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DVD sales for both"Alice" and "One Day at a Time" have been awful and I am surprised since both shows seemed to do so well in it's original run on CBS. Alice is currently stuck at season 4 on DVD and One day at A Time is stuck at season 1. Not only that both shows can't grab a new fan base in syndication which is probably connected to why the DVD's won't sell.
is there anyone else surprised that these two shows won't grab any new viewers?
It's been so long since I've seen One Day at a Time, I don't even remember that much about the show anymore, I kinda remember Snyder the maintenance man dropping in on Bonnie Franklin and daughters, in their Indianapolis apartment, that's about all I remember of it. I would watch the series again just for curiosity sake if it aired, much as I did for Mayberry RFD, watched all the episodes once thru and was done with it, same thing with Too Close for Comfort or The Ropers. I sorta think they overdo it a bit with RFD airing 2 back to back episodes in the prime time slot on METV, when the show only had 3 seasons to begin with, airing now for what now seems like several months in a row. They kinda did that with Gilligan's Island too. Some shows can be watched over and over, some not.
I would enjoy seeing Alice again, but notice when they add a new show on Me or Antenna, especially half hour shows, they like to show them in pairs which is sometimes overkill, depending on the show. I think it would be better to mix it up a bit more than they do. Alice and One Day ran for many seasons with many episodes, cant see why they couldn't air them with more success than RFD or Gilligan's Island. Or run them late at night so people could at least see those shows and record them, instead of letting them get dusty in a vault somewhere. I liked how they used to sneak in just ONE Happy Day's in their prime time line up, not enough to OD on it, but enough to enjoy once in a while. Also better to have different shows on different nights of the week, like show happy days on monday nights only, Alice on Tue, Kotter on Wed, ect ect so all those old shows get a spot until all episodes of a particular series are shown, then changed up with something else.
It's been so long since I've seen One Day at a Time, I don't even remember that much about the show anymore, I kinda remember Snyder the maintenance man dropping in on Bonnie Franklin and daughters, in their Indianapolis apartment, that's about all I remember of it. I would watch the series again just for curiosity sake if it aired, much as I did for Mayberry RFD, watched all the episodes once thru and was done with it, same thing with Too Close for Comfort or The Ropers. I sorta think they overdo it a bit with RFD airing 2 back to back episodes in the prime time slot on METV, when the show only had 3 seasons to begin with, airing now for what now seems like several months in a row. They kinda did that with Gilligan's Island too. Some shows can be watched over and over, some not.
I would enjoy seeing Alice again, but notice when they add a new show on Me or Antenna, especially half hour shows, they like to show them in pairs which is sometimes overkill, depending on the show. I think it would be better to mix it up a bit more than they do. Alice and One Day ran for many seasons with many episodes, cant see why they couldn't air them with more success than RFD or Gilligan's Island. Or run them late at night so people could at least see those shows and record them, instead of letting them get dusty in a vault somewhere. I liked how they used to sneak in just ONE Happy Day's in their prime time line up, not enough to OD on it, but enough to enjoy once in a while.
A show about a single mom struggling raising two teenage daughters in indianapolis.
Both these shows feature single parent households and problems related to that. Perhaps that theme was a debbie downer for much of the female audience, as the mothers did not live a desirable lifestyle like MTM, or dominate the show like Maude or Roseanne in getting to be a smart ass all the time. Mel is not exactly Mr. Sunshine for a boss, Alice had a dead end job thru the whole series and maybe the show seems a bit too much like real life for some women, and reminds successful women of an earlier part of their life they would just as soon forget. And perhaps many males except for the ones brought up by a single mom, can relate to Alice and the girls at Mel's Diner. I thought Mel Sharples was an awesome character and carried his weight more than any other character on the show. The other characters were good, Vira the dingy waitress went thru much character development in the series, and Flo got to be the sassy likable one who told Mel to "Kiss my grits" when he deserved it, and the regular diner patron Henry was tolerable for short spells.
Both these shows feature single parent households and problems related to that. Perhaps that theme was a debbie downer for much of the female audience, as the mothers did not live a desirable lifestyle like MTM, or dominate the show like Maude or Roseanne in getting to be a smart ass all the time. Mel is not exactly Mr. Sunshine for a boss, Alice had a dead end job thru the whole series and maybe the show seems a bit too much like real life for some women, and reminds successful women of an earlier part of their life they would just as soon forget. And perhaps many males except for the ones brought up by a single mom, can relate to Alice and the girls at Mel's Diner. I thought Mel Sharples was an awesome character and carried his weight more than any other character on the show. The other characters were good, Vira the dingy waitress went thru much character development in the series, and Flo got to be the sassy likable one who told Mel to "Kiss my grits" when he deserved it, and the regular diner patron Henry was tolerable for short spells.
I just remember it being a fun show to watch because of Mel's cranky personality, Flo's Sassy personality, and Vera's goofiness. I really didn't care for the Alice character too much because it was nothing about her that was interesting which made her kind of dull.
I watched One Day at Time more than Flo and I wouldn't have any desire to re-watch because looking back I think the shows just weren't that good--
what might have good ratings at the intial run often depends on what was on before and after that show, what night it was on, what was on the other channels...
and back then remember there were only 3 channels in most markets--Fox had not started--and there was no streaming or local programming or in many markets even cable with multiple channels to direct people's attention away from straight television
Unless you can show what the schedule was for the nights they were on and shows they were up against it is difficult to say why they were so popular...
as to why no other years' of episodes have come out, you have to look at licensing arrangements--
sometimes for something even like the music that is played on the shows at that time--or any one who needed to give permission
if the originals have died and the estates haven't been able or willing to give their rights for DVD presentation then there is no production going forward...
apparently there are some series that have met dead ends over rights acquisition
One ought to remember when these shows were made and what was going on at the time.
For example, remember in One Day at a Time when one of the girls was missing, Snyder was organizing a dragnet on his CB, and Ann was asking if this was all necessary to which Snyder responded, still keying the mic, "Hey, for something like this, you have to think BIG, MAMA!.............Negatory, not trying to contact Big Mama!".
Now, 40 years later, how many would get that joke, understand it?
Or how about the time when the secret service was investigating them and one of the men found one of the girl's Playgirl and was staring. In a pre Internet era, the magazine, whether for girls or boys, was a big thing, the joke, the meaning is there....................................
One ought to remember when these shows were made and what was going on at the time.
For example, remember in One Day at a Time when one of the girls was missing, Snyder was organizing a dragnet on his CB, and Ann was asking if this was all necessary to which Snyder responded, still keying the mic, "Hey, for something like this, you have to think BIG, MAMA!.............Negatory, not trying to contact Big Mama!".
Now, 40 years later, how many would get that joke, understand it?
Or how about the time when the secret service was investigating them and one of the men found one of the girl's Playgirl and was staring. In a pre Internet era, the magazine, whether for girls or boys, was a big thing, the joke, the meaning is there....................................
........................but now?
T'was a different time.
Also, with cable being more widespread and with the advent of the internet, there are so many more distractions. Writers back then could be more hackneyed and lazy because their audience didn't have much choice of what to watch. Real competition brings out the best in anyone.
One ought to remember when these shows were made and what was going on at the time.
For example, remember in One Day at a Time when one of the girls was missing, Snyder was organizing a dragnet on his CB, and Ann was asking if this was all necessary to which Snyder responded, still keying the mic, "Hey, for something like this, you have to think BIG, MAMA!.............Negatory, not trying to contact Big Mama!".
Now, 40 years later, how many would get that joke, understand it?
Or how about the time when the secret service was investigating them and one of the men found one of the girl's Playgirl and was staring. In a pre Internet era, the magazine, whether for girls or boys, was a big thing, the joke, the meaning is there....................................
........................but now?
T'was a different time.
Was that something else going on in the mid 70's? People being investigated by the secret service? I remember another show dealing with people being investigated by secret service around the same time.
These shows sucked in the 70's, it's just taken the audience 40 years to realize it.
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