‘One Day At A Time’ Is Saved By Pop TV

The beloved sitcom One Day At A Time was canceled by Netflix in March, disappointing its devoted audience. Fans of the series launched a #SaveODAAT campaign, amid rumors that other networks were in talks to bring the show back for a fourth season.

Now, the series has in fact been saved. Pop TV has picked up the series for a new season, Vulture was first to report it Tuesday. The channel has ordered a 13-episode season that will debut in 2020.

One Day At a Time is the first series, during the brief history of streaming, to jump from a streaming service to a cable network. The deal also includes an option for the main CBS network to air an “encore” of the series later in 2020. The first three seasons of the show will remain available on Netflix, with the fourth billed as a “Pop TV original.”

Pop TV, owned by CBS, is a cable channel that was formerly known as TV Guide Channel. It’s best-known as the streaming service that airs the Canadian sitcom Schitt’s Creek in the United States.

One Day At a Time arrived in 2017 as a remake of Norman Lear’s 1970s series, and the now-96-year-old Lear remained involved with the show as an executive producer.

The modern One Day at a Time tells the story of a Cuban-American family living in Los Angeles, with traditional sitcom humor that often touches on such social issues such as alcoholism, PTSD, racism, immigration policy, and LGBT issues. The show stars Justina Machado as the family matriarch Penelope, Todd Grinnell as hipster landlord Schneider, and Isabel Gomez and Marcel Ruiz. Schneider and Marcel are Penelope’s two children. Rita Moreno, the legend of stage and screen, is also in the cast as Penelope’s mother.

I'm not sure how to experience this. I barely recognize it. I think it is what we used to call "good news." https://t.co/qSkwDwwqyK

— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) June 27, 2019

The series wasn’t a huge hit for Netflix, as the streaming service explained when it dropped the show, but it drew a passionate audience from those who saw themselves represented by the show.

Vulture had earlier reported on the talks to bring back the show. CBS All Access was reportedly interested in getting in on the bidding, but Netflix had a clause in its contract, which it refused to wave, that forbade the show from going to another streaming service after its cancellation.

“When we looked at the success we’ve had with Schitt’s Creek, we felt that was because of how it championed love and kindness, and how it has a lot of emotion mixed with a lot of heart and comedy,” Pop executive Brad Schwartz told Vulture. “And when you look at One Day at a Time, you see it does the same [thing]. They deal with inclusion and love and acceptance and family. They pull on your emotions and they make you laugh.”