peacock app. you can download it from the app store or sign up for free at pck.tv/theweek. we'll be here for you on msnbc saturday nights from 8:00 to 10:00 eastern after the mehdi hasan show. it's the top of the hour and it's so good to be with you tonight. the american rescue plan is now law. more than 100 million americans have received at least one vaccine and the biden administration says all americans will qualify for a vaccine by may. with one year of the pandemic behind us, what will the year ahead look like? we'll dig into the future of work, travel, and more. plus one year ago this week, the pandemic left thousands in the theater industry without jobs. but while the lights are out on broadway, the stars are still shining. ♪ you live, you learn, you love, you learn ♪ >> the woman on the left joins us to talk about bringing new york's theaters back to life. and some joyful reunions. grandparents are seeing their grandkids for the first time in months. we'll share a few of your stories. from nbc news world headquarters in new york, i'm joshua johnson. welcome to "the week." this week marks one year since the pandemic changed the way we all live. on thursday, president biden marked the anniversary by signing his $1.9 trillion american rescue plan. that night, mr. biden delivered his first prime time address to the nation. the speech outlined a new timeline on vaccine distribution. >> i will direct all states, tribes, and territories to make all adults, people 18 and over, eligible to be vaccinated no later than may 1. i need every american to do their part. if we do this together, by july the 4th, there is a good chance you, your families and friends will be able to get together in your backyard or our enabled, have a cookout, a barbecue, and celebrate independence day. july 4th with your loved ones is the goal. >> that would be a nice goal to hit. as of today more than 100 million people have at least received a first vaccine shot. 62% of seniors have received their first shots. back when mr. biden took office as president, it was only 8%. direct payments of $1,400 will begin hitting bank accounts as early as this weekend. now the white house turns its focus to highlighting the benefits of the bill. next week the president, vice president harris, the first lady and the second gentleman will begin what they call a help is here tour. they will deliver their sales pitch at stops in pennsylvania, nevada, colorado, new jersey, mexico, and georgia. but after this, what's next? will the white house turn to infrastructure, that infrastructure week we keep hearing about? maybe try to raise the minimum wage to something less than $15 per hour? with this sharply divided senate, can any piece of legislation get bipartisan support? and what will the year ahead look like for the rest of us? i mean, will we soon be able to all return to the office? and even if you could, will you? for more on that let's bring in our panel. the host of sirius xm's "the dean obedella show." and the author of "black ethnics," good to see you too. dean, in terms of this sales pitch and what it might need to contain, particularly because it is a very progressive piece of legislation and also because president biden said from the jump, i will be a president for all american people, this feels like a pitch he has to make work, the pitch that he has to land with people who don't necessarily like the legislation. >> well, the reality, you see polls showing about 70% plus like the legislation. i keep hearing people say, you know, there was no bipartisan support for this legislation. that's actually correcting. rank and file republicans, anyone from 35 to over 50% supported this. the gop elite in congress, the millionaires there, they don't care about it, they have their own political agenda, they don't care if the rank and file are suffering, frankly, because they made a calculation that let them suffer, who cares, we'll give them dr. seuss, they'll be happy with that. the reality is, joshua, you see president biden going out with vice president harris, you have the dnc running ads now, and a super pac, pro-biden super pac doing a seven-figure bye in battleground states. democrats are getting the messaging out there like they're republicans, almost. it's remarkable to see. it's a vast bill, it's an fdr, lbj type bill. every day president biden is showing us he's much more progressive than i think any of us thought and his view of government is that, as opposed to ronald reagan who said the most terrifying words are, "i'm here from the government to help you," joe biden is here from the government and in a time of need, it's there to help you. >> professor greer, i take dean's point, when you ask about the plan, a significant majority of the american people agree with it. significant majorities even agreed with raising the minimum wage, the plurality was $15 an hour, not $11, adjusted for inflation. i wonder if these next few years might sort of tell the tale of the politics outside the beltway in terms of what people actually want and what they feel and what affects us where we live away from some of the rhetoric of capitol hill. >> right, well, we know the beltway always takes time to catch up to the polling of what american people want. we saw this with marriage equity. we've seen it with marijuana. we've seen it with a woman's right to choose. it's congress that's behind the times, republicans most specifically. when dean says this is a sweeping fdr, lbj type legislation, i agree. the difference between this and when obama essentially bailed out the country and the world, the democrats are finally understanding, let's call it something people understand, let's give it a name where it's consistent across. when we say the american rescue plan, people know, oh, okay, republicans ran up the deficit to give their wealthy friends tax breaks and democrats have to restructure the social safety net and joe biden is here to rescue us from the last four years. it's pretty explicit. when barack obama put together, you know, a package to try and save the american economy, domestically and internationally, it was called so many different things, many people never put two and two together to realize the check that they got from the u.s. government, from barack obama, was actually a democratic initiative to assist them. and so for the next few years obama was saying, remember, i helped you? and people were long gone, they didn't remember that. the last piece is, joe biden is running against the clock. we know that by the end of this year, the midterms are going to be in the front view mirror of all 435 members of the house and a third of the senate. so i think it's not a coincidence that when you put up the map, joshua, that they're going to new mexico and arizona and georgia and pennsylvania for this goodwill help is here tour. they're articulating -- and nevada. they're articulating to swing voters and people who paid attention to the biden campaign that this is actually what you asked for and this is what we're delivering. >> let me ask about the future of how we live as we move forward with covid, dean, particularly the way that we work. we found out this week in a report from "the chicago tribune" that if you take all the empty office space in downtown chicago it's basically the equivalent of willis tower, we used to call it sears tower, times five, and that is going to grow. we also learned target is getting rid of a million square feet of its office space in downtown minneapolis and shifting to a significant work from home schedule to allow more of its safe to work from home. we learned this from salesforce based in san francisco which just acquired slack, which makes it easier to work from home. do you think people will want to get back to the office? are you cool with working from home? >> i just want to get out of my apartment, is that okay? i want to give and go outside for a little while, i've been in this room that you can see for a year, joshua. >> i see the claw marks in the back wall, dean. >> that's a virtual background, i have nothing, i just sit in a chair all day. even sirius xm where i host a show, they're consolidating. i live in new york city. we have thousands of small businesses that have gone under here in new york city. there are people without jobs. we have a high unemployment rate. that's going to be the challenge. right now we have a race going on in new york city and the division is how do you bring back new industry, not old, how do you bring back new industry to get people to come back to the city, to move here, because it's not just office space. it's all the ancillary businesses, the dry cleaner, the car service, the lunch place, the restaurant place, you name it. so look, it's a new world. i think it's going to consolidate space. it's going to save some money for corporations. will that trickle down to employees? probably not. but it's going to be a new world for us. i think it's going to be this hybrid world, combination home and office, because i think a lot of people including myself have been far more efficient doing everything here, like going on tv here and then when i sign off, i can actually do work here if i choose to. >> i am totally not efficient working from home, i am so glad i get to come to 30 rock to do my job. i would be dead in the water if i had to do everything from home because it's do doggone distracting. although, before i go back to the professor, andrew yang will be here tomorrow night to talk about his mayoral run. send your questions to theweek@msnbc.com and we'll put some of your questions to andrew yang tomorrow. professor greer, we've learned the grammys aren't going to be held at the staples center, they'll be held a few blocks down the road at the l.a. convention center, somewhere between bride world, bridal expo, and the american academy of let otolaryngology. i get the feeling people are eager to gather but people are not sure how. >> i think some younger folks might have a renaissance of the roaring '20s and maybe some of the senior citizens too. i think people are going to have to access their comfort level. the vaccination card will in many ways be a passport for people to see whether or not they want to hang out with individuals. i do think some people have been productive at work but miss the camaraderie. i'm interested to see if companies will -- they have to reimagine it. is it going to be a co-working space where not everyone has offices anymore, you just come in and have a desk if you want to come in certain days of the week? we've had all these conversations about schools closing and infrastructure and asbestos in buildings. now our infrastructure is crumbling. some of these old, empty office buildings, can we reimagine them as places for students to gather, k-12, or even colleges? you know, can we think of it for people who are below the poverty line? and so to get creative with thinking about how we can utilize some of this space. we've seen old abandoned malls become classrooms and schools in certain cities. so i think it's up to leadership and mayors to help think about what they want to do with the spaces. it's interesting you're having one of the mayoral candidates on, because new york is in dire straits and we really need someone that has a creative vision to think about what to do with all the retail space in new york city as well. as dean said, i desperately miss my lunch ladies, i miss my students and my lunch ladies so i want to go back to the office but many new yorkers also have to get on the subway to do so, they have to use the infrastructure to go back to normal. i think a lot of people don't necessarily want the old way of doing things, they want a new hybrid way, not staying in the apartment all day, but also we don't have to go back to status quo. >> yes, indeed, i hear that. and as someone who works in an old, not quite empty office building, a lovely office building but one that's been here since 1933, i have some thoughts about this building that i'll share at the end of the program. before i have to let you all go, dean, i wonder what you think about the nature of our families, particularly because with this covid relief bill there's a stipulation that all children who are born this year will be eligible for that $1,400 check, that support within the covid-19 relief plan. that feels like theoretically it could give some families a little bit more comfort in terms of starting or expanding their families. >> certainly. and this bill, if it works out the way it's planned, it could raise half the children out of poverty. it's a remarkable bill. that's why joe biden and vice president harris have to go out there and explain all of it. so this is such a helpful thing for families now, adults get $1,400, dependent children get it as well. it could be life changing for so many or at least a safety net for the future. and that's why joe biden and democrats can be proud of what they've done. but i have to say, they have to look forward, they have to keep delivering. i had congresswoman jayapal earlier this week who made it clear, if we don't deliver to the american people, they won't trust us again. that doesn't mean in the midterm they're going to vote republican. it means they're not going to come out and we're going to lose. so we have to deliver more than the covid relief bill. for democrats, it's not go big or go home. it's go big or you're going home. >> thanks for starting the hour with us. we've been answering some of your health questions related to the pandemic over the last few months. tomorrow we'll focus on something we think will be a major issue as covid-19 eases, our mental health. a clinical psychologist will join us for our next installment of "dear doctor." email us or tweet us a 30-second video. we'll answer as many questions we can tomorrow. coming up, how far does the settlement for george floyd's family go to help justice be served? and later, we'll be back. that's the message from broadway performers one year after the great white way went dark. when will they be back and how? elizabeth stanley of the musical "jagged little pill" joins us ahead. first, cori coffin is here with the headlines. >> hey, joshua. stories we're watching, in london protesters and police scuffled at a vigil of a woman who was killed. around a thousand people gathered at the memorial site. a metropolitan police officer has been charged with the woman's murder. georgetown law professor david batson has resigned after a viral video of him discussing black students. he's the second professor who is gone after the incident. sandra sellers was fired thursday. alejandro mayorkas has directed fema to help with children at the southern border. fema will support the government's efforts to safely receive, shelter, and transfer unaccompanied children. secretary mayorkas said his goal is to transfer children into the care of the department of health and services as quickly as possible. more of "the week with joshua johnson" after the break. ♪ a pair of jeans that fit just right ♪ ♪ and the radio up ♪ get 5 boneless wings for $1 with any handcrafted burger. only at applebee's. psst! psst! allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily stops your body from overreacting to allergens all season long. psst! psst! you're good. ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ hey limu! 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