Well, there were some schlock horror movies and some conservative propaganda movie that were largely about COVID, but I don't know about more mainstream stuff.
The Good Fight had an absolutely, utterly HAUNTING season grappling with COVID, the fallout thereof, the dreadful ways baked-in racism colors our healthcare system in the US, etc.
It was… really something.
I think the Connors brought it up a few times, and one of the characters caught Covid at one point (I think the actress had to take a break from the show and they used that as the excuse the character wasn't on for a bit).
I almost forgot about the in-universe mention of it, been reading a lot and watching Better Call Saul lol-but yeah it was delightful to see cast members and crew behind the scenes wearing masks before they officially got rolling!
The series Sprung from the creator of My Name is Earl and Raising Hope is set during and key elements of the plot were inspired by Covid-era events. It might be one of the only non-conspiracy theory pieces of media using the pandemic as a setting.
Well, there are animated sitcoms like The Great North or American Dad! that have at least brought up COVID a couple of times, not to mention even the Saved By the Bell sequel series, but nothing with actual plot relevance.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia did episodes about COVID, Jan 6, COVID relief business loans, 2020 election interference/vote tampering, and Rudy Giuliani's leaking hair dye.
Run on Your New Legs was a manga that not only acknowledged it but incorporated it into its story, discussing how it impacted the main character, the people around them, and how it impacted their dreams and sports.
There was a movie about a movie being filmed during COVID called "The Bubble". It was terrible even though I really like a lot of the actors that were in it.
The British medical drama Casualty had it as a major arc of a couple of seasons, depicting the EPP, killing some regulars off with covid, and covering the extreme strain health services were under etc
Grey's Anatomy had a whole season dedicated to it, the most recent Doctor Who Christmas special has a character whose mother died alone in a hospital due to lockdown restrictions
The show Bull was filmed during it so everyone wore masks and in court everyone was separated and no audience in the court and plexiglass screens in front of the judge/witness and between the jury members.
Also, the New Gossip Girl used it. But yes, you are basically correct, the US seems hellbent on ignoring our collective traumas in our art since like 9/11 in any sort of healthy way and it's a sign of how fucking damaged we are. We're the dog in the house on fire, melting away.
Youtube was kinda weird at the time, since you'd get downranked if you mentioned it by name in a video so most mention I heard was done in the way of analogy.
The entire final season of Superstore dealt with it, down to all the actors having masks on for a lot of it (I don't think the whole season was that way but I don't remember.)
Comments
It was… really something.
The main character, Meredith Grey, gets Covid and is in a coma where she meets characters who've died on the show.
Legitimately the last time I saw covid mentioned in media before was the promised neverland's manga lmao
The next episode is about how Dennis spread it to Charlie’s dad, whom he just met, and he died
Good short series. Worth a look
This varied across channels though.