TV shows should stop trying to depict the coronavirus pandemic: It's too soon!

Entertainment Weekly

Pointing to Robert and Michelle King's recently announced Spectrum Originals limited series The Second Wave, James Hibberd argues that it's time for TV shows to stop trying to portray the pandemic while it's still ongoing. "Nobody can correctly make an authentic drama about this pandemic right now," he says. "It’s been noted many times before that you cannot make a great movie about a war until years after the war has ended. No film captured the Holocaust until decades later, with 1985’s Shoah. No film captured the horrors of the Vietnam War until 1979's Apocalypse Now. Titles released about wars or similar events while they’re still ongoing are heavily influenced by current political and social sentiments. Plus, there’s always a significant lack the knowledge about a tragedy while it's still unfolding (our knowledge of COVID-19 seems to evolve every week). There is also, most crucially, just a deficit of overall perspective. It’s hard to imagine Connecting, Social Distance, and now The Second Wave being viewed with much regard in the years to come. They’re far more likely to be seen as curious time capsule artifacts — tone-deaf, factually ignorant, and just wrong-feeling in ways that we cannot yet realize or understand (comedies, in particular, could eventually be viewed the way we look at the World War II POW sitcom Hogan's Heroes now). ALSO: Six ways TV shows are adjusting to the pandemic, including making guest stars more special and reducing crowd scenes.