Netflix Isn’t Done Defending ‘One Day at a Time’ Cancellation

Netflix canceled One Day at a Time more than a month ago, the streaming service is still defending their decision.

In March, the company announced that they were not ordering a fourth season of the show due to low viewership numbers, which many refuted.

Recently, Netflix Originals Vice President Cindy Holland spoke with The Hollywood Reporter, and opened up about how she personally saw the situation.

“The way I look at One Day at a Time is, it’s a show that I was and am passionate about. I hope people discover the three seasons we have. I prefer to look at it as glass half full,” she said, “we supported three seasons of a show that probably wouldn’t have made it past season one any other place, if it had been made at all.”

“I’m not intending to be self-serving, I’m just trying to explain that is how we view taking the risk in the first place and trying to continue to support shows as long as we can,” Holland added. “But at some point, we do need to look for other stories to tell that can garner bigger audiences.”

Holland was then asked about the possibility if the show moving to CBS All Access, who publicly offered to pick it up after Netflix dropped it.

In response, Holland explained, “We invested in three seasons and having a home at Netflix. We negotiated for specific rights in the deal, which we paid for. We paid for the show in its entirety, plus profit to Sony. They have the ability to sell it to broadcast and network, but we don’t think that it’s appropriate that it show up on a competitive streaming platform.”

THR referred to the fact that Netflix itself has actually brought back series such as Gilmore Girls and Arrested Development, and even rescued several shows from cancellation, like Designated Survivor and Lucifer.

They do point out that the difference is all these shows were broadcast series that moved to streaming, rather than a streaming series moving to another streaming service.

Notably, One Day at a Time star Rita Moreno and executive producer Norman Lear issued an open letter that THR published, wherein the two chided Netflix for its handling of the situation.

“It wasn’t that the show failed to serve underrepresented audiences or address real-life issues with heart,” they wrote, “We’re assured that we never once failed to advance Netflix’s stated commitment to representing diversity in its content — yet, because of the data, we’re on to ‘next.’ “

“So we’ve learned that evidently all the details are in the ‘data.’ We get it; corporations are responsible to their stockholders. And one could argue that it’s the data — what we’ve known through the years as Nielsen ratings — that inevitably drives the decision-making process,” the statement continued. “But something is missing if that is the only criterion for survival of a show, the only data point, the only litmus test. Perhaps media has gone the way of managed care — the focus no longer patient and doctor, but bottom line.”

“The Alvarez family is still looking for a home. And what we’re hearing, according to the ‘online data,’ is that there happens to be an enormous audience hoping and praying we succeed,” the statement concluded.

Seasons 1-3 of One Day at a Time are currently streaming on Netflix.