Guy") paried with a left-over show ("Mama Malone") that they needed to burn off. CBS just gave up... (and Mac falling "off the wagon", causing CBS to slot in a "Jefferson's" rerun at the last minute very early in the season didn't help things either!) Truth is, the final season was a mess... (and CBS's fears came true with Mac's issues screwing things up!)

Is it any wonder they didn't pick up "Another Man's Shoes" for the spin-off!

Frankly, There were BETTER actress who could have played Ann...and the one top of my list is Patty Duke-Astin...ok, she's two years younger than Bonnie, but then Ann was slightly older than Bonnie (who was 31 when the show started, and Ann was clearly a little bit older based on the girl's ages!) anyway...and I think Patty could have also passed for slightly older as well.