How much should episodic television acknowledge and build stories around current events? Last night, I watched two shows, All Rise and Bull, which dealt in part with things that have happened since they stopped production in the spring.
Both are, of course, legal dramas, and the new set-up in their fictional courtrooms reflected the pandemic--masks, social distancing, plastic shields on desks, etc. In fact, the courtroom part of Bull actually began with the judge explaining what the new safety protocols would be and why. Once that was past and explained, however, the story could well have been told a year ago.
All Rise, though, was completely dependent on the events of the past few months for its story. And not just the pandemic--several of the regular characters, and the defendant in the central trial, had been involved in the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer and their experiences shaped their actions in this episode and look to do so in the future.
I wonder how this will look to audiences who view these series in syndication or streaming in the future, when the context for them will be long gone. I recall that, as an example, Law & Order had very few episodes directly connected to the events of 9/11 and, indeed, waited a couple of years before delving into them from a legal perspective. The cops all wore black arm bands and black bands on their shields for the 2001-2 season, but there were no overt dialogue references to their experiences on that day or the aftermath. The West Wing did one "special" episode that dealt with the issues surrounding 9/11--but not the events themselves--and then never mentioned it directly again.
Is serial drama better off not paying attention to the "real world"?
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