‘One Day at a Time’ Cast Reunites to Table Read Unseen Season 4 Episodes for Norman Lear’s Foundation
Three lost Season 4 episodes of “One Day at a Time” (including what would have been the series finale) will finally see the light of day — via a charity table read for the late Norman Lear’s People For the American Way foundation. The show’s cast and exec producers will reunite to read unproduced scripts on Saturday, Oct. 5 at the TV Academy’s Saban Media Center in North Hollywood.
Proceeds from the event will do to People For the American Way, the org co-founded by Lear that continues to focus on democracy and defending the country’s freedom. The scripts, which were written for “One Day at a Time’s” Season 4 but never produced, are a part of the event, to be produced by “One Day at a Time” exec producers Gloria Calderón Kellett, Mike Royce and Brent Miller, as well as producer Sandi Hochman.
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“Reuniting our ‘One Day at a Time’ cast to bring these unaired, unshot episodes to life – including what would have been our series finale – is a powerful reminder of the magic of Norman Lear and his work,” said co-showrunners and executive producers Gloria Calderón Kellett and Mike Royce in a joint statement. “It was an honor to bring this Latine family to the screen, and this reading is not just a celebration, but a chance to connect with our incredible fans once more and support a cause close to our hearts, People For The American Way Foundation, another of Norman’s brainchildren. Together, we honor Norman’s legacy, our beloved show and a community that has always supported us.”
The entire cast from the original series — which ran for three seasons on Netflix, followed by one more on Pop TV — will participate, including Justina Machado as “Penelope,” Rita Moreno as “Lydia,” Stephen Tobolowsky as “Dr. Berkowitz,” Todd Grinnell as “Schneider,” Isabella Gomez as “Elena,” Marcel Ruiz as “Alex,” India de Beaufort as “Avery,” Sheridan Pierce as “Syd” and Ed Quinn as “Max.”
Stage direction will be read by co-showrunner and executive producer, Gloria Calderón Kellett. The cast will be reading the unproduced Season 4 episodes “Church and Statement,” written by Sebastian Jones; “Best Birthday,” written by Vincent Brown & Dan Signer; and the series finale “Dreams,” written by Sebastian Jones & Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz.
“Norman Lear was brilliant at portraying loving families of all kinds, and he was adamant that all kinds of families, all kinds of Americans, deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and share in the blessings of liberty,” said People For the American Way Foundation president Svante Myrick. “We are grateful to the producers and cast of ‘One Day at a Time’ for helping People For the American Way Foundation carry on Norman’s work of defending our democracy and ensuring that ‘We, the People’ includes all the people.”
“One Day at a Time,” which comes from Sony Pictures TV, earned raves for its new take, with a predominantly Latine cast reinterpreting Lear’s classic 1975 series. Seasons 1-3 continue to stream on Netflix; after that streamer canceled the show, it was revived for one more frame in 2019 at Pop TV. The show was abruptly canceled in 2020 after Pop TV got out of the original scripted series business — with three episodes left unshot due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“One Day At A Time” follows three generations of a Cuban-American family. A newly-single mom and military veteran (Justina Machado) journeys through the triumphs and tribulations that come with raising two strong-willed, mega-millennial children (Isabella Gomez, Marcel Ruiz), all the while enlisting the “help” of her old-school mother (Rita Moreno) and her building manager-turned-invaluable confidante (Todd Grinnell). The series also stars Stephen Toblowsky.
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