David Bowie Appears On The Sitcom One Day At A Time
On this day in 1977, David Bowie appeared on the TV show One Day At A Time.
Bowie was a big fan of the show and agreed to appear during season 2, as Benny Wroblicki. Benny was the glam rocker, older brother of show regular Ginny Wroblicki. One Day At A Time creator Norman Lear planned to create a spinoff series for Bowie called “All That Glitters”.
Benny & The Jets
The plot of the episode was that Benny shows up in town during a world tour with his band, Benny and The Jets. Benny is your average 1970s hard drinking, drug taking, groupie indulging British rock star. Ginny is a cocktail waitress from Indiana. The show never bothered to explain how these two individuals with such a different background were actually siblings.
In case you have never seen the show, Divorced mother Ann Romano moves herself and her teenage daughters, rebellious Julie and wisecracking Barbara, from their home in Logansport, Indiana, to Indianapolis. Ann frequently struggles with being a cross eyed ginger freak maintaining her role as mother while affording her daughters the freedom she never had as a young woman. Dwayne Schneider, the building superintendent, provides usually unwanted advice and creepiness to the tenants, especially Ann. Ginny is a neighbor and love interest of Schneider.
Hilarity Ensues
Benny and his bandmates wreak havoc on the lives of The Romanos and especially the building super, Schneider. The night of the bands big concert at The Market Square Arena, Barbara dresses as Elton John and joins Benny and his band on stage to perform “Fame”. At the post concert party, Benny and Julie go off on a 3 day drug and sex fueled binge. 18 year old Julie returns home pregnant and hooked on dope. Meanwhile Ginny falls for the drummer and dumps Schneider who then attacks the bands manager with a claw hammer. Hilarity ensues.
The controversial episode was only aired once and never replayed. The subject matter was so shocking at the time that Norman Lear was brought up on indecency charges by the bunko squad and had to spend 6 weeks in jail. Needless to say, the spinoff starring Bowie never materialized.
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