Ann Romano- Angriest TV Character Ever?

[seventies_sitcoms]

It seems like Bonnie Franklin was always running around screaming her head off on this show? "Damn it, Barbara", "Damn it, Julie!" What was her deal? I'll bet if this show was made today there would be an episode where Ann goes to the doctor and gets a prescription for Prozac, Zoloft, or something.

[mstewart]

Originally Posted by seventies_sitcoms

It seems like Bonnie Franklin was always running around screaming her head off on this show? "Damn it, Barbara", "Damn it, Julie!" What was her deal? I'll bet if this show was made today there would be an episode where Ann goes to the doctor and gets a prescription for Prozac, Zoloft, or something.

The character of Ann Romano was a head strong and quite high tempered. That's what made the character quite interesting. A matter of fact I loved her snide sarcastic remarks she would make.

Ann sure knew how to go off.

[jamesanthony]

Originally Posted by mstewart

The character of Ann Romano was a head strong and quite high tempered. That's what made the character quite interesting. A matter of fact I loved her snide sarcastic remarks she would make.

Ann sure knew how to go off.

What I remember more about her than her tirades were her various soliloquies about her life- I think it was the first year 6 show where she spends the whole show scrubbing the floor and talking to herself about her life. In a sense she was a very groundbreaking female character on tv, she definitely wasn't a goody goody like Mary Tyler Moore or Edith Bunker or some longsuffering wife like Louise Jefferson or Florida on Good Times. Does anyone remember if any of her temper flares were ever attributed to PMS?

[mstewart]

Originally Posted by jamesanthony

What I remember more about her than her tirades were her various soliloquies about her life- I think it was the first year 6 show where she spends the whole show scrubbing the floor and talking to herself about her life. In a sense she was a very groundbreaking female character on tv, she definitely wasn't a goody goody like Mary Tyler Moore or Edith Bunker or some longsuffering wife like Louise Jefferson or Florida on Good Times. Does anyone remember if any of her temper flares were ever attributed to PMS?

No she was basically a quick tempered person. Julie was the same way. On the four part episode when Julie ran away Ann stated to her that she inherited her temper and stubborness.

You are right she was a groundbreaking character but was not highly recognized as that. The same season that ODAT premired Lee Grant starred in a sitcom about a divorced woman. The show was Fay. It lasted about six weeks. The problem with Fay that it did not show the pain and struggle of a divorced woman that ODAT did. Ann Romano was a recent divorced woman who did not really knew how to handle herself on her own. She went from being under her parents roof at age 17 and right into marriage shortly thereafter motherhood. That was the reason why she left her husband, Ed, because she did not know who she was. The woman had no job skill and level of education was high school. Somehow she manage to get a job as an account executive for an advertising firm (Connors and Davenport) while raising her teenage daughters and herself as well. As you watch Ann develop she end up opening up her own agency and got prettier as the seasons went on. Fay did not show those struggles. Fay was the first attempt to show a female star as a divorced woman but One Day At A Time truly was the groundbreaker and Ann Romano was a role model in many respects to women who had to go on their own with not much skills and somehow manage to pull it off.

Did not mean to go on so long with this.

[Pug Lover]

I always found Julie to be the angriest character on the show.

[mstewart]

Originally Posted by Pug Lover

I always found Julie to be the angriest character on the show.

Julie was just plain drama and thinking the whole world was centered around her. She did things on a whim with no forethought whatsoever. But that's what made ODAT good during the years that MacKenzie Phillips was on the show. The episodes featuring Julie was powerful and made the show move in an interesting way.

[Brian Damage]

I was fine with Ann blowing up. She was a single mom living in a new town. Her girls were a bit rambunctious.

[senor boogie woogi]

Hola!

To me ODAAT was very realistic, and she was a real mother, with two teenage daughters with no husband. This lady took no crap from anybody. I liked the way they did Julie (M. Phillips). Even through the character, you can tell of her addictions and troubles. You knew the character smoked pot, had sex with boyfriends, did crappy in school and called her mom "bitch" under her breath on occasion.

I have also heard a comparison stating that ODAAT was "Good Times" for white people. James Evans would of beat Julie's ass black and blue and would of kept her off the junk (maybe). JJ Evans was a dumbass, but he was fairly respectful and did have a career as an artist. Julie was a basketcase with no direction.

I wonder if Ann liked Eddie Van Halen as a son in law? And how did that mad woman end up marrying Dr. Johnny Fever?

Senor

[pscisme]

Originally Posted by senor boogie woogi

Hola!

To me ODAAT was very realistic, and she was a real mother, with two teenage daughters with no husband. This lady took no crap from anybody. I liked the way they did Julie (M. Phillips). Even through the character, you can tell of her addictions and troubles. You knew the character smoked pot, had sex with boyfriends, did crappy in school and called her mom "bitch" under her breath on occasion.

I have also heard a comparison stating that ODAAT was "Good Times" for white people. James Evans would of beat Julie's ass black and blue and would of kept her off the junk (maybe). JJ Evans was a dumbass, but he was fairly respectful and did have a career as an artist. Julie was a basketcase with no direction.

I wonder if Ann liked Eddie Van Halen as a son in law? And how did that mad woman end up marrying Dr. Johnny Fever?

Senor

mstewart's message is the most accurate in this thread, but the above is definitely most INTERESTING!
a whole lotta truth here, though Ann took A LOT OF CRAP from ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE, just as we all do because we have to in order to make a living and survive in our crazy world=in fact, all the crap Ann had to take was a big reason for her anger.

what makes the above quote so interesting is how the author keeps veering onto and off the set of this sitcom:Julie or MacKenzie?
Dr. Fever or Dr. Sam?
and by the way, Ann never had to deal with Eddie Van Halen as a son-in-law, she had to deal with BOYD GAINES, a bonafide Broadway Musical star!

great job on the messages of this thread-very wacky and very thought provoking. Bravo, Senor!

[mstewart]

Originally Posted by pscisme

mstewart's message is the most accurate in this thread, but the above is definitely most INTERESTING!
a whole lotta truth here, though Ann took A LOT OF CRAP from ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE, just as we all do because we have to in order to make a living and survive in our crazy world=in fact, all the crap Ann had to take was a big reason for her anger.

what makes the above quote so interesting is how the author keeps veering onto and off the set of this sitcom:Julie or MacKenzie?
Dr. Fever or Dr. Sam?
and by the way, Ann never had to deal with Eddie Van Halen as a son-in-law, she had to deal with BOYD GAINES, a bonafide Broadway Musical star!

great job on the messages of this thread-very wacky and very thought provoking. Bravo, Senor!

Thanks for the compliment. I was a very avid fan of the show and of Bonnie Franklin. Which message was accurate. I put two on this thread.

[Plbrown]

Maybe she was bi-polar...I remember a couple episodes
when Ann would talk to only to herself...the birthday
episode, she talks to herself in the mirror about turning
(40)?? I'm not quite sure of the age.

[catlover79]

It's a trademark of all Norman Lear shows - people constantly YELLING. Not that it couldn't be funny at times, but all the time was just annoying. I think Ann Romano could have held her own in a shouting match with the Bunker/Stivics, Maude and Walter, and the Evans family. Bring the earplugs!!

[AB]

And Redheads are usually known for their tempers, so it kind of fits.

[catlover79]

Originally Posted by annball1957

And Redheads are usually known for their tempers, so it kind of fits.

My best friend from high school is a natural redhead. She said to me once, "I'm redheaded, German, and an Aries - that's the TRIPLE CROWN of tempers!!" She's right, too!

[mstewart]

Originally Posted by catlover79

It's a trademark of all Norman Lear shows - people constantly YELLING. Not that it couldn't be funny at times, but all the time was just annoying. I think Ann Romano could have held her own in a shouting match with the Bunker/Stivics, Maude and Walter, and the Evans family. Bring the earplugs!!

I wanted to see Ann Romano go at it with Archie Bunker, George Jefferson (the first four season of the Jeffersons), Willona Woods and Maude Findlay. The latter would had been the ultimate battle.