One Day at a Time revived for Season 4 on Pop and CBS

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The canceled Netflix comedy has found a new home on Pop TV. The CBS-owned cable network has ordered a 13-episode fourth season of the Cuban-American revival of the classic Norman Lear comedy to air in 2020. As part of the deal, CBS will re-air Season 4 later in 2020. The deal, marking the first time a canceled Netflix series has found a new home, also gives Pop the rights to air Seasons 1 through 3, while Netflix retains streaming rights to the first three seasons. After its cancelation, One Day at a Time's options were limited because Netflix held exclusive streaming rights to the comedy, preventing it from jumping to another streaming service for a few years. The deal also marks a reunion for Lear and CBS, where many of his groundbreaking shows aired, including All in the Family, The Jeffersons and the original One Day at a Time. "How amazing it is to be involved with this brilliant and culturally significant series that deals with important themes one minute while making you laugh the next,” Pop TV president Brad Schwartz said in a statement. "If Schitt’s Creek has taught us anything, it’s that love and kindness always wins. Pop is now the home to two of the most critically praised and fan-adored comedies in all of television, bringing even more premium content to basic cable. We couldn’t be more proud to continue telling heartwarming stories of love, inclusion, acceptance and diversity that pull on your emotions while putting a smile on your face." Lear added in his own statement: “Three months ago, I was heartbroken with the news of our beloved One Day at a Time’s cancellation. Today, I’m overwhelmed with joy to know the Alvarez family will live on. Thank you to my producing partner, Brent Miller, our incredibly talented co-showrunners, Mike Royce and Gloria Calderon Kellett, and of course, Sony, for never once giving up on the show, our actors or the possibility that a cable network could finally save a cancelled series that originated on a streaming service. And one last thank you to, Pop, for having the guts to be that first cable network. Even this I get to experience – at 96."

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• One Day at a Time creators say they'll be able to be more timely as a weekly show: “It’s very interesting because instead of binged at once, we are going to come out once a week and will be able to be a little closer to when things will be happening,” said Mike Royce, who co-created the Netflix comedy with Gloria Calderon Kellett. “Will still of course will be producing it well ahead of the events that are happening but that will be a new experience to have the timing of it.” Kellett said of the pickup: “It’s a lower budget, we all made sacrifices, we all came up with compromises in order to keep the show going but nothing to prevent us from making the show that we wanted to make. That’s one of the things about Pop that made it really exciting for us -they made very clear that they wanted to keep making the show we want to make; that’s all you want to hear as a creator.”
  One Day at a Time stars celebrate the news on Twitter: "#SAVEODAAT is old news...#MoreODAAT is more like it!!" tweeted Rita Moreno. "Thank you @PopTV #ODAAT @OneDayAtATime we're backkkk!!"

One Day at a Time cast and crew expect to keep going after Season 4

According to The Hollywood Reporter, One Day at a Time's move to Pop after Netflix's cancelation was thanks to a deficit finance model. "That means Pop will pay a licensing fee — that is less than the cost of the series — to Sony for the right to air the show. Season four of the comedy, set to return in 2020, will see a slight reduction in its budget (though it is not expected to be evident onscreen)," explains The Hollywood Reporter's Lesley Goldberg. "With the new deal, Sony now will gain international and syndication rights to sell the show's fourth season (and beyond). That key additional revenue stream helps Sony avoid having to bring in CBS TV Studios as a co-producer on the series." As Mike Royce, who co-created the Netflix revival of Norman Lear's classic comedy with Gloria Calderon Kellett, put it: "(Sony) talked to everyone, big and small, and figured out creative ways to go at this." As for the future, Royce doesn't intend for next season to be One Day at a Time's last. "I don't think Rita (Moreno) is going to stop after 10," he said with a laugh. "It's the kind of show that has more stories to tell. It's not done. It's a format where you can keep going. … We'll see what happens this season. It's a very experimental situation — no one has ever done anything like this before."

Pop TV president on his One Day at a Time expectations: "Critical acclaim is a big metric for us"

Brad Schwartz, who has overseen the former TV Guide Network for the past six years, confirmed that Schitt's Creek's final season will be used to promote One Day at a Time. "We have the final season of Schitt's Creek, which I would imagine will be event TV with a big audience every week," he tells The Hollywood Reporter. "Within those episodes, we'll be able to tell people about One Day at a Time and hopefully start the latter out of Schitt's Creek's ending. We'd pass the baton from one to the other." Schwartz also plans to use reruns of the first three seasons of One Day at a Time for marketing purposes, such as marathons (but not for weekly airings). Schwartz also discussed if he will have ratings expectations for the canceled Netflix comedy. "One of the advantages that Schitt's Creek has had is that it's a network's No. 1 show," he says. "You'd always rather be a network's No. 1 show than another network's No. 8 show, even if it's a bigger platform. It gets such an outsized portion of our marketing budget and attention with the press. You really have every part of your company working overtime on what is your No. 1 show. And Schitt's Creek has enjoyed that kind of support on Pop and has grown year after year. As a smaller network that's passionate about something, you can give it time to grow. Using (Netflix content boss Cindy Holland's) analysis, you could argue that if you just looked at the numbers, Schitt's Creek should have been canceled after two years. But we love the show and we are so passionate about it. It was our No. 1 show and it put us on the map and broke through and now it's in the Emmy conversation. For us, we have different metrics of what success is. Critical acclaim is a big metric for us and having a passionate fanbase is important for us. My expectation for the show is I hope it rates similarly to Schitt's Creek, which means it's not a 2 million viewer show. But it's a show that's moving the needle, defining the network and making us proud to come to work every day and work on it. I think you'll see more effort put behind One Day at a Time on Pop than it was on Netflix, even though we're a smaller business."

ALSO:

• One Day at a Time's resurrection proves buzz still matters in the streaming era
  Latinos in Hollywood were especially thrilled by the success of #SaveODAAT: “¡Aleluya! Look at what you did Brown Twitter! You showed up for #ODAAT and now #ODAATSAVED !!!” tweeted Vida creator Tanya Saracho. “This is a win, mi gente! A most definite win!”
  Justina Machado to produce and direct a Season 4 episode