Norman Lear and Rita Moreno are grappling with One Day at a Time's cancelation over data

The Hollywood Reporter

"It wasn't that the show failed to serve underrepresented audiences or address real-life issues with heart," the two TV icons write in a Hollywood Reporter essay. "We're told by critics and fans alike that our show was 'smart, funny, and, most crucially, empathetic toward people who rarely get such attention and consideration.' We've learned from our younger peers that we have 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and that we should be proud of that! We're assured that we never once failed to advance Netflix's stated commitment to representing diversity in its content — yet, because of the data, we're on to 'next.' So we've learned that evidently all the details are in the 'data.' We get it; corporations are responsible to their stockholders. And one could argue that it's the data — what we've known through the years as Nielsen ratings — that inevitably drives the decision-making process. But something is missing if that is the only criterion for survival of a show, the only data point, the only litmus test. Perhaps media has gone the way of managed care — the focus no longer patient and doctor, but bottom line."