What do you do when the coronavirus shuts down your TV production? You make it animated and bring on a Broadway star.
The Pop TV sitcom "One Day at Time" is coming back as an animated special and will feature "Hamilton" star Lin-Manuel Miranda's debut. Gloria Estefan and Melissa Fumero will also return as guests.
The critically acclaimed series had its midseason finale April 14 after the pandemic forced production to cease, but fans of the celebrated Latino-fronted series can catch the animated special when it premieres June 16 on Pop TV after a marathon of the current season.
The special, titled "The Politics Episode," will center on a visit from Penelope's conservative cousin Estrellita (Fumero), Tia Mirtha (Estefan) and Tio Juanito (Miranda). With a presidential election looming, a fight over politics is inevitable.
"One Day at a Time" had begun taping episodes of season four without a studio audience when filming was suspended mid-March due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus.
The original series debuted in 1975 and was developed by the legendary producer Norman Lear. A new iteration of it debuted on Netflix in 2017. After it was canceled, the show found a new home on Pop TV.
Lear, 97, serves as executive producer on the latest rendition, which follows the life of the Cuban American Alvarez family: Justina Machado ("Six Feet Under") stars as Penelope, a veteran and single mother of two teenagers, Elena (Isabella Gomez) and Alex (Marcel Ruiz). Rita Moreno plays Penelope's sassy mother who lives with them. And Todd Grinnell plays their lovable neighbor Schneider.
