Television networks and streaming services continue to respond to the coronavirus crisis with special programming aimed at breaking down the most recent developments and important issues for viewers.
Here’s the latest:
Airing tonight is “CNN Global Town Hall Coronavirus Facts and Fears” (5 p.m. PT; 8 p.m. ET May 7, CNN). Hosted by Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, this is the 10th informative town hall special to air on CNN since the pandemic began.
Tonight’s guests include former Vice President and environmentalist Al Gore and filmmaker Spike Lee. The latter will debut his short film, “New York New York,” which is described as his “valentine to the city” and is dedicated to medical and frontline workers.
Also joining the program will be Maria van Kerkhove, epidemiologist and World Health Organization technical lead for COVID-19, and Laurie Garrett, author of “The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance.”
Garrett is a science journalist and UC Berkeley grad who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1996 for her reporting on the Ebola virus outbreak in Zaire. She has been widely credited for predicting the coronavirus crisis years ago.
— Premiering on Friday is “In This Together: A PBS American Portrait Story” (9 p.m. May 8, PBS; check local listings). Through personal stories, photographs and videos posted on the “PBS American Portrait “website, people across America share firsthand accounts of how the global coronavirus pandemic has affected their lives and the nation as a whole.
“PBS American Portrait” is the signature content initiative of PBS’s 50th anniversary. It’s a national crowdsourced storytelling project that gathers self-shot video, photos and written submissions from the public digitally with the intention of exploring what it means to be an American today. Since early January, the website has gathered thousands of submissions and continues to accept them.
Among those spotlighted in the special: Allison, critical care transport nurse from Raleigh, NC; Mario, an essential worker from Romulus, MI., where confirmed cases of COVID-19 are multiplying among employees; and Cat, a recovering COVID patient from Aurora, CO. Cat tested positive for COVID-19 when she was 33 weeks pregnant with twins. When she gave birth, Cat had to be immediately intubated and separated from her babies.
— Also debuting on Friday is “Regular Heroes” (May 8, Amazon Prime). It’s an eight-episode documentary series highlighting the contributions and personal sacrifices of generous individuals who are going above and beyond to support their communities during the COVID-19 crisis.
In addition to shining the spotlight on the heroes’ tireless work and amplifying their efforts in cities including New York City, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Chicago, and Seattle among others, the series will offer support and assistance with donations of goods, services and more so that they can continue to pay it forward and help their communities.
New episodes of “Regular Heroes” will be available every Friday.
