“Officially, it’s over”. With these words Gloria Calderón-Kellet confirmed that ‘Day to day‘(‘ One day at a time ‘) will not have season 5. After an unsuccessful search for a new chain or platform, the doubly canceled Netflix and Pop TV comedy stayed in 46 great, and even necessary, episodes.
And it is a shame not because of the fact that one more series of so many is canceled – one more good series, also of so many that exist – but because its cancellation it is a thrust at a way of understanding television as a medium from you to you. Not everyone we put in our living room and the same with television. And that is understood by the series to make a type of fiction that is as old-fashioned on a technical and formal level as it is relevant and emotional on a discursive and thematic level.
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During its short life it was a sitcom that, If it weren’t for the songs they played, it seemed straight out of the early 90’s… or even before. Because, let’s face it, talking about a multi-camera series recorded with a live audience is talking about something apparently out of date in the era of prestigious television, or peak TV. It does not matter that it is still a widely used method today, especially in networks like CBS.
But beyond the “old-fashioned” aspect that we could blame on the walls of the Álvarez family home we found great comfort. A moment to laugh, another to be touched and another to cry with the triumphs and tragedies of Penelope (Justina Machado), her daughter Elena (Isabella Gómez), her son Alex (Marcel Ruiz), and her mother Lydia (Rita Moreno).
The Norman Lear tradition, today
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And it is that ‘Day by day’ collects the long tradition of Family and social sitcoms from a TV giant, Norman Lear. Not in vain is he not only one of the transformers of the genre back in the seventies of the twentieth century but he also developed the original series, issued between 1975 and 1984, and his producing arm got down to work with this reboot.
One of the big concerns of the superproducer was dealing with social issues in his comedies. With greater or less skill when representing him, his series (mainly ‘Todo en familia’) made room for plots about equality in matters of sex, race and, more daring in his time, sexual orientation and even the visibility was given to the transgender population.
All this encapsulated in the schemes and pillars of what today we consider the most classic sitcom. Schemes without which, On the other hand, today we would not have ‘Modern Family‘ni’The Middle‘nor so many great family sitcoms in which those songs were already standard.
The themes, in the center
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With ‘Día a día’ something happens that means that even in an era in which all these diverse themes and roles are assumed in sitcoms, that of Calderón-Kellet does not use them as mere springs and seasoning ingredients. It is not one of those series that is considered diverse because its co-star is an Indian, black, homosexual or its main character is a woman. It is a series aware of who has at its center and that they dedicate themselves, laughing, to exploring that.
Perhaps we could talk about three major issues that stand out as the hours are distributed. On the one hand there is the general theme of being a Latino family living in the United States and how much as the mother is a veteran of the army, they have to deal with a certain rejection and intolerance while wanting to keep their roots.
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Another lies in the figure of Penelope, who suffers from anxiety and post-traumatic stress, something with which she will have to learn to live. She and her family. Speaking of family, Elena, the eldest daughter, lives a great journey of sexual identity throughout the seasons and gender. These songs make up a wonderful trio that, to a greater or lesser extent, make up the most emotional moments of the series. Both at a level of tenderness and joy as well as breaking our hearts.
Why ‘Day by day’ appeals to the heart and home understood as that ideal refuge where we feel safe no matter how many problems we have. We could call it a happy place. Yes. But it is also a home whose closure hurts a way of understanding comedy as a means of telling about world problems.
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