Cristela Alonzo Says She’s ‘Angry’ About Cancelation Of Her Sitcom ‘Cristela’

Cristela Alonzo opened up about her feelings regarding the cancelation of her groundbreaking sitcom, Cristela, in a blog post published on Monday, May 11.

Cristela ran just one season before getting the axe from ABC earlier this month, and the show’s star and creator, Alonzo, is not afraid to say she’s upset at the network, writing that when she heard the news she felt “kinda sad, angry and other things.”

Cristela, loosely based on Alonzo’s family life, was the very first television sitcom created by a Latina – Alonzo created, wrote, produced and starred in the show. And, while she didn’t damn the network in her post-cancelation blog post, it’s clear she did not feel supported. Alonzo hints that, by refusing to give them a steady airing schedule or by not providing appropriate advertisement for the show, ABC made no real effort to promote her show and boost the ratings.

“I used to dream about what it would feel like to have your own show. As a little kid, I imagined my face on a billboard; a big sign that had my face on it. I always wondered what it would feel like to drive down the street and see your name on a billboard. Something that kinda said, ‘HEY WORLD! I’m here! Check out this show with me in it!” After having a show named after me on network TV for a year, I can tell you that I still don’t know what it’s like to have a billboard with my face on it. I never got one. But I can tell you what it feels like to have your face on some bus benches and the backs of buses,” Alonzo wrote.

After publishing her blog post, Alonzo revealed that she had been extremely proactive in trying to promote her show, with little to no help from the ABC Network. For example, she told one Twitter follower that it was she who begged to appear on The View to promote her show, not the other way around.

Moreover, it seems Alonzo believes this lack of support was likely related to a perceived sense of “otherness.” “A lot of people think that the way I grew up and the way my family is, seems outdated and old-fashioned, which is weird because back home in the Rio Grande Valley, I know a lot of families like mine. I think it’s because they’re not familiar with that kind of life and maybe if they haven’t seen it with their own eyes, they refuse to believe that it exists,” Alonzo wrote.

The cancelation didn’t come as a huge shock to Alonzo, who wrote a goodbye letter to the show when its season finale aired in April. “I’m not sure if the show is coming back. It worries me and not because I want to be on TV more. It worries me because I think this show gives a voice to people that haven’t been given a voice before,” she wrote at the time. Alonzo, who is also a standup comedian, has not yet announced what she plans on doing next, though she likely won’t be returning to ABC any time soon.

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.