NBCUniversal Halts Production On 35 Shows Amid Coronavirus Concerns

Source: Twitter

Amid the growing concern about the coronavirus pandemic, NBCUniversal has announced they are suspending production on nearly all of their TV series – approximately 35 shows in total – across all of the company’s entertainment production units.

According to Deadline, the list of shows who have stopped production include all of Dick Wolf’s dramas on the network – Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, Law & Order: SVU – plus his drama FBI that airs on CBS.

NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS stop productions in response to the coronavirus outbreakhttps://t.co/1Ahk23AWGq

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) March 13, 2020

The medical drama New Amsterdam has also halted production, as well as the new Peacock limited series Angelyne starring Emmy Rossum. Also on hold is the syndicated series The Kelly Clarkson Show, and the network’s two late-night talk shows: The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Myers.

The news of the production hiatus comes one day after Uni TV announced that they put production on hold for series that haven’t started yet, including Season 2 of the Netflix series Russian Doll, Season 2 of the Apple anthology Little America, and Season 1 of Rutherford Falls starring Ed Helms.

Wolf’s Chicago series actually films all of their episodes in the city of Chicago, which is the location of the first known caseof someone in the television industry testing positive for coronavirus. The person who contracted the virus was a staffer for the Fox drama NeXt.

Many of the suspended productions take place in New York, where Governor Andrew Cuomo has declared a state of emergency and limited gatherings to 500 people or less in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus in his state.

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“The safety and health of our cast, crew and employees is our top priority,” NBCU said in a statement on Thursday night. “Where possible, we are pausing production for two weeks as a precautionary measure, following which we will reassess and determine an appropriate start date. In some cases, we are accelerating plans to wrap up physical production.”

Most of the shows that have been suspended are expected to return as soon as possible. However, insiders say there are a few that have decided to wrap production for the season and return in the fall.

NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell has also sent out a company-wide memo that urges employees to work from home, if possible. And, he has also suggested that all employees stop “non-essential business travel” for the time being.

ViacomCBS has also halted production of some of their shows, but some will continue without audiences.