MLBFan24

Creativity is the biggest value to me (since creativity is one of my assets). It could be music, movies, novels, arts and crafts, paintings, drawings, or in this case - TV shows.

Imagine after 5 months, the leader of writing team set up a meeting and asked what the other writers came up with for a new season. Everyone shares their ideas, etc. And one of the writers says let’s do “coronavirus”. I would fire that person on the spot for such a lazy creative process. After 5 months of lockdown, that’s what you came up with? Coronavirus.

Whether it be Law & Order, ripped from the headlines. Or Arab terrorists on 24: Legacy. Or another block of cop, doctor, lawyer shows this upcoming Fall.

Just lazy writing and lack of creativity, passion, and dedication to the art.

DJariya

It depends on the context really. A medical drama like The Good Doctor probably works better having it as a story element than say a Teen High school comedy.

I get it, you want fun, creativity and an escape in the entertainment you choose to consume and the world's biggest health crisis is not appealing to you to be shown in fictional TV.

It doesn't make it stupid or lazy for a certain type of drama to reflect it.

It's not like next season of The Blacklist James Spader and Megan Boone will be wearing face masks and social distancing. and I'm sure you would roll your eyes at that. It's the context and world it's set in. Some shows don't have worlds that are in our reality.

MLBFan24

I will give praise where it is due though.

I mentioned in the Blacklist thread that I was impressed with how they handled the unexpected finale episode. I know some people disliked it, but I thought it was really creative, despite the limited time and resources available. I applaud the whole cast and crew for that accomplishment.

tanman

That is a very specific idea of how an imaginary meeting went for a as of yet nonexisting episode. Expectations much?

tanman

Watching the first few episodes of L&O SVU and I can't stand the way they are handling the pandemic. The first 5 minutes of the very first episode of the season was hilarious. Like they were trying to fit in ALL of 2020 within the first opening minutes of the season. And they are driving me crazy with the masks. They have them on just to acknowledge them on screen and they actually take them off when they approach someone to talk to them because of course they can't have the stars of the show with their face covered. I really wish they just pretended like 2020 didn't happen

DJariya

So far from the shows I watch:

NCIS LA: Does not acknowledge the pandemic. Supposedly takes place after it.

NCIS: New Orleans: Takes place right in the middle of it. Bakula and his agents are wearing masks while out in cases and the ME played by CCH Pounder had one of her colleagues die from COVID.

NCIS: They went back in time and it takes place in November of 2019.

SWAT: Lightly acknowledge it. The team isn't wearing masks while out in the field.

FBI: Barely acknowledge it.

FBI Most Wanted: They did acknowledge it in the 1st episode. They were wearing masks.

The Good Doctor: The pandemic was only covered in episodes 1 and 2, then they time jump.

Chicago PD: Did not acknowledge it,

Chicago Fire: It was part of the story. But it was only lightly shown. A few characters wore masks.

Chicago Med: Big part of the storyline.

All Rise: Takes place right in the middle of the pandemic. They did an episode last season short entirely on Zoom because the storyline revolved around the pandemic. This season all the lawyers are wearing masks in the courtroom. Simone Missick's character (Lola, the judge) has a plexiglass shield in front of her. Each side of the courtroom also has plexiglass shields.

SteveA

It's only natural that the medical shows have incorporated the pandemic into their story lines. I think it's OK to include the wearing of masks and social distancing and Zoom, but when they start incorporating the pandemic into the actual plot lines, the stories become more boring and preachy. I'm all for doing all I can to stop the pandemic, I'm just tired of being preached to about something I already do.

Giantrobo

Wouldn't bother me. It makes sense if the show is based in this time. I mean, it would be weird on Star Trek Discovery...

kd5

I already despise what coronavirus is doing to us, I don't need to see that shit in my TV shows too. I watch TV to escape reality, not see an extension of it, which is why I don't normally do dramas or reality shows (NCIS, at least the first 10 seasons anyway, is my only real exception).

MLBFan24

"Superstore" incorporated the COVID storyline, just as any retail store in real life would. Actually, I may have been wrong with my original opinion because their storylines and jokes are pretty damn funny this year. Especially when they recreated the March chaos in the first episode where everyone was going apeshit in the stores with hoarding.

But I still hate when they talk through the mask. Or maybe it's ADR, but I hate it.

DJariya

This guide grades how well some of the shows have handled the pandemic. Superstore got the best review. A+

https://tvline.com/lists/tv-covid-ep...ic-storylines/

windom

I'm not sure why The Good Doctor even bothered to include Covid. They only covered it for two episodes and have now jumped past it being an issue. I guess episodes now take place in the second half of 2021 or 2022. And what if it hasn't gone away by then?

tanman

It bothered me a lot more then I thought it would. At least for SVU which is the only show that I've watched to incorporate it so far. It was more about how they tried to half ass it and have masks but then immediately take them off so it just totally takes you out of the story and I end up just yelling at Benson to put her damn mask back on.

Eric F

All of a sudden Olivia is a racist, which I found as odd considering they’ve gone out of their way the last 20+ seasons to show she wasn’t one.

windom

Two things keep popping up on different shows for a while now that I'm finding annoying.

Characters will show up to someone's house and explain they've been quarantining for 2 weeks, then walk into the house with no masks. This started a while back.

The new version of this is the character(s) will show up somewhere and declare "I'm fully vaccinated!" They usually rip off their mask at that point if they had one. This one actually started happening before vaccines were readily available but I'm seeing it more and more.

It's like they have to prove how safe their characters are being while at the same time not having the actors wear masks.

Red Dog

I watched the L&Os and Blackish incorporating it. It was weird. I know that a main storyline in L&O is the vaccine, but the masking or lack thereof was all over the place. For Blackish, they tackled it in an episode but it's like it never happened after that.

Giantrobo

That's the only thing that annoys me about L&O dealing with it.

Noonan

Cancelled now so it doesn't really matter but All Rise really went overboard with covid. Every episode was filmed as if it were during the height of the pandemic with everyone in face shields and/or masks, with plexiglass around everything.

DJariya

Magnum PI and NCIS LA mentioned COVID-19 in passing as it already happened and was past us.

NCIS takes place during COVID, but the mask use was inconsistent.

FBI and FBI most wanted started their seasons with light mask use, but they have pretty much abandoned it now.