In fairness, nobody will feel much like laughing at The One Where Everybody Got Sick, not least HBO’s parent company. But in the fraught interim, the line-up of available diversions will be defined more by what is missing and different than what has stayed intact. Social distanceTwo Irish versions of UK formats – Virgin Media Television’s Gogglebox Ireland and RTÉ’s First Dates Ireland – will also return in Covid-tinged shape. Not since the 2007-2008 US writers’ strike has the business of scripted television been subject to such a broad, product-altering upheaval. It had luckily filmed seven of the planned eight episodes in its second series before anybody had heard of Covid-19.

Source: The Irish Times August 11, 2020 04:06 UTC