Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce’s heartfelt, refreshingly frank remake of Norman Lear’s sitcom sacrifices none of that frankness now that it’s moved on from the land of streaming; if anything, its presence on the network that “Schitt’s Creek” calls home is a much better fit. Even the presence of commercial breaks doesn’t diminish its charms.
One Day at a Time doesn’t make us laugh so much as let us laugh. Not to say there aren’t some sitcom-y jokes, but they tend to feel real. ... Engaging cast, smart writing, laugh-out-loud execution.
They are just as delightful and life-affirming as ODAAT has always been. If anything, because the episodes are a bit shorter to fit inside a traditional TV half-hour slot rather than a streaming service’s free-for-all, the show is a touch better. It’s tighter, and the jokes land faster.
Sounds pretty standard, but Lear and his producers, Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce, have given Machado a full-fledged role to play. She is completely believable as a middle-class mom and nurse who is not afraid to keep her kids in line.
The show is nicely written, but just that, and the performances are almost universally engaging. The exception to that is the performance that kicks the whole reboot up several notches: Rita Moreno’s.