Netflix Canceled ‘One Day At A Time’ And Used Twitter To Awkwardly Attempt To Defend Why They’re Doing It

Netflix

A little over a month after its third season began streaming, One Day at a Time has been canceled by Netflix.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the company’s chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, commented on the cancellation in a rare statement. “It’s been a great honor to work with the legendary Norman Lear,” he said. “I’ve personally spoken with Norman and co-creators Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce to express my gratitude to them, all the writers, the dedicated crew and the cast, including the brilliant Justina Machado and dazzling Rita Moreno, for creating a series with such humor, heart and humanity.”

Adapted by Kellett and Royce from Lear’s original series of the same name, One Day at a Time was a critical darling with a social media following. Despite this, the show repeatedly struggled to earn season renewals from Netflix. (Busy Philipps’s E! program Busy Tonight even launched a campaign to save the show.) This is probably why Sarandos himself got involved in the cancellation announcement. It also explains Netflix’s decision to provide additional commentary on social media.

In a series of tweets, the official Netflix Twitter account repurposed portions of Sarandos’s official statement. The account also praised One Day at a Time for its efforts regarding representation in media. “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,” read the tweet. “The outpouring of love for this show is a firm reminder to us that we must continue finding ways to tell these stories.”

— Netflix US (@netflix) March 14, 2019

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.

— Netflix US (@netflix) March 14, 2019

Needless to say, many have either been confused or justifiably irritated by Netflix’s tweets regarding One Day at a Time‘s cancellation.

— pilot! (@pilotviruet) March 14, 2019

netflix paid $100 million to stream Friends for one year. https://t.co/KFoO8CnKET

— Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (@Hello_Tailor) March 14, 2019

— Alan Sepinwall (@sepinwall) March 14, 2019

Netflix's social strategy is "it's me, your friend, Netflix," so let me fix this tweet –

"look, we had to pay Sony for this show, which meant it was more expensive. We'll probably try to make another show like this, but we'll own it next time so it can be cheaper" https://t.co/WGjXmPxhFv

— Kathryn VanArendonk (@kvanaren) March 14, 2019

This is transparently absurd. They have a perfectly good way to "tell this story": renew the show. The entire story of Netflix right now is that they throw around money like Scrooge McDuck. https://t.co/Bmpxlrxw7i

— Linda Holmes (@lindaholmes) March 14, 2019

yeah, no, you don't get to cancel the show and tweet this https://t.co/lFs3rXpeJA

— Sam Adams (@SamuelAAdams) March 14, 2019

Oh wow you thought this tweet was a good idea. https://t.co/KG6bsLyGpj

— Kayleigh Donaldson (@Ceilidhann) March 14, 2019

You could continue to tell this story wtf https://t.co/dQfBopsxJE

— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) March 14, 2019