A List of Shows affected by COVID-19

Deborah De La Cruz

COVID-19 has taken a part in many shows in the United States some being a part of Netflix, ABC, and Fox.

With COVID-19 still around, it leaves the film industry unsure about when they’re going to continue or start filming again. A handful of shows have resulted in their filming either being postponed or even canceled for good. Here’s a list of shows and how they’re dealing with the COVID outbreak.

“Stranger Things”
This super popular Netflix show got renewed by Netflix last year and started filming its fourth season in early 2020 but soon had to stop production due to COVID-19. “Stranger Things” has begun filming once again as photos of the cast on set were released. While there is no release date for season four, it is expected to come in late 2021.

“America’s Got Talent”
Although “America’s Got Talent” had to stop filming after only nine days of live auditions, they still figured a way to have people audition virtually. Contestants were able to submit videos and the four judges safely watch them perform on a big screen outdoors. Figuring out how they were going to get back to doing live shows, judge Simon Cowell explained, “We’ve worked out three different scenarios for how we can shoot the live shows with or without an audience.” Fortunately, they were able to finish the show live and go back to the “America’s Got Talent”stage but with no audience.

“Euphoria”
This popular HBO show starring Zendaya was renewed last year after it quickly grew in popularity. They were expected to film season two in March of 2020 and were just days away from starting before they had to shut down their set. Waiting for a safer time to begin filming, Zendaya said, “There is a beautiful second season that has been written, but in order to do it the way we want to, we need to wait until it’s safer.” They postponed their filming to early 2021 but do not worry Euphoria fans, because “Euphoria” revealed that they will be releasing two new special episodes that will premier in Dec. of 2020.

“High School Musical: The Musical: The Series”
The Disney Plus original series was a huge hit when it was released last year. It even got renewed for its second season before the show aired. They started to film season two in Feb. of 2020 before it got delayed due to COVID-19. This means that we will not be able to see season two until 2021 but don’t get your hopes down because they released that instead, a holiday special will come out on Dec. 11th only on Disney Plus.

“Big Brother”
“Big Brother,” the show which is about being isolated from the world and stuck in a house with other people. The downside to this was that the people inside the house weren’t even aware of how bad COVID-19 was getting. “Big Brother Australia” along with “Big Brother Canada” were both in the middle of filming as COVID started to travel here. They would tell the houseguests updates but as COVID cases were rising it left them no choice but to stop the game. As for Big Brother U.S., using safety precautions they decided to start their season on Aug. 5th, 2020. Host, Julie Chen explains in an ET interview that the contestants will be getting tested every few days and for the crew, “Everyone is working in a pod.”

“Survivor”
“Survivor” was filmed last year in both May and June and this allowed for almost none of their filming to be canceled. Unfortunately, for their final episode they typically host a live reunion where they announce the winner of the $1 million dollars, but due to COVID, they weren’t able to host one. So instead, they had to announce the winner virtually in a video call. As for future seasons of “Survivor,” COVID made them push back filming for their 41st season to spring of 2021 and it is still unclear if they’re still going to be allowed to film at their usual location in Fiji.

“Grey’s Anatomy”
Back in March, the popular ABC show was filming its 16th season before having to shut down which led them to never finish filming leaving the last four episodes of season 16 unable to air. Luckily, they were able to go back on set in Sept. and film their 17th season which aired on Nov. 12th of 2020. “Grey’s Anatomy” is also incorporating the pandemic in its 17th season. “There’s no way to be a long-running medical show and not do the medical story of our lifetimes,” said executive producer Krista Vernoff.

“The Society”
The Netflix show came out last May and was a huge hit. It was then renewed by Netflix for its second season in July of 2019. They were supposed to start filming season two in March which then got postponed to Sept.; but with COVID still around, they weren’t able to film and this led to the show being canceled. Struggling to find a way to film the show Christopher Keyser, creator of The Society said in an interview with Variety, “We spent the last bunch of months getting ready to go back again, dealing with all of the COVID protocols. And then I got a call from Netflix…and it was obviously pretty upsetting and abrupt.”