After just three short seasons, Netflix made the decision to cancel ‘One Day at a Time.’ The show follows the Alvarez family, a Cuban-American household consisting of Penelope, an army veteran, Lydia, her mother and an immigrant from Cuba and Penelope’s two kids, Elena and Alex. For many, seeing this show was the first time seeing themselves and their families represented on pop culture.
Aside from the diverse cast, the show tackles many issues that others do not or are afraid to, such as alcoholism and sobriety, gender identity, sexuality, PTSD, depression and anxiety, discrimination, obtaining citizenship and even more.
In their announcement that the show would not be renewed for another season, Netflix seemed to try and force blame onto the viewers for not recruiting enough new people to watch the show. They stated “We’ve made the very difficult decision not to renew “One Day At A Time” for a fourth season. The choice did not come easily — we spent several weeks trying to find a way to make another season work but in the end simply not enough people watched to justify another season.” Conveniently for them, those viewership numbers are not available to the public, making it easy for them to shift the blame. Obviously, they shouldn’t feel the need to renew a show that is losing them money but, again, we really have no indicator whether or not they were. And, as a quick reminder, Netflix spent 100 MILLION DOLLARS to keep ‘Friends’, an outdated show about six straight, cisgender white people, on their streaming service.
They finished their statement by saying “And to anyone who felt seen or represented — possibly for the first time — by ODAAT, please don’t take this as an indication your story is not important. The outpouring of love for this show is a firm reminder to us that we must continue finding ways to tell these stories.” I’m sure this statement was well-intentioned but it really just seems like a way to cover themselves after spending millions to keep ‘Friends’ and continuing to renew problematic shows like ‘Insatiable.’
Season 3 also left off on a cliffhanger with Lydia going back to Cuba for the first time, Penelope becoming a nurse practitioner. Fans have attempted to start petitions to bring the show back but, as of right now, it does not seem like there’s much we can do. Hopefully, Netflix will continue to represent marginalized communities in the way it did in ODAaT. Representation matters.