Wanda Vision, Grey’s Anatomy, The Handmaid’s Tale and Stranger Things among shows postponed.
With COVID-19 responsible for more than 6000 deaths worldwide, the business of entertainment has been hit just as hard as other industries. Even as we spend our time binge-watching Netflix and discovering new shows - both fictional and non-fictional series that were already shot - the real question is will present in-productions go on?
The effect of corona virus has led to postponements in cable, network and streaming overall, reported multiple credible publications.
With American actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson already having picked up the virus – on their way back from Australia - where Hanks was shooting for Baz Luhrmann’s film on Elvis Presley – containment of corona virus has become a ubiquitous necessity, according to World Health Organisation.
Europe has been hit the hardest – a continent that has served as the backdrop for many-a-series in the age of Netflix as well as Hollywood films – but beyond Mission Impossible 7 that tends to shoot around the globe (Goodbye, Mr. Hunt), what else is being cancelled/postponed/dropped as the virus is said to peak in the next 10-15 days.
We know that James Bond film, No Time to Die, has moved its release date but what about the rest of it. The latest news is that PaleyFest and at least two different editions of Comic Com were postponed. But these were events that catered to fans in person even as they served as spaces where conversations about television shows, upcoming seasons and exclusive footage was screened – among other things.
All late-night shows as well as daytime talk shows have cut out audiences with empty seats to ensure public safety and some have opted to not go on as of yesterday including the very popular Late Night with John Oliver, Late Night With Seth Meyers, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Full Frontal With Samantha Bee.
Fans of network television, streaming services and superheroes; brace yourself. If 2020 was going to be an interesting year of pop culture, think again.
Disney+ that owns Marvel has had to put some of its major TV plans aside. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, an offshoot TV series from Avengers: Endgame (as Marvel Cinematic Universe aka, MCU shifted to its fourth phase) is no longer being shot in Prague, leading to postponement of the overall show. Similarly, the second offshoot series, Wanda Vision and third offshoot series, Loki (featuring Tom Hiddleston in the titular role) is also postponed.
It remains to be seen how many drop production at all for this season, with others being cautiously optimistic that they will return with lessened numbers of episodes of a season due to delayed shooting.
AppleTV+’s The Morning Show has gone on a two-week hiatus while shows like Russian Doll, Little America and Rutherford Falls has postponed their respective shoots.
Some of TV’s most-watched shows have stopped shooting for now. Among them are names like Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), The Blacklist (NBC), Empire (Fox), The Flash (CW), The Walking Dead (AMC), Riverdale (The CW), Atlanta (FX), Chicago Fire (NBC), Chicago Med (NBC), Chicago P.D. (NBC), The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu), Grace and Frankie (Netflix), The Good Fight (CBS All Access), Stranger Things (Netflix), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC) and Lucifer (Netflix). The current tally stands at 70 including reality shows like Survivor and many others. How this changes face of television will depend on how numbers rise or fall. s
– With information from TVLine
