Bringing people together despite physically being apart
The U.S. took a pause in March when a stay-at-home order was made just about everywhere. Students moved to online schooling, and everyone switched to wearing sweats and watching Netflix in their living rooms for most of the day. However, many TV personalities, also at home, decided to us their platforms to spread positivity, entertain, and support charities during this time.
Many TV studios have released statements saying that shows that film in front of a live studio audience will halt filming, and many other productions in the works will be postponed for the foreseeable future. To hear more about how different studios are responding to COVID-19, you can read Bailey Sherman’s article here.
But for The Tonight Show Host Jimmy Fallon, not being able to film in the studio was only a minor inconvenience in hosting his show and bringing smiles to faces all over America.
Right away, he launched the Tonight Show: At Home Edition, with his wife acting as the camera man and his kids running the graphics department. This clever adaptation is messy in the most endearing way, and fans of the show are connecting to a more personal side of Fallon. One fan from Rockford, Ill. said in an interview with me how much she appreciates his efforts since the beginning of the stay-at-home order.
It’s so cute! He includes his kids and my sister and I just think it’s so funny!
-Caitlyn Dooley, Illinois
NBC, the TV studio that sponsors the show, has embraced this new format. To hear more about the success of the shows new format, you can read Mikayla Brown’s article on celebrity activism here. You can watch new episodes live weeknights at 10:35 central, at nbc.com, as well as on its official youtube page.
Another fan favorite celebrity is using his platform to do something new during this time. The Office, A Quiet Place, and Jack Ryan actor John Krasinski, is host of his own sort of talk show on Youtube called “Some Good News” or SGN.
In the webshow, Krasinski and his wife, Mary Poppins actress, Emily Blunt, challenge people to send in stories of things that make them smile despite all of the negativity in the world right now.
According to NBC News, Krasinski said, “For years now, I’ve been wondering, why is there not a news show dedicated entirely to good news?” So far on his show, he has had many of his celebrity friends make special guest appearances, even having Jason Bourne and the Martian actor, Matt Damon do the weather forecast.
But one highlight of the show has been when Blunt’s Mary Poppin’s costar, creator and star of the broadway musical Hamilton, Lin-Manual Miranda, stop by on a zoom call to surprise a young fan, Aubrey, with tickets to the show, as well as reuniting the original broadway cast to sing the opening number together again. Many fans of the show were especially touched by this.
This wasn’t just a gift for Aubrey. Thanks, Hamilton cast.
-Johnny Cabrera, Youtube
Many people, young and old, are inspired by the good news the Krasinski is helping to share. One instagram user commented, “Your show is the brightest spot in my week! I look forward to it each Monday! Keep it up, please!”
The Good Place and Frozen actress, Kristen Bell is also joining in the effort to spread joy through social media. Kristen, a mother herself, knows how much teachers do for their kids.
In order to show her appreciation, she has started an instagram campaign called, “Feature Teacher Friday” where she shouts out incredible teachers who have made a difference in their students lives. By using her platform, she is helping to encourage teachers, especially switching to this online format during COVID-19.
In addition to shouting out to teachers, she is partnering with different companies that want to make a difference by donating supplies to teachers in need.
In a recent Instagram post, Bell shouted out Mrs. Angell for her extraordinary work with no-verbal k-2 students. Bell and School, Office and Craft company, Yoobi donated school supplies to Mrs. Angell’s efforts.
Authors of the book, Transnational Celebrity Activism in Global Politics: Changing the World? Liza Tsaliki, Christos A. Frangonikolopoulos, and Asteris Huliaras write, “By viewing celebrities as part of the same civil society who, like the rest of us, do charitable work and raise awareness on sensitive and noble human causes, we essentially perceive them as ‘ordinary’ folks, thus collapsing the distance between us and them.”
Despite social distancing and physically separating from each other, TV personalities seeking to share joy during this pandemic help to bring us as audience members and human beings closer together.
