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Yikes, a Whole Bunch of Shows Shut Down Due to COVID This Week

Photo: Apple TV+

Christmas came early for four television shows, and everyone’s present is a rapid test or 14 days in isolation. The Morning Show, Shameless, Mythic Quest, and American Crime Story were all forced to shut down their productions this week due to staffers testing positive for the coronavirus, with Story and Mythic Quest having an outbreak among “multiple” crew members. Shameless, however, apparently dealt with a major screwup at a testing facility, where 18 tests were returned with false positives; while The Morning Show only dealt with one scare, which is now also believed to have been a false positive. (Science, man.) Yet this isn’t a straightforward piece of industry news, as something interesting has since emerged from the Mythic Quest set in regards to the show’s streak of positive tests: Rob McElhenney, the star and creator, released a statement saying how “we have been expecting this for weeks” due to rising positive test cases in Los Angeles, also assuring that his set “continues to be one of the safest places you can be outside of your homes.” Sources proceeded to tell Variety that this claim was “utter horseshit,” as workers were often seen breaking COVID-19 related guidelines. Whoops. Don’t tell Tom Cruise!

Yikes, a Bunch of Shows Shut Down Due to COVID This Week