I did not arrive at the Saban Media Center at the Television Academy in North Hollywood on Saturday expecting to be emotional. The event was a Table Read of the final three episodes of season four of the One Day at a Time revival. COVID-19 shut down production, and the show was canceled, so these episodes never got made, and we were deprived of one of the best traditional sitcoms of the last decade and one most reflective of Norman Lear’s creative principles.
I started crying during the introduction video.
Lear has long been an inspiration of mine, and that love for humanity, the arts, and civic duty caught me off guard. His words, work, and commitment to ensuring all kinds of families are honored, respected, protected, and seen in this American experiment also matter to me.
After brief remarks from a representative of The People for the American Way, Mike Royce and Gloria Calderón Kellett explained how the afternoon’s event would go, and then the complete title sequence was presented on screen, performed by Gloria Estefan.
This is it. (oh-oh-oh-oh)
This is life, the one you get
So go and have a ball.
This is it.
Straight ahead and rest assured
You can’t be sure at all.
So, while you’re here, enjoy the view
Keep on doing what you do
Hold on tight. We’ll muddle through
One day at a time.
So up on your feet. (Pa’ arriba!)
Somewhere, there’s music playing.
Don’t you worry none
We’ll just take it like it comes.
One day at a time! One day at a time!
One day at a time. (Un día a la vez, lo tomas un día a la vez).
One day at a time, one day at a time.
One day at a time!
As the lights came back up, my nose was runny, and I was desperate for a tissue to dab my eyes. We would go on to laugh uproariously for the next two hours as Rita Moreno, Isabella Gomez, Todd Grinnell, Justina Machado, Marcel Ruiz, and Stephen Tobolowsky reminded us how good they are and how funny and poignant this show was and is.
Despite the laughs, I didn’t stop crying until the final ovation. Family had been at the top of my mind all day before we arrived at the show. As I did my Saturday morning ritual of reviewing what music I had been listening to recently, I realized Cleo Sol had returned to the top of my spins. A year before, her album Gold was what I would listen to on my daily commutes to visit my dad in the hospital. Without consciously thinking about it, I had already begun to revisit that series of terrible events that would dominate the final months of 2023.
One of the three episodes the cast performed was titled “Best Birthday Ever!” and featured Rita Moreno’s Lydia uncharacteristically sad and unwilling to celebrate herself. Throughout the episode, we learn that she’s mourning the loss of keepsakes from her childhood in Cuba and the possibility that she will never get to see these images or hear sounds from that time. By the end, she is treated to the experience of hearing her mother’s voice for the first time since her death, and it fills her with joy.
I suspect I will go through similar whirlwinds of emotion over the next few months. I remember last fall viscerally, and if this weekend is any indication, my feelings will be turned all the way on, and that’s fine.
All emotions are welcome. Let’s feel all the feelings. I just don’t want to get lost in the sads. Much like at the Table Read, I want to balance the melancholy with opportunities for joy.
More laughing through the tears, please.
This is it.
