At a Glance
- Valerie Bertinelli relived her first One Day at a Time taping on The Drew Barrymore Show 50 years after the sitcom premiered on December 16, 1975
- The 15-year-old still remembers clutching a basketball and rehearsing her debut line: “Mom, mom I made the team”
- She hoped to one day show the episode to her future children
- Why it matters: The nostalgic segment offers fans a rare behind-the-scenes look at a classic show that shaped early TV family storytelling
Fifty years after One Day at a Time debuted, Valerie Bertinelli returned to daytime TV to share the memories she can still smell-literally.
The First Scene That Changed Everything
Appearing on The Drew Barrymore Show alongside hosts Drew Barrymore and Ross Mathews, Bertinelli described standing at the apartment doorknob, basketball in hand, waiting for her cue.
> “I can smell the stage because it was my first big job,”
she recalled, repeating the line she drilled into memory for the 1975 pilot.
A Mother’s Prediction
Even at 15, Bertinelli sensed the moment’s weight:
> “I remember thinking, I’m going to be able to show this to my children one day.”
She now has one son, Wolfgang “Wolfie” Van Halen, though she admits he has never watched the series.
Anniversary Surprise
Mathews unveiled retro One Day at a Time lunchboxes emblazoned with the cast, prompting smiles from Little 15-year-old Valerie on the tin.
Key Takeaways
- One Day at a Time ran from December 16, 1975 to May 28, 1984, focusing on a single mother raising two daughters
- Bertinelli’s debut line was “Mom, mom I made the team,” delivered while clutching a basketball
- She recently told Entertainment Weekly she felt, at 15, that the role would “change my life”
Half a century on, the actress’s sensory memories prove some Hollywood moments never fade.
