COVID-TV Is Coming—Eventually - Vanity Fair

So even though 2011’s Contagion has been a top rental on Apple’s iTunes Store for weeks, “no one wants to see Contagion, the series,” a writer told me. To wit, New Amsterdam, an NBC medical drama that takes place in New York, pulled an episode about a deadly flu pandemic that was set to air April 7. “It’s the epitome of what we don’t need to watch right now,” one writer told me.

But while literal “brother, can you spare a mask?” story lines may be few and far between when things go back to normal, viewers may see an abundance of coronavirus analogies in genre fare, with fear and anxiety of the unknown standing in for COVID-19. “I’m curious to see how this shows up in horror,” the producer told me. “Everything inspires artists.”

Still others don’t see how mentions of the viral outbreak can possibly be avoided in more reality-grounded programming. How can characters, even highly fictionalized ones, exist in a world where the lived experience of billions isn’t referred to at all? Another writer and producer is currently working on a comedy based in New York, one epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, with a pilot already shot in a pre-Covid-19 world and an eight-episode order to fulfill. Those subsequent installments will probably tackle the crisis somehow: “If you don’t address [the pandemic] even in a light way, you have your head in a cloud,” she told me. Addressing the outbreak, though, doesn’t have to mean going overboard. “Maybe you don’t have to do a whole story about it. It doesn’t have to be a public service announcement. Maybe it’s a joke about being grateful to be eating in a restaurant. People want wish fulfillment, escapism.”

The writer admitted, though, that it’s a challenge to write about something we are all still in the middle of, with no end in sight. “What do you write when you don’t know how it’s going to turn out?” she told me.

As we collectively shelter in place, some writers will acknowledge the pandemic subtly, with story lines reflecting a feeling of gratitude or larger themes of personal catharsis on a spiritual level. For these creatives, approaching the pandemic sideways means avoiding easy sentimentality. “Referencing 9/11 in TV shows could sometimes feel like an obvious, cheap way to get emotional resonance,” writer and producer Christian Taylor (Lost, Clone Wars) told me.

Either way, the writers generally agree on one thing: that half-hour comedies will touch on the issues of the pandemic and quarantine sooner than hour-long dramas once they finally see the light of day. “Maybe there will be a homemade-Purell joke or homeschooling references,” said Baidwan. “I’ve always admired comedies like Black-ish that seamlessly tackle current events with heart and humor. I’d love to see what they do with the topic of this pandemic.”

As for post-apocalyptic shows? “People are not going to want to see that anymore,” Taylor told me. “Who wants to watch it after living it?”