RIP Bonnie Franklin

Bonnie Franklin was an actress who died this past week.  She played single mom, Ann Romano, on a television series from the seventies called 'One day at a time'.  She was not the first or only single mom on tv at the time.  There were, in fact, at least two other single mom characters from roughly the same time period, (Carol Brady from the Brady Bunch (c.1969)and Shirley Partridge from the Partridge Family (c. 1970)  Carol Brady's marital status at the time of her engagement to Mike Brady was never revealed and Shirley Partridge was a widow.

But Ann Romano was the trailblazer here, because she was a divorcee on tv at a time when the 'typical' Neilson family wasn't.  But...in tv land, (aka Reality!!), the demographics were changing and the face of the American family was changing with it.  'One day at a Time' was unique for giving the viewer a more realistic view of a family headed by a single mom.  The children were not living in a cushy upscale suburb, but instead had been uprooted and moved into an apartment building.  If the father of the girls was involved in their lives, I don't recall, but a father figure appeared in the form of the apartment complex's handyman. A man who fell in love with the mom and cared for the girls.  The show was popular, maybe because it showed the world what some may have suspected all along... Single moms are people too!  They want what all parents want for their kids.  Stability, happiness and love!

So when you think of Bonnie Franklin, if you ever do, think about this... there are over 7 million single moms in America and most of them are raising their children as the character Ann Romano did; alone and struggling to pay the rent.  If you think that One day at a time was just a tv show, you would be right.  However, Bonnie Franklin was the struggling single mom, Carol Brady and Shirley Partridge had cushier lives.  They are both alive and Bonnie is the one dead.  Just like in real life, the struggling single mom will die sooner than her financially better off, counterpart!! :(