With COVID-19 on every aspect of viewers’ lives, some TV shows from the obvious medical dramas to sitcoms have woven the pandemic into their latest seasons’ storylines.
In the opening scenes of the latest season (Season 17, Episodes 1 and 2) of long-running hospital drama “Grey’s Anatomy,” Meredith Grey enjoys a quiet moment alone on a beach.
She suddenly emerges from the dream, exhausted, in full PPE, in a frantic emergency room.
“I think we have a responsibility to really show what these health care workers have been going through,” series star Ellen Pompeo said in a recent Deadline interview.
At a time when many Americans are “uncomfortable with wearing a mask” and “disconnected” from the challenges facing hospitals, the latest season of “Grey’s” offers “an opportunity to tell the story of how hard this is for our health care workers,” she said.
Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, showrunners for NBC’s “Chicago Med,” told AFP that “as a hospital show, we knew we’d have to deal with the pandemic.”
“So far it plays if not a direct then a tangential role in every one of the new episodes,” said Frolov and Schneider about the show’s sixth season, which premiered on November 11.
“Even if we’re not doing Covid patient stories, the virus has profoundly changed protocols and procedures in the hospital.”
Other medical shows like ABC’s “The Good Doctor” have already tackled the virus, while “New Amsterdam” and “The Resident” are ready to follow suit in 2021.
Outside of hospital settings, US network shows have also incorporated elements of the pandemic’s impact.
NBC’s hit drama “This is Us” has members of the Pearson family sheltering at home, and matriarch Rebecca having to postpone an Alzheimer’s clinical trial, because of coronavirus.
