One Day at a Time warmed hearts and delivered laughs for years as a Netflix original before sadly joining the ranks of other Netflix shows cancelled way too soon, and continued for one bonus season that aired on Pop. The sitcom that starred Justina Machado, Isabella Gomez, Rita Moreno, and Stephen Tobolowsky (among others) came to an end back in mid-2020. The cast came back together earlier in the 2024 TV schedule for something special for fans, and when I spoke with Tobolowsky shortly after, he reflected on the series and heaped the kind of praise on EGOT winner Rita Moreno that I could have listened to all day.
Stephen Tobolowsky spoke with CinemaBlend earlier this fall for his return to NBC’s Lopez vs. Lopez, and he named several ways that the George Lopez-starring sitcom is similar to One Day at a Time. (You can find his Lopez vs. Lopez appearances with a Peacock subscription.) First, though, he raved about getting to reunite with Rita Moreno for the special ODAAT table read, saying:
Oh my gosh! That was too crazy, that was too much fun. And I got to see my dear, dear girlfriend, Rita. Oh, Rita Moreno! I always joked with Rita, and I always said, ‘It proves that God plays favorites.’ We’re not equal. There is no one, no one like Rita Moreno with that kind of talent. After all these years of being in showbusiness, it still blows my mind the level of talent she has on so many different levels. Great actress, world class dancer, world class singer, world class entertainer. And it’s so easy for her! It just breathes with her. I just love her dearly. I’m sorry, but I do, and I’m just crazy about her. [laughs] At the table read, I was just so happy to see her and catch up with everything. Such a wonderful woman.
Anybody could probably guess that Rita Moreno is incomparable as a star, since one doesn’t win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony over the course of ninety years without incredible talent. But it was lovely to hear Stephen Tobolowsky gush about working with her on One Day at a Time with firsthand experience that few ever have, and it honestly makes me want to sign into my Netflix subscription and revisit episodes of the sitcom.
In a fun twist, Tobolowsky, Moreno, and Justina Machado have all appeared on Lopez vs. Lopez in the years since One Day at a Time, and there’s a reason for those connections. He shared the behind-the-scenes ties between the two shows that viewers might not have been aware of, saying:
To me, it helped that some of those great people from One Day at a Time migrated over to Lopez vs. Lopez. Deb Wolfe, who was one of the head writers on One Day at a Time, is now the showrunner on Lopez vs. Lopez. It’s hard to have a show better than One Day at a Time, from my point of view. It was a show that was amazing. It was the best of Norman Lear, and you have Justina, and you have Rita just kicking ass, and all of us kind of in support. It was just terrific. But those people now who understand that kind of good feeling are on Lopez vs. Lopez, and that was the good feeling on that set, which is important.
Considering how strongly Stephen Tobolowsky clearly still feels about the greatness of One Day at a Time, it’s a huge compliment to Debby Wolfe and the rest of the Lopez vs. Lopez team that he feels the NBC sitcom has the same “kind of good feeling.” Of course, a lot of care goes into Lopez vs. Lopez with George Lopez and Mayan Lopez as real-life father and daughter as well as co-stars and EPs.
Tobolowsky went on to praise the feeling on set when filming with the Lopez duo and rest of the cast, with yet another complimentary comparison to ODAAT:
On Lopez vs. Lopez, whenever you finish a show, they’re ready with the new scripts, ready to go for the next one. They’re on to the next and it’s a great feeling that you’re with a cast with that kind of feeling. That’s the way it was on One Day at a Time. Every time we finished the show, we loved it, and we were thrilled we were going on to the next one. We never had that situation of, ‘Thank god that’s over with.’
Sadly, short of the cast getting together for more table reads, there doesn’t seem to be a future for One Day at a Time beyond rewatching the first three seasons streaming on Netflix. You can find some of the actors appearing as guests on Lopez vs. Lopez, and Stephen Tobolowsky told CinemaBlend that he’d be happy to return to reprise his role, saying “It’s one of those rare, rare, great, great shows that you’re privileged to be on, and anytime they ask me to be on it, I’ll be on it.”
It would certainly be a fun twist if we got to see a ODAAT reunion on Lopez vs. Lopez in the future, and I could even see it happening if the stars aligned. Mayan and Quinten’s wedding could be in the works, and Tobolowsky plays Quinten’s dad Sam while Rita Moreno played George’s grandma Dolores. For now, you can look forward to the upcoming Christmas episode of Lopez vs. Lopez, set to air on Friday, December 6 in a special time slot at 9:45 p.m. ET on NBC.