One Day at a Time is back on Netflix now and the third season is full of laughter, tears and plenty of heart. Most importantly it is full of love.
ODAAT begins its third season with a funeral. Not Lydia’s (Rita Moreno) because she survived her stroke she suffered in the second season finale, and her granddaughter, Elena (Isabella Gomez), will make sure she stays that way. Which is going to prove hard to do at the funeral when Lydia sees her sister (Gloria Estefan) who she despises. The two will finally bury their differences over their dead relative. How long will that last?
As the season goes, we will meet more family members like Penelope’s (Justina Machado) long lost brother, who is her mother’s favorite, and Schneider’s (Todd Grinnell) dad (Alan Ruck). Schneider wants his dad’s love and approval so much, he will do anything to please him. This will cause him to choose between his real family and the ones that accept and love him for who he is.
Talking about love, Penelope and Schneider find love again. Not with each other, but with other people. Penelope is hesitant at first, but then she gives in. Schneider hides his true self from his girlfriend, what happens when she finds out? Then there is Elena, who is experiencing all the things you do with your first real love with her girlfriend. Something that will get in her in a lot of trouble. She is not the only one who gets in trouble, Alex (Marcel Ruiz) gets caught vaping and Penelope goes ballistic on him.
Penelope is having issues with her emotions as her depression returns. She realizes one of her children is showing the same signs of depression. The two will help each other through these tough times. Soon they will find happiness at a wedding. That’s right someone is getting married!
Meanwhile, someone’s past comes back to haunt them and they are going to need a lot of help. Will they be willing to accept it? And then there is Leslie (Stephen Tobolowsky) the gringo, who reminds everyone everything is going to be OK. That is why they keep him around.
Although that is not why Netflix keeps this heartwarming show around. One Day at a Time has a die-hard fan base who truly love this sitcom. Watch one episode and you will find out why. By the time you reach the third season finale, you will feel like you have been part of this family forever. They have real problems, problems you can relate to and they do it in a way that makes you love them with laughter. There are not that many shows that are special as this one, so spend the weekend binging the series. It is too cold to do anything else. I promise, their admiration for each other will warm even the coldest of cities and hearts.
Before Rita Moreno had a family who loved her on One Day at a Time, no one loved her in the awful reform school for girls she was left at in So Young So Bad. How absolutely gorgeous was the 18-year-old in her debut role back in 1950?
In case you did not know this, Gloria Estefan sings the reworked theme song for Netflix’s remake of One Day at a Time. But for the third season, they are changing things up. The Cuban born singer announced today that she will guest star on the fan favorite sitcom about a Cuban-American family living in Los Angeles.
The Conga singer will be playing Mirtha, Lydia’s (Rita Moreno) baby sister and arch-nemesis. I can totally see that because her and her TV niece Justina Machado have a lot of similarities between them. Plus, I can see Estefan having a lot of fun with this role.
This was not the only big casting announcement made by Netflix today. They also revealed that Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler will be working together on their 2019 feature Murder Mystery. The two worked together in 2011’s Just Go With It,
The movie is being described as, “When a NYC cop (Sandler) finally takes his wife (Aniston) on a long promised European trip, a chance meeting on the flight with a mysterious man (Luke Evans) gets them invited to an intimate family gathering on the Super Yacht of elderly billionaire Malcolm Quince. When Quince is murdered, they become the prime suspects in a modern day whodunit.”
I have a feeling this will be the first of many endeavors between Netflix and Aniston.
While most people use their feet to make their way on the red carpet, Norman Lear and Rita Moreno rode in on a motorcycle like bats out of hell. He might be 95 and she is 86, but they were the coolest people there. Proving that not only is their project together called One Day At a Time, it has the two legends live their lives! Nothing is going to stop them.
Not even, as Yashar Ali pointed out, The New York Times listing Moreno as a guest. She is one of the 12 people who is a member of EGOT. She won a Golden Globe for West Side Story and was nominated for The Ritz that earned her a Tony. Let alone that she was awarded the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. But what do these Millennials know about true Hollywood legends?
While we were upset about it, Norman Lear simply Tweeted, “@TheRitaMoreno and guest.” Proving he still has it and that he is no Archie Bunker.
