Pop TV’s beloved multi-cam sitcom series One Day at a Time will be producing an animated special episode that will air later this spring.
Like all live-action TV series, One Day at a Time suspended filming on its fourth season — and its first season at its new home of Pop TV — due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, while live-action production has been suspended, the show got creative and decided to go ahead with an animated special for its fans.
According to Deadline, shortly after One Day at a Time suspended production in mid-March, executive producer/co-showrunner Gloria Calderón Kellett, whose husband is a cartoonist, brought up the idea of an animated episode with fellow executive producer/co-showrunner Mike Royce. The two then took it to One Day at a Time producing studio Sony Pictures TV, which then began work on the episode.
“As we all know, it’s hard to keep One Day At a Time off the air. During this unprecedented time, we wanted to find a way to keep our family – on camera and behind the scenes – together and create more entertaining content for our fans who are self-distancing at home,” said Kellett, who has been leading an industry conversation to find solutions for safely restarting TV production. “This animated special gives us an exciting opportunity to imagine the Alvarez family in a colorful new way while continuing to tell important and relevant stories.”
The One Day At a Time animated special will center around Penelope’s conservative family visiting. Penelope dreads that with the election coming up, they won’t be able to avoid fighting over politics. With this in mind, the Alvarez family spends the episode discussing strategies of how to get through it, illustrated through fantasy sequences.
The cast will all voice their own characters and will be joined by celebrity guests that will be announced at a later date.
“In my 97 years, I’ve never known of a multicam comedy to animate a single episode as a special. Even this I get to experience,” said One Day at a Time executive producer Norman Lear.