BREAKING: Netflix’s “One Day At A Time” Shouts Out Autostraddle But You’ll Love This Latina Lesbian Storyline Regardless

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You know what you need — nay, deserve — this Friday afternoon? Some undiluted, incandescent joy. That’s why you should go ahead and queue up Netflix’s One Day at a Time, a brand new reboot of the classic Norman Lear mother-daughter comedy that eschews the sitcom world’s overwhelmingly white history and focuses on a Latinx family. Specifically a Latinx family with a mother played by Justina Machado and a grandmother played by the legendary Rita Moreno and a TEENAGE LESBIAN DAUGHTER. A teenage lesbian daughter who gets her own coming out episode called “Pride and Prejudice,” during which her mom reveals that she is an avid reader of Autostraddle dot com!

You guys! Justina Machado said our name out loud on teevee! There are some very good jokes in-jokes about queer women in this scene! Plus, honestly, “Pride and Prejudice” is one of the most refreshing coming out episodes of television I have ever seen in my life. Also, Penelope (that’s Justina Machado’s character) has a friend who is a lesbian and they go to a gay bar where there are other lesbians. I don’t want to spoil anything for you; I just want to let you know that this exists and it will make you feel really good in your heart parts to watch it. Yvonne’s going to come at you with a full review on Monday.

And, look, your girl Gina Rodriguez thinks you should watch too!

https://twitter.com/HereIsGina/status/817375990124978177

I believe you are going to love One Day at a Time‘s writing staff.

I believe you are going to cry happy tears when you watch this show.

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Heather Hogan

Heather Hogan is an Autostraddle senior editor who lives in New York City with her wife, Stacy, and their cackle of rescued pets. She's a member of the Television Critics Association, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer critic. You can also find her on Twitter and Instagram.

Heather has written 1562 articles for us.

80 Comments

    • Okay almost done with the show, one and a half episodes left, this is soooooooooo amazing! Elena is the most amazing queer teenage character! I love her and I love her whole family and this show! It’s really funny, and there are a lot of feminist issues brought up! So great!

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  14. SO HAPPY FOR YOU!

    this also reminded me of the time my bestie flatmate browsed AS bc she’d always seen me reading your articles and wanted to check it out as well but then was slightly confused by the LGBT content bc she didn’t realize it was a ~lesbian lifestyle and pop-culture website haha

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    • Literally me, I read the article about Willow Rosenberg by chance and then I found more Buffy things and I was like “hey, cool website, I can like it on facebook”. Some time later: hmm… they write a lot about lesbians…

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  16. I am literally watching this currently only because of this article and already love it ❤ misogyny mentioned in the first 5 minutes! And latinx! I’m moving to Spain in a couple of weeks and I know its not the same but every little bit of Spanish I hear unexpectedly gets me so excited for moving!

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  29. Curled up in bed with a cup of tea, some Trader Joe’s snacks and One Day at a Time…can’t think of a better way to spend Snopocalypse 2017.

    I’m looking forward to getting to this episode and hearing Autostraddle’s shout out.

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  31. Okay, I just watched the first two episodes – I’m in love.

    When Elena tries to explain to her grandmother what it feels like when she wears make up, oh my god, I don’t think I’ve ever heard that articulated on TV before. That was incredible. And the show managed to fit a less on mansplaining into the same episode. How!? This show is just so good.

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  34. I had a huge secret crush on Valerie Bertinelli in the original show – this reboot sounds great.

    (It was a secret crush because I had NO idea it was a crush – but it’s so obvious looking back. I just smiled and nodded when my friends talked about whatever boy heartthrobs they were watching in the late 70s and 80s and wondered why no one else liked Sabrina on Charlie’s Angels as much as I did.)

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  35. Congratulations Autostraddle! I hope this shout-out brings you lots of new readers and A+ members.

    However… I’m going the one voice of dissent and say that this may be an instance where GLAAD’s “quality over quantity” should apply. I couldn’t even make it through the first 10 minutes. The laugh track, the over-acting and the walking stereotype of the abuela (was she channeling Anita from West Side Story?) made this unwatchable. I think I’ll skip ahead and watch the coming out episode just because I love Autostraddle so much. We should demand more from our LGBT representation on TV.

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    • Yeah I mean it is a typical multi camera studio sitcom with a laugh track whichs a format rarely used these days in the kinds of sitcoms that tend to appeal to our demographic (e.g., the office, attested development, broad city, etc). I remember when you could only find single camera half hour comedies on HBO, nobody else was doing it!

      Part of what surprised me about the show was that I liked it despite that. I’ve laughed I’ve cried! As far as this particular format of show goes, this is as good as it gets

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      • Also! What’s revolutionary about the fact that it’s multi-cam with a laugh track is that those shows are aimed at middle America, “regular America,” the heartland. Single cam comedies are NYC and California. They’re slick and fast with smash cuts and liberal elite values and posturing. So to see this comedy centering on a Latinx family with a lesbian daughter and unabashed feminist overtones made in that old family style is remarkable! It’s meant to feel like the stuff your parents and grandparents watch on TV Land and feel comfortable with!

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    • Honestly i felt the same the first ten seconds too. I tend to switch off shows with laugh tracks pretty quickly, but i watched the first episode, and then a second one … and now I’ve finished the whole season and I laugh and I cried and it’s actually one of best sitcoms I’ve seen in a while.

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      • Yes, it just takes a minute to sort of get used to the format since we’re not used to it anymore (not to mention the first episode is the weakest of the entire season by a country mile). Then it gets so damn good!

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    • Emma,

      Yes, the first episode was *bad*. The second was much better — I don’t know how to explain it, exactly, but they toned ALL of the badness down. Pilots are often iffy, so you might want to at least check out the second and see how it sits with you.

      — Yes, I am male. But please, don’t hold it against me; I promise, it wasn’t my fault. —

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  36. I just streamed the series. It was okay, though very much a throwback in terms of style (though honestly after almost a decade of single-camera sitcoms this Norman Lear throwback feels almost nostalgic? The laugh track could be much reduced though.)

    I enjoyed the main cast for the most part and while Rita Moreno’s character is a bit over the top, she reminds me too much of my mom to say it’s exaggerated much. Again, I’d say that the Norman Lear touch is very strong which is both a strength and a weakness in terms of trying to touch on social issues and being somewhat of a relic in terms of technique and writing.

    It’s no Que Pasa USA, but it’s good to see a new Cuban-American sitcom.

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  37. So much congrats to autostraddle! You most definitely deserve all the compliments :) And for Gina Rodriguez to support this is just icing on the cake!

    Btw, if anyone is interested in a female-written & led, lesbian web series with incredible asian representation & an OTP to DIE for, please check out “Retail Rejects” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWV17ADsnFc
    This is an absolutely HILARIOUS series about working in retail and hot asian girls are so welcomed on our screens cus the representation is just so rare. Also, they’re pretty :). Best line: “If you accidentally steal my sale, then I’ll accidentally steal your boyfriend”

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  38. Thank you, Heather! I haven’t read the article yet, because I hate spoilers (even for sitcoms apparently), but I loved the first episode. I feel like the main character is me if I was straight and Cuban-American. An exhausted single mom who enjoys making fun of hipsters? Wait. Nevermind. Because I also now have a crush on Justina Machado, and that makes things confusing.

    Let’s just say I’m now a fan of the show and I thank you for bringing it to my attention.

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  40. I heard about this show and then decided to watch it after reading this review a while ago. I surprisingly liked it and laughed more than a few times. My only qualm comes in the form of the labelling of Elena as a lesbian. Granted I’m only at the 9th episode so I haven’t actually gotten to the episode mentioned here but from what I’ve seen, Elena seems bisexual or pansexual.

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  43. I waited until I’d watched the whole series to comment!

    I loved it, and I certainly hope this show gets more of a following. Absolutely *not* prestige television, for sure, but definitely what a ”family show from the 70s, 98s & 90s’ (Family Ties, Full House, even Simpsons?) should look like in 2017. Lisa goes vegetarian in the 90s, Elena comes out in 2017.

    Very progressive, also love that the mom is a veteran and joins a woman veteran’s support group.

    I also missed the Autostraddle shout-out scene first time round, making a cup of tea in the kitchen. So totally went back and replayed it and wooped and cheered and clapped on your behalf. (CONGRATU-FREAKING-LATIONS!)

    Definitely wish I had a show like this on tv when I was growing up. And certainly hope that it finds families across America and the world sitting down and watching it together (maybe instead of Fuller House? :-P )

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  48. Okay, commenting once again now that I’ve finished the whole season. OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SHOW.

    It is everything I need from a TV show right now – it’s smart and funny and feminist and queer and socially conscious and uplifting and just generally made me FEEL REALLY GOOD without also keeping me in touch with all the not-so-good stuff in the world. I laughed out loud multiple times per episode, but there was also at least one scene in every episode that nearly brought me to tears.

    I am now recommending this show to everyone I know.

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