Sitcom showrunner Mike Royce has generously donated his time and attention, not only to picking the title cards that appear at the end of each episode he produces, but also in sharing them with The Comic’s Comic and our readers. You can see previous Snowpants Productions cards of Royce and his extended family from episodes of Enlisted (FOX), 1600 Penn (NBC), Men of a Certain Age (TNT) and Lucky Louie (HBO). You also can hear Royce discuss his life and career with me in Episode #135 of The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First. Here’s his latest dispatch from working on the reimagining of classic sitcom One Day at a Time for Netflix, which you could be bingeing right now since it’s a holiday!
Below are my cards that appear at the end of each “One Day at a Time.” Because we’re on Netflix, people rarely see them. I always do a different old picture and try to make it thematic to the episode, but not always. This batch is particularly close to my heart. Enjoy!
One Day at a Time #101, “This is It.”
My daughter Mia in her natural habitat, mid-2000s. She can read a book anywhere. We once were given luxury box tickets to the Lakers and it turned out to be the historic game where Kobe scored 65 points. She read a book through the whole thing. She knows what she likes.
One Day at a Time #102, “Bobos & Mamitas”
My wife’s grandmother in the back, father in the foreground, Newark, early ’60s. This episode is about sexism and it was pretty Mad Men back then.
One Day at a Time #103, “No Mass”
Church theme! This is me looking super-serious on my way to receive my first communion. It meant a lot at the time. Now I look like this mainly when boarding a plane.
One Day at a Time #104, “A Snowman’s Tale”
My wife finding serenity in the middle of a million people. She always looks on the bright side of things. They say opposites attract.
One Day at a Time #105, “Strays”
In keeping with the episode’s birthday plot, here is my mom presenting me with a cake for my 6th. If you look closely it appears that we had cupcakes as appetizers?? Life was better then.
One Day at a Time #106, “The Death of Mrs. Resnick”
To go along with our car buying episode, a late ’60’s pic of my then tween wife with her dad, checking out the coolest Mercedes ever. Why aren’t we all driving this car today?! What happened? Camelot lost.
One Day at a Time #107, “Hold, Please”
Thematically this photo embodies the feeling of exhausted achievement our main character Penelope has at the end of her long call with the V.A. In reality it is my son Will after a climb up a small pile of rocks. But still, it looks like he vanquished all his enemies, so we went with it.
One Day at a Time #108, “One Lie at a Time”
This photo doesn’t relate to the episode but is a famous one in my family. My grandparents had paid off the mortgage and my grandmother (lower right) is leaning down to burn it in an (out of frame) fireplace. My dad decided to do the old “WAIT!!!” gag just as the photo was snapped. Since only a few of us know the entire context, to most it just looks like my dad went insane.
One Day at a Time #109, “Viva Cuba”
A late ’70s shot of my brother Dan getting a birthday gift of tickets to see his beloved Dodgers for the first time ever. Reminded me of the moment in the episode when Elena gets her answer in the mail. Or of anybody wearing an Izod shirt back then, those were the shit!
One Day at a Time #110, “Sex Talk”
When I’m trying to ingratiate myself with my wife and being very obvious about it, I will occasionally adopt this “angelic” pose. Look, that’s her cross to bear. Here is Mia imitating me and damn if she actually can pull it off.
One Day at a Time #111, “Pride and Prejudice”
Years ago I took a photo of Will on the first day of baseball, the moment before he caught… something? Why isn’t he wearing a glove? Is anybody in charge of this kid? I guess I was snapping a picture of when I was a terrible parent.
One Day at a Time #112, “Hurricane Victor”
From my grandparent’s cottage on Lake Ontario. Patriotic, romantic and bleak like the episode.
One Day at a Time #113, “Quinces”
As Lydia once said “hashtag no filter!” Mia at our house and the mood fits the finale. ❤️
Your End Cards seem quite in keeping with your life thus far: Showrunner/producer/writer/comedian/husband/father/son/son-law/grandson/sibling/uncle/cousin/friend. Whew!
Oh wait there’s more for season 2, Mike Royce!*
Hello
I am curious about the end card of One day at a time 3×09. It is a couple sitting and there is a village and a river behind them. It looks like some place in the north of Spain, but I am not able to locate it. Do you know where the photo was taken?
I meant 3×06
I believe that is Italy near Arezzo
Thanks for the answer. That explains why it looks so familiar (many similarities between small Italian and Spanish villages), but we were not able to tell precisely where it was!
Congratulations for ODAAT. We are really enjoying it at home.