Movies

'One Day At A Time' Saved By Pop TV Months After Netflix Cancelled It

One Day at a Time saved
By Ben Pearson

Pop TV, the cable home of Schitt's Creek, has picked up the beloved TV series One Day at a Time for a fourth season, snatching it from the jaws of oblivion about three and a half months after Netflix cancelled it. A brand new 13-episode season will debut on the channel sometime in 2020. While Netflix was once known as the haven for cancelled shows, this appears to mark the first time ever that a streaming show has been picked up by a cable network.Vulture originally broke the news about One Day at a Time season 4, and Pop TV quickly confirmed it with a press release of their own. Stars Rita Moreno, Justina Machado, Isabella Gomez, Todd Grinnell, Marcel Ruiz, and Stephen Tobolowsky are all signed on to return. The first three seasons of the show will remain on Netflix for now, and interestingly, the fourth season will also be broadcast on the traditional CBS television network later in 2020 after it debuts on Pop. (CBS owns Pop.) Streaming rights for shows like this get complicated very quickly (you can read much more about that here), but the gist is that a contract provision wouldn't allow One Day at a Time to air on another streaming service for years; a traditional linear network like Pop only had to wait a few months. The final outcome here is that Pop will be able to air the first three seasons on its channel in the lead-up to the new season, and the streaming rights to the fourth season will be sold at a later date.

"We are thrilled beyond belief to be making more One Day At A Time," executive producers and co-showrunners Gloria Calderón Kellett and Mike Royce said in a joint statement. "This show has meant so much to so many, and we can't wait to dive in with our amazing new partners Pop and CBS. And we'd especially like to thank all of the fans for their undying support, helping us turn#SaveODAAT into #MoreODAAT."

It sounds like there are two significant changes that will be made to the show in its new form. The first involves the writing staff, because many of the writers who were attached to the show were hired elsewhere after Netflix cancelled it and the series hovered in limbo. A new roster for the writers' room is being planned now, and the showrunners have already been combing through submissions to find replacements.

The second change will come in the form of the writers needing to write toward act breaks for commercials, whereas they didn't have to worry about that on Netflix. "They have assured us we can make the show we want to make," Kellett told Vulture. "And writing toward act breaks is actually an exciting challenge we're sort of looking forward to."

When the show was cancelled, celebrities, fans, and critics alike voiced their disappointment and rallied to form passionate campaigns to keep the show alive. Looks like that passion paid off.

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