Why We Need More Shows Like 'One Day At A Time'

White man, white man, white couple, white woman, cartoon horse – these are the characters in the first five icons used to represent Netflix’s original content on the streaming site. I went through the entire ‘Original Content’ list that was shown to me on my Netflix profile, and in total, 32 white lead actors were shown in the icons representing their respective films and shows, while there was only a total of 9 black and asian leads being shown to viewers. This, combined with the fact that in 2016, the Academy Awards were branded racist for the lack of coloured representation in their nominees, really shows the lack of diversity in content being created in Hollywood.

Fast forward one year, and after watching one of Netflix’s latest shows, ‘One Day at a Time’ (ODAAT), I was left feeling uninterested in watching any other show, and I couldn’t tell why. I later realised it was because not only was the show well made, but it covered storylines and issues that real people deal with daily. If you haven’t seen it, ODAAT is a sitcom, featuring the main character, Penelope, a separated military veteran raising her two children, with the help of her mother and her landlord.

There are many reasons why we need more multi-cultural content entering the mainstream, but here are just a few why we need more shows like ODAAT to be created. For example, one of these reasons are that, they actively showed Penelope dealing with, and addressing, sexism in the workplace in an upfront way. It highlighted how sexism doesn’t necessarily have to be a woman being catcalled in the street and how it can be dealt with professionally. Similarly, the first episode features Penelope debating with herself about if she should take anti-depressants to help deal with the PTSD she started suffering from after she left the military. As an avid viewer of television, I can’t really think of another show where an average person takes medication like this openly. There is still a stigma around taking medication, which is shown through Lydia’s apprehension at Penelope’s decision, but acceptance and understanding that medication does help, which is shown through various other characters in the episode.

A main and recurring storyline that features throughout the series is the teenage daughter, Elena, coming to terms with her sexuality and then goes onto dealing with coming out to her family. It’s important that storylines like this are normalised in television so that viewers who are also dealing with those struggles can be inspired to do the same. However, another aspect of this storyline is when Elena’s father can’t accept her sexuality, which is heart-breaking, but shows that while a lot of Hollywood have very liberal views, a large part of society isn’t as accepting.

Another small plot featuring Elena was a discussion on societies’ expectations of women, when the grandmother, Lydia, repeatedly comments on how Elena doesn’t wear make-up or have her hair heavily styled before going to school. She tries going to school in make-up, but finds she doesn’t feel comfortable and the episode ends with Lydia accepting her granddaughter’s choice. This narrative is relevant with the current discussion on ‘real beauty’ and the expectation for women to wear make-up every day.

‘One Day at a Time’ currently only has one season that is made up of thirteen episodes, and in those episodes, they have managed to cover some of the important topics in society today. This, combined with the fact that four out of six of the main characters are Cuban, means that the show really stands out from the rest of the original content that Netflix is releasing. My only hope that they keep creating more content like this, and one day the ratio of 32:9 will be closer to 1:1.