Superstore is the TV show best equipped to tell coronavirus pandemic stories

Vulture

"There will be dozens and dozens of coronavirus stories on TV once productions start up again — it’ll show up on medical dramas and police procedurals, it’ll surely turn into a metaphorical foundation for science-fiction epics, it’ll spark even more dystopian fiction and get filtered down into oddball comedy treatments," says Kathryn VanArendonk. "But as my colleague Matt Zoller Seitz put it, Superstore is 'the only TV series I would trust to deal directly with this period in history.' There are a scant handful of other shows that’ll approach the pandemic in thoughtful ways — I am especially curious about how The Good Fight will weave the coronavirus into its signature mix of seriousness and absurdism — but nothing feels as capable and relevant as Superstore." Sure, medical dramas like New Amsterdam, Grey’s Anatomy and Chicago Med will tackle the pandemic from the perspective of doctors and nurses, while shows like Law & Order: SVU, Blue Bloods and The Rookie will approach the virus from a law enforcement perspective. "But we already expect police and medical dramas to be intense and sad," says VanArendonk. "Medical dramas are good at telling stories about citywide catastrophes, high-drama disasters, and apocalyptic anxieties that sweep over everyone all at once. It’s not that Grey’s Anatomy won’t be able to convey the overwhelming sadness of the coronavirus death toll but that it’s a show perpetually steeped in tragedy. Nightmarish calamity is bread and butter for SVU. For shows like these, the pandemic will be the story du jour, but it’ll also be what we’re used to seeing." But because of Superstore's premise, it's in "a unique position to tell pandemic stories from an especially poignant position," says VanArendonk. "Medical and police dramas treat their doctor and police characters like heroes because they do dramatic, lifesaving things but also because the world has already given them that status. (Heroism has never been as widely associated with nursing, though, which I hope the medical shows will address.) The stockers and checkout clerks and cleaning crew on Superstore, meanwhile, have always been essential employees in our economy, and Superstore has always treated them that way. Goofy and inept and strange though many of them are, Superstore’s ensemble cast of retail employees are people who deserve dignity and compassion. If the show does choose to take on the pandemic, they will be going to work under new, unknown, life-threatening circumstances. It will change Superstore in ways that will feel massive, irrevocable, and terrifying. It’ll feel more like our actual lived experience of these last few months."