Why “Any Day Now” Is Still Must-Watch TV
Back in the late 90s, Lifetime took a chance on a controversial scripted show about two forty-something women who were best friends as kids, had a falling out, and have now reunited.
So…what’s so controversial about that?
Well, when the two friends meet, as is shown in the first episode, “Unfinished Symphony” (S:1 E:1), they are about twelve years old: Rene Jackson is black, and Mary Elizabeth “M.E.” O’Brien is white. They live in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1963. M.E.’s parents are extremely bigoted, her uncle a leader of the KKK and a cop. Rene’s father is a prominent civil rights attorney.
And that’s just the beginning.
Any Day Now follows these two friends through the dual timelines of 1960s/1990s in each episode, so we get to know them in a way unique to most one-hour dramas. We get to see not only who they are now, but how the events of their childhoods, intertwined with this specific time and place, helped mold them. The Civil Rights Movement, JFK’s and MLK’s assassinations, Vietnam, even Miss America as an all-white pageant serve as momentous turning points for our heroines, and it isn’t hard to see how M.E. — an independent, outspoken tomboy who judges people on who they are, not what they look like — and Rene — an independent, outspoken model of femininity who is as fierce a friend as she is an advocate for equal rights — become the women they grow up to be. In present day, Rene is a successful lawyer who’s been in D.C., until she returns to Birmingham after her father’s death and takes over his practice. M.E. is a stay-at-home mom and wife with dreams of becoming a writer.
What helps to differentiate between the two timelines is a switch in color — a brilliant creative choice for a show that’s all about how color is perceived. The present-day is portrayed in your normal color spectrum. But scenes from the 1960s are shown in selective color: most of the scene is grayscale except for a few objects colored in.
Any Day Now uses this so effectively it gives me chills.
If you pay attention to what’s colored in and what isn’t during these scenes, you start to see the world through the eyes of these young girls. The first time we see the young Rene and M.E. in season 1, episode 2 (“Huh?”), the girls are both in grayscale. No one is white, no one is black . . . but the sun is yellow, a plant is green, a soda the girls share is a bright purple. Now, wait a minute, wait a minute. I know. Handled in the wrong way, this could be a stupid, sappy message about the fable of colorblindness. But while this is going on, M.E. asks Rene innocently about an incredibly racist caricature spouted by her Klan uncle, and Rene just as innocently answers the question. They talk openly about whether Jesus, Mary and Joseph were white or black. You’d be hard-pressed to make the argument that all this series is doing is trying to make us all seem the same.
These are inspirational, relatable, funny, smart characters who I, personally, would have loved to follow for way more than the four seasons Any Day Now ran. Adult Rene is portrayed by the ever-addictive Lorraine Toussaint, and Adult M.E. by the incomparable Annie Potts. Their younger counterparts for the first three seasons, Mae Middleton as M.E. and Shari Dyon Perry as Rene, are phenomenal. Not only are these kids (well, they were kids in the 90s) fantastic actors, but the resemblance to their adult counterparts is striking.
But, besides the great acting and the dual timelines and the conflicts inherent not just to 1960s Birmingham but really to 1960s…1990s…2022 America, Any Day Now offered insight into issues I don’t think I’ve seen discussed anywhere else — not then, not now — about race in our country. The show, by and large, does not rely on tropes and obvious feel-good resolutions. The beauty of Rene and M.E.’s friendship is that they can talk about anything, comfortable or not. Race, religion, politics — it’s all on the table, and through their ongoing struggle to try to understand each other and make their own culture and beliefs and motivations understood, the audience watches, and learns, and hopefully starts their own conversations.
According to a 2017 post on vice.com by Anjali Enjeti, the racial makeup of the show’s writing staff was 50/50, which in my opinion is one of the main reasons the subject matter rings so true. As a white person who tries to be an ally in equality, I’ve struggled with my own questions, my own biases, my own role in our society. Many episodes of this show touch on real issues that I recognize, in some measure, from my own life, and they prompt real-life conversations. One of my favorite episodes is “I Wish You Could Understand” (S:1, E:18), that asks the questions, is it funny or offensive if black people use racial stereotypes and epitaphs in jokes, and if it’s funny, can white people repeat those jokes if there’s no racism intended? M.E.’s white husband and Rene’s black boyfriend almost come to blows over this at the end of the episode. The women defuse the situation with a funny moment, but quickly return to the important point:
Rene: I just wish you could understand how we feel about this.
M.E.: And I wish you could understand how we feel about all this.
Rene: Maybe we just can’t talk about it.
M.E.: Well, you know what, maybe that’s why we should.
This exchange encapsulates the entire philosophy of the show. The season three two-part finale pushes the idea even further of how the very definition of racially charged words can change depending on who speaks them, when Rene takes arguably the most polarizing word in America to court (“It’s Not Just a Word,” S:3, E:21–22). The episode makes its point even today, as this two-parter can’t be found anywhere except in parts on YouTube. It’s excluded from the only channel currently carrying the rest of the series, StartTV.*
Race relations is one of the issues at the core of this drama, but it delves into myriad other topics, both light and complex, from women’s rights to war to income inequality to aging parents to teenage kids to the highs and lows of romance and more. With a stellar supporting cast, including Donzaleigh Abernathy as Rene’s mother and Chris Mulkey as M.E.’s husband, every episode in the first three seasons delivers fully explored examinations of the characters’ lives. Very few episodes of the series end with a simplistic fix that smooths everyone’s feathers before bedtime.
The exceptions to this are in the rather disappointing fourth season, which never seems to find its footing and so feels a little more “phoned in.” Resolutions are a little more Hollywood tidy, plots and character development are not quite as in-depth. Any Day Now does have a planned series ending, but it’s unclear just when that ending was planned, because the episodes seem to meander around for quite a while. You’d think with all the subject matter the creators opened up in the first three seasons, there’d be no problem finding stories for another three, at least. Add to this that the showrunners decided to swap out both young Middleton and Perry for slightly older actors (Olivia Hack and Maya Goodwin), and while both of the older actors are okay, they simply can’t compare to the younger ladies’ portrayals.
But regardless of the fourth season’s dip from its heretofore outstanding quality, you still have entertaining stories, thought-provoking conflict, and of course Toussaint and Potts, who are still dynamite. In “No More Forever” (S:4, E:2), Toussaint’s velvet strength comes through full force as Rene defends Cherokee artist Charley Majors (played by Litefoot, credited as G. Paul Davis) and a socially provocative mural he’s been commissioned to paint. And Potts’s dry humor makes me laugh out loud every time. In “Don’t Forget to Take Out Your Teeth” (S:4, E:1), M.E. has been on call to help out a new mom she knows, but the new mom is getting a little obnoxious with her new-mom jitters. As M.E. looks at the latest “911” message on her pager about the baby, she contemplates not calling back because, as Potts delivers masterfully, “Last time she 911’d it was ’cause she thought his booger was a tumor.”
I have no idea why this gem of a series is practically impossible to find, because it’s equal parts charming and poignant, and it’s just as relevant today as it was twenty years ago. If you’re looking for quality entertainment that the whole family can enjoy and, bonus, learn from, Any Day Now is a must.
*Any Day Now is currently only available on StartTV, with certain episodes excluded from the reruns: “Unfinished Symphony” (S:1 E:1); and “It’s Not Just a Word” (S:3, E:21–22). These can be found in parts on YouTube.
Do you have a favorite episode of Any Day Now? Share it in the comments!
Subscribe to this publication for more family-friendly book, movie, and TV recommendations!
Clarissa J. Markiewicz is the author of Christmas In Whimsy — a heartwarming, fun novel readers compare to Hallmark Christmas movies, and recipient of Readers’ Favorite 5-star Seal — and the genre-bending new-age mystery The Paramour Pawn.
