When we think of the effect the coronavirus pandemic has had on TV, we mainly think of our favorite shows that may have been delayed (Derry Girls season 3, I’m still waiting for you!) or victim to unfair Covid cancellations (GLOW, they did you dirty!). But there’s the effect on shows that still make it through the delayed, more-expensive production phase: incorporation of the COVID-19 pandemic into the plot of fictional shows.
A few nights ago, my friend and I finished watching the second and most recent season of HBO Max’s The Other Two. The experience was overall delightful, and I recommend the show, but the last ten seconds made me curse aloud as the show ended by pinning down the present date as the first week of March 2020. Though I hope that was perhaps a one-off joke and not a sign that the third season will focus heavily on Covid, it got me thinking about which shows have managed to incorporate the pandemic well, and which… maybe should’ve held off.
The Good
Mythic Quest on Apple TV+ which was also one of the first shows to jump on the hot topic of the pandemic, with their “Quarantine” episode coming out in May 2020! While the rest of us were still getting used to lockdown, this cast and crew filmed an entire zoom-based episode of TV from home. It’s stunningly good, and stunningly uplifting. This worked well for a few reasons. First of all, Mythic Quest was a fairly natural fit to include the pandemic, given that a) their season 1 finale ended with them deciding to introduce a disease into the game, which was hilariously unfortunate timing both for the fictional game and the real TV show, and b) the natural transition for a workplace comedy based on making a video game to a work-from-home setting. The second season, which came out in Spring 2021, included some of the pains of switching back from work-from-home into the office setting, and successfully transitioned away from Covid being a focus without calling reality too much into question.
Superstore, the NBC sitcom which tackled the “life-goes-on in spite of the danger” plight of essential retail workers, really nailed the incorporation of Covid in their final season. Again, the pandemic was a natural fit for this show which for five seasons had already portrayed how retail workers are often forgotten or taken advantage of in the name of profit. The writers knew exactly how much to focus on Covid and how much to let it go in the background. It was a solid inclusion in their farewell season.
There are subtler ways to acknowledge the pandemic without outright including it.
Dear White People Season 4 nods to it in a tongue in cheek way by having the flash-forward future framing device full of characters mentioning “the last quarantine” and wearing incredibly stylish masks implying that one day, learning of a new pandemic will be just another routine. This, plus some Zoom-like video call jokes, makes for a few laughs without dwelling too much on this bleak disease we already have to think about too much in real life.
The Not-So-Good
I don’t have words to describe what a mess the second season of The Morning Show was. Which is a shame, because while season 1 wasn’t brilliant, it was entertaining… and baseline coherent. Season 2 was delayed due to Covid, and apparently, completely rewritten to focus around the pandemic – specifically the months leading up to the first outbreaks in the United States. I don’t think any person in the country thought, “Huh, I really wish I could relive January through March 2020, because I loved it so much the first time.” I really have to wonder what the executives who demanded this be the focus of the season were doing.
Then, there’s a case like The Sex Lives of College Girls, where a character mentions in a throwaway line, “he got Covid from so-and-so”. It wasn’t even a punchline, just a bit of filler, which really makes me wonder why on earth they’d open that can of worms at all! Up until that moment, I had assumed that this show, like most shows, wisely lived in a pandemic-free alternate universe, but with that one pesky little line, I now cannot focus on enjoying the show because I’m wondering why NO ONE IS EVER WEARING A MASK!??! Though this isn’t overly detrimental to the show’s quality, I still wonder why the writers decided to include one line when they could’ve let us live in full escapism.
The other question that naturally comes up for any show including Covid is: what happens next season? I have to assume, for the writers of at least some of these shows, they assumed the pandemic might be “over” by the time it came time to write another season, so they could move on without fanfare. But with the pandemic still very much continuing, will these shows be bound to including the effects of the pandemic in yet another season of television? Or will they unceremoniously drop it, pretend Covid is a thing of the past, like many people in real life have decided to do? Neither option feels great storytelling-wise, which is why I’m grateful for the vast majority of TV shows that have decided Covid can stay in the news, and out of fiction.
Podcast News
Our episode on the pilot of Insecure is now live! Listen to it here if you haven’t already.
Other TV News
One Day at a Time co-showrunner Gloria Calderon Kellett talks about her newest project and her love of writing and rom-coms in The Hollywood Reporter. Check out the article here.
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