Netflix tried to explain its cancellation of One Day at a Time and it didn't go over well

(Image credit: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)

last updated 15 March 2019

Netflix on Thursday attempted to explain its cancellation of the beloved comedy One Day at a Time, and received a healthy Twitter scolding in the process.

The streaming service announced it had "made the very difficult decision" to cancel One Day at a Time after three seasons, saying that anyone who "felt seen or represented" by the sitcom about a Cuban-American family shouldn't "take this as an indication your story is not important."

But critics pointed out since Netflix generally doesn't release viewership numbers, nobody knows what qualifies as not being "enough people" for Netflix, a company that Rolling Stone's Alan Sepinwall writes is big enough to afford to keep a show like this around "as a loss leader." With that in mind, "you don't get to tweet something like this," Sepinwall said. NPR's Linda Holmes called Netflix's latter tweet "transparently absurd" and a "condescending insult to injury," while writer Marisa Kabas said that canceling the series "is literally saying none of these stories are important enough."

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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.

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