Steve Pond's Blog, page 1966
March 14, 2020
Ellen Pompeo Pays Tribute to Doctors, Nurses Fighting Coronavirus on the ‘Front Lines’ (Video)
Ellen Pompeo may not be a doctor in real life — but she does play one on TV and, on Friday, expressed great respect for her real-life counterparts: the doctors and nurses who are currently facing the coronavirus pandemic head on.
“This is my nurses and doctors and all healthcare workers appreciation post,” the “Grey’s Anatomy” star said in a video posted to Instagram. “Many of us have the privilege to self-quarantine and isolate and try to stay healthy, and none of you have that privilege. You all have to be on the front lines of this thing and what is certainly bad now, but will most definitely get worse in the next couple of weeks.”
“So this is just from me and my family to all of you to say thank you,” she continued. “We appreciate you, we love you. Stay safe. Nurses rock, doctors rock, and anyone who works in a hospital or the healthcare industry, you rock. We love you. Stay safe.”
Also Read: All the TV Productions Suspended or Delayed Due to Coronavirus Pandemic (Updating)
“Grey’s Anatomy” was one of many TV shows to suspend or delay production this week due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19, with showrunner Krista Vernoff, executive producer Debbie Allen and line producer James Williams breaking the news of a two-week hiatus in a memo to cast and crew late Thursday.
“Out of an abundance of caution, production is postponed on Grey’s Anatomy effective immediately,” the trio wrote. “We are going home now for at least two weeks and waiting to see how the coronavirus situation evolves. This decision was made to ensure the health and safety of the whole cast and crew and the safety of our loved ones outside of work, and it was made in accordance with Mayor Garcetti’s suggestion that we not gather in groups of more than 50. Stay safe, stay healthy, stay hydrated, stay home as much as possible, and wash your hands frequently. Please take care of yourselves and each other. As updates come in, we will keep you informed.”
Readers can find a list of all the series that have delayed or suspended production over the coronavirus here.
Also Read: 'Outbreak' Is Netflix's 9th Most-Popular Overall Title in the U.S. Right Now
See Pompeo’s Instagram post below.
View this post on Instagram
With Love and gratitude ????????.
A post shared by Ellen Pompeo (@ellenpompeo) on Mar 13, 2020 at 2:03pm PDT
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A World Without Sports: TV Networks Brace for Billion-Dollar Losses During Coronavirus Pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic brought the sports world to a screeching halt this week, and the networks that paid billions of dollars for the right to televise those games are bracing for impact.
And nobody knows how far and wide this financial hit will be during an unprecedented time when uncertainty has become the normal operating procedure. But this much is a sure thing: A spring without any live sports would cost networks like ESPN and TNT millions of viewers and billions of dollars.
The next few months alone feature March Madness, the NBA and NHL playoffs, The Masters golf tournament and the first pitch of the MLB season. If you stretch this into June, it will include the NBA and Stanley Cup Finals. (We won’t even get into the financial hit NBC would take if July’s Tokyo Olympics were called off.) It should be noted that while March Madness was completely canceled, everything else has been suspended or postponed, which makes figuring out the total impact a fool’s errand.
Also Read: Do TV Upfronts Still Matter Anyway Now That Coronavirus Wiped Out This Year's Event?
Everyone is in a holding pattern and waiting on the leagues for guidance.
But the NCAA Basketball Tournament, which was scheduled to begin next Tuesday, will hit both CBS and Turner in the wallet. Last year’s tournament brought in $910 million in ad revenue for CBS and Turner, who jointly present the three-week event and split the revenue equally. They’ll also incur ratings losses as they have to shuffle in re-runs: CBS is airing repeats of primetime series like “Young Sheldon” and “FBI” in its place.
When it comes to the NBA, it’s harder to gather just what the financial impact will be because we don’t know when, or if, the games will resume. The NBA was the first to halt its season after one of its own players tested positive for COVID-19 (Utah Jazz’s Rudy Gobert), the official name of the coronavirus. By Friday, all major sporting events around the world, including the English Premier League, had been called off.
Even if the games resume, the next month or so will be hard to swallow, with ESPN obviously seeing the biggest impact. According to estimates from MoffettNathanson, NBA coverage accounted for 11% of the time people spent watching ESPN in 2019, and accounted for 21% of its ad revenue, totaling $640 million. If the rest of the season were to get called off, MoffettNathanson estimates that ESPN’s parent company, Disney, would lose $481 million in ad revenue, when factoring in the losses ABC would incur for not airing playoff games or the NBA Finals.
Also Read: How Disney Could Weather the 'Temporary Storm' From Coronavirus
For TNT, which had NBA coverage make up 18% of its total time viewed last year, it would take a $210 million hit if the coronavirus wipes out rest of the season.
As far as programming, ESPN is taking it on a day-by-day basis and has only mapped out a plan through Sunday. The network is expected to have a long-term programming strategy by next week, according to an industry source. Any advertisers that booked ad time for upcoming NBA games will have the option of running alongside the replacement programming, moving to another Disney network or just waiting to see what the NBA advises, the source added.
ESPN declined to comment further on its plans, while a representative for Turner did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
The NBA gets more than $2.6 billion annually from Disney and WarnerMedia. March Madness’ current rights deal is for 14 years and $10.8 billion through 2024, which average out to $770 million a year. And it’s not exactly clear if the networks will get to recoup any of that, mainly because this is such a unique situation. Even analysts are unsure.
“[It] depends on each underlying contract and the definition of that contract,” MoffettNathanson’s senior research analyst Michael Nathanson said this week. “It is too soon to make a declarative statement as many of the networks appear to be reviewing their options.”
Rich Greenfield, of LightShed, said it was likely the situation would be handled similar to a work stoppage.
“As has been the case during lockouts, we believe NBA media rights holders still must pay the NBA rights fees, even if games are not aired,” he said in a research note, adding that the NBA is required to make its media rights owners “whole” (i.e. making sure they get back any lost value) over the length of the contract, which in this case extends through 2025. “The league makes its media rights owners whole for both lost ad dollars and lost affiliate fees. However, these calculations are complicated and may take a good deal of time for all sides to agree upon,” he added.
Also Read: All the TV Productions Suspended or Delayed Due to Coronavirus Pandemic (Updating)
It gets dicier when you get to the Regional Sports Networks, which rely even more on broadcasting their local teams’ games. Both national and regional networks are also required to air a certain percentage of their games or they’re in jeopardy of having to give back fees they make from cable and satellite operators. Greenfield states that, while they’re probably not in jeopardy in that regard with the NBA and NHL since both were nearing the finish line of their seasons, the MLB season is a different situation.
“If a meaningful portion of the MLB season is canceled (hard to push the season later due to weather), that could actually put affiliate fees in jeopardy, especially for the RSNs,” he said.
The long-term impacts could be felt even after the games resume. As other live events see their ratings decline, sports has been the last pillar keeping the legacy TV model upright. Without any games, viewers may choose to invest their dollars into paying or at least sampling more streaming services to keep them entertained.
“While we do not expect consumers to rush to cut the cord immediately, a prolonged sports outage could lead to a meaningful acceleration in cord-cutting,” Greenfield warned.
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Is There a New ‘SNL’ Episode Airing This Week?
We’re deep into the 45th season of “Saturday Night Live” now, and also deep into the holiday season. In the most recent episode of “SNL,” which aired on March 7, was hosted by Daniel Craig — who was ostensibly there to promote “No Time to Die,” though that film had already been delayed due the the coronavirus pandemic.
That episode’s cold open was a doozie, featuring a very surprising appearance by Elizabeth Warren. As in, the real Elizabeth Warren. The former presidential candidate, who dropped out of the race days before her “SNL” appearance, delivered one zinger after another and even shared the stage with cast member Kate McKinnon doing her familiar Warren impersonation.
In season 45, Alec Baldwin has made six appearances as Donald Trump thus far, starting in the premiere episode, and in the cold open on October 26, when he shared the stage with Darrell Hammond, the former “SNL” cast member who played Trump on the show for years. Baldwin popped up less often in season 44 than he did in the previous two seasons, when he would appear as Donald Trump in the cold open most weeks. Thus far he’s made one appearance per month in season 45 aside from January, which only had a single new episode.
Baldwin’s most recent appearance was in the Feb. 1 episode, when “SNL” imagined a version of Trump’s impeachment trial that actually made sense.
Also Read: 'SNL': Democratic Candidates Crash Pence's Coronavirus Press Conference (Video)
This week, on Saturday, March 14, there WILL NOT be a new episode of “SNL.” This is a standard, previously schedule hiatus for the sketch show, and not a delay due to the continuing spread of COVID-19. The next scheduled episode is for March 28, when John Krasinski is slated to host with Dua Lipa as the musical guest. But given the state of things at the moment, with so many big productions shutting down because of the pandemic, it seems very possible that episode won’t end up happening. But for now, NBC would appear to be taking the wait-and-see approach during this break.
Also Read: 'SNL': Larry David's Bernie Has an Easy Solution for Those Iowa Caucus Problems (Video)
While season 44 saw “SNL” seemingly tire of doing political commentary late in the season, season 45 has seen it return its politics-heavy form — and you can’t really get much more political than having a major presidential candidate make an appearance.
Every cold open this season has been political, and each has featured some surprise celebrity cameos. Including, perhaps most shockingly, Darrell Hammond’s brief appearance — Hammond was devastated three years ago when it picked Baldwin to play Trump over him. We’ve also seen Lin-Manuel Miranda and Billy Porter feature in one cold open, and Matthew Broderick in another.
While it certainly was surprising how light “SNL” was on politics in the back half of last season, it’s certainly no surprise that it’s back to its old ways given that we’re now neck deep in a new presidential election cycle. So the focus has been not just on mocking Trump, but also the circus that has been the run up to the Democratic primaries.
Not that the sketch show has in any way shied away from mocking Trump. The impeachment has certainly been a common topic for cold open sketches this season. There was the one where Baldwin’s Trump went through his contacts list trying to find a fixer who could make the impeachment stop, ending with a call to Liev Schreiber playing himself — Trump thought his character Ray Donovan, a fixer on the eponymous Showtime series was actually a real person.
There was also that one where “SNL” sent up the impeachment hearings by doing a “Days of Our Lives” parody that starred Jon Hamm.
As for the madness with the Democratic primary, we’ve had numerous big cameos in the debate sketches, as presumably “SNL” is already preparing for how season 46 will handle the general election this fall. So we’ve had Woody Harrelson make a couple appearances as Joe Biden, as well as Lin-Manuel Miranda as Julian Castro, Larry David as Bernie Sanders, Rachel Dratch as Amy Klobuchar, Fred Armisen as Michael Bloomberg, Mara Rudolph as Kamala Harris and Will Ferrell as Tom Steyer.
That’s a lot of cameos, and “SNL” actually managed to jam nearly all of those folks into a single sketch — a 12-minute debate parody from a late November episode. Miranda did not appear in that one, but he had previously popped up as Castro in October in a parody of the Democrats’ LGBTQ town hall that was moderated by Billy Porter in character as himself.
Meanwhile, the show is staying in-house for Elizabeth Warren, who has been played this season by “SNL” cast member Kate McKinnon several times, including a town hall sketch that she had all to herself. Though perhaps the real Warren might make more appearances in the future.
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Here’s How Emperor Palpatine Was Still Alive in ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’
(Ahead you’ll find some pretty big spoilers for “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”)
The revelation that Emperor Palpatine would return in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” was definitely a big mystery of the type JJ Abrams loves — we’ve all been cracking jokes about his whole mystery box concept since the “Lost” days. And this one was a doozie because, well, we’ve all thought for the past several decades that Palpatine definitely for sure died at the end of “Return of the Jedi.”
And as we learned in the prequels, it was extremely Anakin Skywalker’s destiny to kill him. So it was hard to guess how bringing the Emperor back would work, but it seemed like it would make the most sense for him to be a Force ghost who had been influencing events.
But from watching “The Rise of Skywalker,” you’re simply not going to get any answers about anything related to the Emperor. He’s just there, with a gigantic fleet of Star Destroyers equipped with Death Star lasers, and you have to just accept it.
Also Read: 6 Times the 'Rise of Skywalker' Novelization Retcons Past 'Star Wars' Movies
Fortunately, though, we finally get most of the key details from the novelization of “The Rise of Skywalker,” which is dubbed the “Expanded Edition.” While the novel certainly creates some new questions that may or may not be explored in the future, and also tries to recontextualize the entire film saga, it delves deep enough into what I’d describe as the “lore” of Palpatine that everything more of less makes sense now.
So the “Rise of Skywalker” novel recasts the Emperor’s life story, and basically turns what he’s trying to do in this movie — pass his soul into the body of a person who has enough power in the Force to contain him — as one of the main objectives of his entire life.
Obviously, one of the other objectives is to take over the galaxy. But ultimately his pursuit of power is endless. So he wants to rule, but beyond that he’s trying to increase his power with the Force and live forever. A big detail that this book adds, then, is that back in “Return of the Jedi” the Emperor was trying to do to Luke what he was attempting to do to Rey in this film. So all that stuff where he was trying to bait Luke into attacking him was not just a ruse to turn him to the dark side — he actually wanted Luke to kill him.
Now, I’m not convinced there’s any way to read “Return of the Jedi” that way, but that’s a discussion for another time. All that matters here is that these are the facts as we know them right now. But yes, that’s a pretty major retcon.
Also Read: The 23 Worst Parts of 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker'
What this means for how Palpatine survived when Darth Vader tossed him down that big pit in the middle of Death Star is that the Emperor came into that situation prepared to die and to pass his spirit into a new body. But obviously since his real plan didn’t work out, he had to go to plan B.
And plan B was Exegol, home of the Sith Eternal — you know, those creepy cultist guys from the movie. On Exegol they had been using Sith alchemy to construct a new body for the Emperor, but they were having a hard time making one that was strong enough to contain him — presumably this is why he resorted to trying to steal other people’s bodies.
So when Palpatine was thrown down that big shaft, just before his moment of death, he sent his spirit to Exegol, into the most complete body that his cultists had managed to put together. So what you’re seeing in “The Rise of Skywalker” is either that clone body or another one built later. But since it wasn’t up to snuff, his sheer power was rotting it from the inside.
This is, by the way, basically exactly the plot of the “Dark Empire” comics that were released 30 years ago. In those books, the Emperor put his spirit inside clone bodies that could not sustain him, and so he’d have to hop in a new one periodically. Eventually, he gave up and tried to posses Han and Leia’s baby son instead.
Also Read: 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' Now Has the Franchise's Lowest Rotten Tomatoes Score
Exegol isn’t just the cultists, by the way. The “Rise of Skywalker” novel also gives a little bit more context about the place, specifying that they have a whole normal civilization there. As in, there were enough people living on Exegol to fully crew all those Star Destroyers, with each having a full complement of those red stormtroopers. The book says there are “tens of thousands” of those ships, and so we’re talking over a billion people here, just for the military.So presumably there’s a ton more on top of that, especially given the manpower that would have been required to build all those ships.
Obviously we see no signs of any civilization there in the movie aside from the big Sith temple and that arena filled with cultists. And that’s because Exegol’s cities are underground. We’re not given any more details about them — there’s just a brief bit from the perspective of one of those Star Destroyer captains, who reflects for a moment on how she’s living through the culmination of her entire civilization’s history.
So that’s all of it. Since you can’t grow a human population that large that quickly, the implication here is that this Exegol civilization has been here a long time. Maybe we’ll get more about it in the upcoming “High Republic” project, which will deliver many stories — in novels and comics — set a couple centuries prior to these movies.
But for now, Exegol remains a very mysterious place, just slightly less so than it was when all we knew about it was what we got from the movie version of “The Rise of Skywalker.”
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March 13, 2020
‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ Filming Goes on Hiatus Over Coronavirus Concerns
Production on all of Universal’s live action films including “Jurassic World: Dominion” will go on hiatus starting this weekend as a precautionary measure amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the studio said on Friday night.
Along with the “Jurassic World” sequel, Universal also paused filming on the upcoming boxing biopic “Flint Strong,” starring Ice Cube and Ryan Destiny. Universal previously delayed the start of production on the romantic comedy “Bros” starring Billy Eichner.
The moves come amid a wave of production suspensions, cancellations and postponements as Hollywood reacts to the spread of the virus that causes the illness covid-19. The moves include the closure of major studio-affiliated theme parks, including Universal Studios Hollywood and Orlando.
Also Read: Here's How Coronavirus-Forced Production Delays Could Impact the TV Season
Measures to prevent the virus from spreading also include postponement of major Hollywood tentpole movie releases that were supposed to drive the spring 2020 box office. That includes Universal’s flagship franchise “Fast and Furious,” as the upcoming ninth installment, “F9,” was pushed back nearly a year from this May to April 2021.
Other delays include Disney’s “Mulan,” John Krasinksi’s “A Quiet Place Part II,” the Issa Rae-Kumail Nanjiani rom-com “The Lovebirds,” “The New Mutants” from 20th Century Studios and “Antlers” from Searchlight Pictures.
In addition to Krasinki’s sequel to “A Quiet Place,” originally due to open next Friday, Paramount also delayed the film “Blue Story.” These titles all join the previously announced delays for upcoming releases like MGM’s James Bond film “No Time to Die” and Sony’s “Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway.”
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Bill Maher Calls for Death to the Cruise Ship Industry on a Coronavirus-Filled, Audience-Free ‘Real Time’ (Video)
Late Friday afternoon HBO announced that “Real Time With Bill Maher” will be taking a temporary hiatus due to concerns about, you guessed it, coronavirus, and on Friday night’s episode, even he didn’t appear to be certain how long the hiatus will last.
“That’s our show, hopefully not our season,” Maher signed off at the end of the episode. “We’ll see you hopefully a week after this.”
Before that, you won’t be surprised to read, pretty much the entire episode was all about coronavirus. The show event went without a live studio audience (crew hands stepped up to laugh and cheer at the jokes) because of it. Topics include how to deal with the pandemic, whether and how much Donald Trump is to blame for how bad things have got, and how what people eat might affect their ability to fight it off. And during “New Rules,” it was also the perfect excuse for Maher to call for the death of the “disgusting” cruise ship industry.
Famously, at least three cruise ships have been the site of serious outbreaks of coronavirus, but that wasn’t the only reason Bill Maher wants them gone. He also noted that they contained things “good liberals are supposed to hate, like environmental destruction, exploited labor, greed, gluttony and disease.”
Also Read: Trump Said Google Is Creating a Coronavirus Screening Website, But It's Not -- Verily Is
Maher argued that one of the few good things about pandemics is that they “force society to rethink traditions, like shaking hands, sharing a dessert, making out with the dog, and yes even passing a joint.” So why not cruise ships, which he joked “are what happens when someone asks ‘What if my hotel could sink?'”
Maher said that those boats were terrible even before they became coronavirus epicenters. “Calling a cruise ship a floating petri dish was funny the first 300 times some gross disease swept through the cabins. But it’s not that funny anymore,” Maher said, “because petri dishes are small, and controllable, and stay locked in a lab where they can’t hurt anybody.”
“Cruise ships, on the other hand, are large and quite difficult to control,” Maher continued. “Which is why they keep crashing into things like docks, and rocks, and each other.”
Maher added that for germs, the boats are like a combination of Mardi Gras, spring break, and Las Vegas, but cautioned that “what happens on a cruise ship does not stay on a cruise ship.”
Maher also criticized the size of the boats, noting how heavily they pollute, and the horrible working conditions for cruise ship employees. “The reason you can afford a week of all-inclusive fun is because in the middle of the ocean there are very few laws, or people to enforce them.”
Also Read: All the TV Productions Suspended or Delayed Due to Coronavirus Pandemic (Updating)
Maher noted that, as has been well documented, a cruise ship kitchen can work more than 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for 6 straight months. “That’s not a grand hotel on the sea, it’s a slave ship with a food court,” he joked, comparing living conditions for those employees to “the room where Jeffrey Epstein killed himself.”
Maher also noted the problem of unsolved crimes on ships, particularly the huge problem of missing passengers whose disappearances are never investigated.
He also called out the activities available, mostly the kind of things people do on land like malls, coffee shops and so on. “Congratulations, you set out for the West Indies, and you made it to West Covina,” he said, comparing that to “having sex while you fantasize about jerking off.”
Maher urged viewers to just skip cruise ships and hit beaches instead. “It’s cheaper, safer, and f—, you don’t have to sit through the magician.”
Watch the clip below.
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‘Frozen 2’ to Stream on Disney+ Beginning This Sunday, 3 Months Ahead of Schedule
Disney announced Friday that it has decided to make “Frozen 2” available on Disney+ this coming Sunday, three months ahead of schedule.
The movie will hit its streaming platform on March 15.
In announcing the move, new CEO of The Walt Disney Company, Bob Chapek said, “‘Frozen 2’ has captivated audiences around the world through its powerful themes of perseverance and the importance of family, messages that are incredibly relevant during this time, and we are pleased to be able to share this heartwarming story early with our Disney+ subscribers to enjoy at home on any device.”
Also Read: Disney Could Lose $500 Million-Plus From Closure of Theme Parks
While the company did not say this was in direct response to the coronavirus pandemic, they did tout in their press release that the company was “surprising families with some fun and joy during this challenging period.”
While the film will release on March 15 for the U.S. audience, it will come to Canada, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand on March 17.
“Frozen 2” is directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, and Kirsten Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad all returned to the voice cast. The film’s newcomers are Evan Rachel Wood, Sterling K. Brown, Jason Segel, Martha Plimpton, Ciarán Hinds, Rachel Matthews and Alfred Molina.
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Here’s How Coronavirus-Forced Production Delays Could Impact the TV Season
The current TV season has been thrown into disarray, as the coronavirus pandemic has forced Hollywood into a near-total shutdown and left networks and studios faced with the conundrum of how to move forward.
As of Friday, more than 30 broadcast series including “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Riverdale,” “Law & Order: SVU,” as well as the “Chicago” and “NCIS” franchises, have all halted production for the time being. With the 2019-2020 TV season initially set to wrap up in a couple of months, networks are left in a state of uncertainty as to just when they’ll be able to finish out their seasons.
Each network and studio is making its own decision about how to proceed with filming and production on current seasons on what many are calling a “case-by-case basis.” As one network insider put it: “This is all uncharted territory.”
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A network insider told TheWrap that a stoppage of only a few weeks — if it caps there — would create minimal noticeable changes for TV audiences. At this point in the season many shows are wrapped, especially sitcoms, shows with smaller episode orders, and alternative programming that tapes in bunches.
Of the shows that have not yet wrapped, only physical production has been shut down. That means that solitary endeavors like preproduction, which involves writing, and postproduction, which involves editing, are both still ongoing.
If two or three weeks were to turn into a month or a month and a half, however, then some May finales may get pushed to June — but not all, as many shows have already been wrapped for some time.
Another network insider said that in terms of series currently airing, those with shorter episode orders are in better shape than longer ones. “We’re in the very early stages,” the insider said.
Also Read: Do TV Upfronts Still Matter Anyway Now That Coronavirus Wiped Out This Year's Event?
A studio insider added that right now not much more is known beyond the fact that productions are delayed. Down the road, the studio will go through where each series is and determine how many episodes are ready to air. Before that, however, there are logistics, like whether production crew members need to return home have to be considered.
A third network insider added that plans are being actively discussed to lessen potential losses in original programming due to production delays. The hope is that shows that still haven’t wrapped production will be able to finish shooting remaining episodes in a few weeks and put post-production on a fast track to prevent delays in airing.
The effects of coronavirus pandemic on Hollywood spread across the entire industry. Many cable and streaming outlets have suspended pretty much all current series production. Film studios have pushed back major releases, some of them into next year, and all industry events including the TV upfronts have been scrapped, and sporting events are non-existent while the world tries to stop the spread of the disease.
You can find a full list of every show affected so far here.
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President Trump Declares Coronavirus Pandemic a National Emergency
Trump Said Google Is Creating a Coronavirus Screening Website, But It’s Not — Verily Is
President Donald Trump said on Friday afternoon that Google was building a website to help screen Americans for the coronavirus, but a different Alphabet subsidiary — Verily — says that it’s working on a triage “tool” that will only be tested initially in the Bay Area.
“What I can share at this time is that our tool is in development,” a Verily spokesperson told TheWrap. “Our aspiration is for the triage tool to be used much more broadly. Initially, we’re linking it with several sites in the Bay Area to test and iterate, and collaborating closely with organizations like Quest Diagnostics and Labcorp who are also working on additional approaches to making testing more accessible and expedient in other areas.”
During his press conference, Trump seemingly suggested that the Google website would be operating nationally, while Vice President Mike Pence said that the White House would be able to give “specific guidance” on Sunday as to when the website would be available.
Also Read: President Trump Declares Coronavirus Pandemic a National Emergency
“Google is going to develop a website — it’s going to be very quickly done, unlike websites of the past — to determine if a test is warranted and to facilitate testing at a nearby convenient location,” Trump said at the Friday press conference. “We have many, many locations behind us, by the way. We cover this country and large parts of the world, by the way. We’re not gonna be talking about the world right now, but we cover very, very strongly our country. Stores in virtually every location. Google has 1,700 engineers working on this right now. They have made tremendous progress.”
But shortly after Trump’s announcement, Google’s communications team on Twitter appeared to refute Trump’s assertion that the website would be “very quickly done.” In a statement shared on the Google Communications Twitter account on behalf of Verily, Verily said the tool was in “early stages of development” and that they had “the hope of expanding more broadly over time.”
Carolyn Wang, a communications lead for Verily, also told The Verge that the “triage website” was initially supposed to be for health care workers, not the general public.
“Now that it has been announced the way it was, however, anybody will be able to visit it, she said. But the tool will only be able to direct people to ‘pilot sites’ for testing in the Bay Area, though Wang says Verily hopes to expand it beyond California over time,'” The Verge reported.
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The Week the Coronavirus Changed Hollywood | Podcast
Canceled. Postponed. Delayed. Suspended.
By the time this week had reached its end — it sure felt like longer than a week — the vast majority of Hollywood events, productions and tapings were no more … thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. The long term effects of these moves cannot possibly be determined yet, but make no mistake: a lot of money is on the line.
In a sneak peek of our upcoming podcast “The Wrap-Up,” TheWrap’s editor-in-chief, Sharon Waxman, assistant managing editor Daniel Goldblatt, television reporter Tim Baysinger and film reporter Brian Welk discussed how these moves affect the business of Hollywood — including the upfronts, television’s biggest sales event.
“A buyer I talked to this week about what it’s like without these big, in-person events said that is where they are going to miss the biggest impact,” Baysinger explained. “He said the impact that is going to be lost is seeing everyone react to a new show at the same time, in a room together. Seeing how the audience reacts.”
On the film side, some are wondering whether canceled film festivals like SXSW and Tribeca might move to a streaming platform like Netflix or Amazon.
“There’s chatter that someone like SXSW themselves could step up and try and have a platform,” Welk said. “So maybe that’s why an independent company hasn’t emerged yet to service these.”
Stay tuned for more information about the launch of “The Wrap-Up.”
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