Cornered by the COVID-19 shooting shutdown, Sony Pictures Television has turned to animation to create a fun new special installment of its critically acclaimed sitcom, One Day at a Time — executed with fully remote production. Guest starring Gloria Estefan (who sang the show’s theme song “This Is It”), Melissa Fumero and Lin-Manuel Miranda, “The Politics Episode” premieres Tuesday, June 16 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on Pop TV, following a marathon of the current season.
“The Politics Episode” will center around Penelope’s (Justina Machado) conservative cousin Estrellita (Fumero), Tia Mirtha (Estefan) and Tio Juanito (Miranda) coming to visit — and with the impending election, they won’t be able to avoid fighting over politics.
One Day at a Time is inspired by Emmy winner Norman Lear’s 1975 series of the same name. It tells the story of the Cuban-American Alvarez family, featuring Penelope (Screen Actors Guild Award winner Justina Machado), her mother Lydia (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony winner Rita Moreno), her boss Dr. Berkowitz (Stephen Tobolowsky), rich landlord Schneider (Todd Grinnell), her activist teenage daughter Elena (Isabella Gomez) and son Alex (Marcel Ruiz).
Jonas Diamond, Executive Producer and Co-Owner of Smiley Guy Studios in Toronto, and Rod Amador, Executive Producer and Co-Owner of Big Jump Entertainment in Ottawa, teamed up with the series’ producers (Act II Productions, Snowpants Productions and GloNation in association with Sony Pictures Television) and exec producers (Norman Lear, Mike Royce, Gloria Calderón Kellett and Brent Miller) to produce the tooned-up special.
The series’ live-action mid-season finale debuts tonight (Thursday, April 14).
