After finding successful new life on Pop TV, the reimagining of Norman Lear’s One Day At a Time is finding a new way to continue around the unfortunate global pandemic with the announcement of a spring animated special, according to Deadline.
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Filming on the fourth season was halted in mid-March amidst the growing health concerns and executive producer/co-showrunner Gloria Calderón Kellett brought the idea of an animated episode with fellow executive producer/co-showrunner Mike Royce after developing it with her cartoonist husband. The duo then pitched it to producing studio Sony Pictures TV, which helped get development underway on the special.
“In my 97 years, I’ve never known of a multicam comedy to animate a single episode as a special,” Lear said in a statement. “Even this I get to experience.”
The special will center on Penelope’s conservative family visiting and the dread she’s feeling over the upcoming election and how it will affect their interactions, believing it will lead to a fight over politics. The Alvarez family will spend the episode discussing strategies of how to get through this, illustrated through fantasy sequences, with Jonas Diamond, executive producer and co-owner of Smiley Guy Studios in Toronto overseeing the animation.
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The storyline for the episode was originally planned for a live-action production with virtual effects versus animation, but when the pandemic hit and production was shut down, the creators pivoted to the animation decision, namely as it would have no connection to the overall arc of the season.
“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,” Kellett said in a statement. “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 mid-season finale of One Day At a Time, is set to air on April 28 simulcasted on Pop TV and TV Land. The series is produced by Sony Pictures Television, Act III Productions, Inc., Snowpants Productoins and GloNation, along with Lear, Mike Royce, Kellett and Brent Miller as executive producers.
ComingSoon.net recommends all readers comply with CDC guidelines and remain as isolated as possible during this urgent time.
