In
my last post of this nature, I looked at practical considerations, what things
might look like as Hollywood takes its first tentative steps back toward
reopening, whenever that might be. Today, I’m thinking less about the making of
film/TV and more about the content, with a particular focus on TV.
To
start with, I wouldn’t say I’m hoping to see COVID-19-related storylines
whenever TV shows come back. Given all that the world has been going through,
it would likely 1) feel too soon/capitalizing on something awful for dramatic
valuable and 2) double down on a lot of bad feelings that we’ve all been living
in for a long time. Chances are, when new TV shows are being filmed, I’m going
to be in the mood/need for some escapism.
(That
said, I’d mostly be completely fine if any shows set in the present day
incorporate “phase 2/3” reopening aspects into the backdrop if it keeps the
actors safer. Not “all pandemic stories all the time” stuff, but little things
that reflect that half-open society we’ll likely be living in at that time –
desks at work spaced further apart, video-chatting with a friend instead of
meeting for coffee, etc. I’m all for anything that would offer more protections
for anyone and everyone involved in making the shows.)
But
even if I don’t want to see a lot of it moving forward, I find that I am curious about how the characters on
various shows I watch would be faring right now. A couple shows have dipped
their toes into this – Parks and Rec
reunited for a remotely-filmed special, and All
Rise recently did a remote episode showing the effects of the pandemic on
the legal system – but I wonder about all kinds of random shows. Again, I don’t
even necessarily want or need to see any of it (unless it’s something
short/special filmed now, like the above examples.) It’s more just food for
thought.
Doctor Who was one of the first shows that struck
me, probably because they have been
putting out content lately and have included small bits about characters
quarantining. And that got me thinking: the last we saw, the companions were
all dropped off at home in early 2020. When will they reunite with the Doctor,
and what will they have been through since then? Will they feel the Doctor
abandoned on the brink of a pandemic? Will their experiences change their
perspective on traveling in time and space at all, make them more cautious or
make them want to savor every second (or maybe just want to give Earth a wide
berth for a good long while)? Someday, decades down the line, will the
Twenty-Second Doctor or something take their companion to early 2020 to witness
this moment in history?
Oddly
enough, Black-ish is another show
that I really wonder about. It’s not one of my favorites, but there are a lot
of elements about the show that dovetail really specifically into what’s
happening now. Bow is both a doctor and on the California Board of Health, so
one way or another, she’d be involved. Dre’s parents, who are older and more
at-risk, are regulars on the show, and Dre himself has diabetes. Jack and Diane
would be doing distance learning (who’d supervise? Junior? Dre, while working
from home?), and what about Zoe? With her school closed, would she be back home
on hiatus from Grown-ish? I imagine
the Johnsons’ finances would shield them from many of the racial disparities
occurring amid the pandemic, but I’m sure Dre would talk about its
disproportionate impace on the Black community, and the show might do something
about Black people in face masks being hassled by police.
Then
there’s the superhero shows. Granted, the Arrowverse stuff doesn’t take place
on our Earth, but it still poses
interesting questions. Black Lightning
and Batwoman are both shows that
involve huge wealth/class gaps, so they’d have an opportunity to explore those
aspects of the pandemic (in addition to, again, racial disparities with Black Lightning,) and Supergirl includes aliens in the mix
(would any/all of them be susceptible? Would the virus affect aliens
differently? Would bigoted conspiracy theorists in National City think COVID-19
was alien in origin?) But more so than that, there’s simply the question, what
is a superhero’s place in a pandemic? Would the Flash be running PPE to
hospitals, would Supergirl be quelling anti-lockdown protests? How do you keep
your city safe when you’re sheltering in place? When you’re used to defeating
threats with super strength or super speed or lightning powers, what do you do
in the face of a threat you can’t fight?
I
haven’t latched onto too many medical shows over the years, but of the ones I
have watched, the one that most piques my curiosity of “what would they have
done” is Scrubs. At its best, that
show did such an impeccable job of balancing humor and pathos, life and death.
I can only imagine the kind of story they could have put together of the
doctors and nurses of Sacred Heart keeping one another going while doing
everything they can to treat their patients amid strained resources.
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