Going old school has its perks, and One Day at a Time is anomaly in the current TV era as a streaming-birthed series that was canceled and ultimately rescued by a cable TV network. Typically, it’s streaming that has saved those series canceled by linear TV.
The big upside to airing weekly for the creators and writers of the Norman Lear Latinx series is being able to write toward the topics and issues of what’s going on currently, rather than writing well in advance, banking them and dropping all the episodes at once.
“We’re going to buy America a water cooler for each home,” quipped co-creator Mike Royce when asked about the perks of the series airing weekly.
“We get to sit in the yumminess of each episode, that is so exhilarating. That’s what Norman’s shows were like. Our fanbase is social-media based so we get to stop and talk,” said Gloria Calderon Kellett.
Calderon Kellett said she nor the creators weren’t privy to the behind-the-scenes negotiations of the series being rescued by Pop TV, but it didn’t surprise Royce because the show’s production company Sony “fights so hard for their shows and did so for us.” He had a similar experience with Sony when they rescued a Fox show he executive produced, Enlisted, by landing it on the former Yahoo Screen service.
Other changes going from Netflix to a linear channel: that theme song which was 50 seconds long is getting cut to just having the title sung “because we need that (extra) time” said Calderon Kellett, “Gloria Estefan will be fine.” Whether she’ll guest-star, “we don’t know yet” added the co-creator.
And what can we expect from demographics for the show now that it’s on a linear network?
“I know we’ll have ratings, which Netflix didn’t have” said Royce then joking, “which is why I’m happy to announce that we were the highest rated show on Netflix.”
One Day at a Time will premiere on Pop on March 24.