Good news for classic TV fans stuck inside during the great lockdown: Norman Lear’s original version of One Day at a Time has landed on the free streaming platform Pluto. The ViacomCBS-owned streamer is launching a limited-time channel devoted to a 24/7 stream of the ’70s sitcom, just in time for tonight’s return of Lear’s ODAAT remake on its new home, Pop TV. So many Schneiders!
Pluto says its virtual ODAAT channel will feature episodes from the original show’s first six seasons (1975–1981) and — as if that weren’t enough retro TV goodness — “select episodes†from the sixth and seventh seasons of another iconic Lear comedy, All in the Family. Episodes will run in blocks, alternating between ODAAT and (less frequently) All in the Family. The episodes will stream on Pluto channel 421 starting Tuesday night at 10:30 p.m. ET, right after the reboot version of ODAAT airs on Pop. Pluto says its ODAAT channel will run for 30 days, and for now will only feature a linear run of the episodes (i.e., you won’t be able to use Pluto’s on-demand function to watch specific episodes).
While ODAAT has long been available on DVD, producer Sony Pictures Television has kept the show scarce on streaming (or at least has not been able to find a buyer willing to spend the money needed to make a streaming run profitable for the studio). A couple of seasons stream on the Crackle platform, but that requires viewers to sit through a very heavy load of commercials. The show does air on cable, but only from 2 to 3 a.m. on the small FeTV network. Those of us stuck in TV’s past will continue to dream of the day when Netflix or another major streaming platform decides to buy the rights to all (or most) of Lear’s library so that national treasures such as ODAAT, All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Maude, and Good Times are easily accessible on-demand.