JamesG
08-30-2017, 01:24 PM
"Law & Order: SVU" Season 19 to Tackle Charlottesville Riots, Charlie Gard Case
by Kate Stanhope
8/30/17
The recent riots in Charlottesville, Va., are about to get the scripted TV treatment. "Law & Order: SVU" is set to tackle the events for an upcoming season 19 episode, showrunner Michael Chernuchin tells The Hollywood Reporter.
When asked what made the riots ripe material for "SVU", Chernuchin was succinct: "Conflict. It's just the state of the world today with everybody. Everybody's political now and everything is political now and we want to deal with that."
Another upcoming episode will be inspired by Charlie Gard, the infant in England who was born with a rare genetic disorder that causes progressive brain damage and muscle failure. His parents disagreed with medical professionals about whether to give him experimental treatment and his case subsequently became front-page news around the world.
The Gards raised money to have their son transferred to a hospital in New York, but the hospital where he was receiving treatment, Great Ormond Street Hospital, asked the High Court to override the parents' transfer decision. Eventually, it was determined that it was too late for Gard to receive treatment and he was transferred to a hospice where he died in July at 11 months old.
"That's a life and death story," Chernuchin explains.
Among the other topics Chernuchin said the show will cover this season include cat-fishing, cyberbullying — which he describes as "our answer to 13 Reasons Why" — and an airplane episode covering "all the turmoil on airplanes these days," such as that of David Dao, who was violently dragged off a United flight in April.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/law-order-svu-season-19-plans-charlottesville-episode-1033727
by Kate Stanhope
8/30/17
The recent riots in Charlottesville, Va., are about to get the scripted TV treatment. "Law & Order: SVU" is set to tackle the events for an upcoming season 19 episode, showrunner Michael Chernuchin tells The Hollywood Reporter.
When asked what made the riots ripe material for "SVU", Chernuchin was succinct: "Conflict. It's just the state of the world today with everybody. Everybody's political now and everything is political now and we want to deal with that."
Another upcoming episode will be inspired by Charlie Gard, the infant in England who was born with a rare genetic disorder that causes progressive brain damage and muscle failure. His parents disagreed with medical professionals about whether to give him experimental treatment and his case subsequently became front-page news around the world.
The Gards raised money to have their son transferred to a hospital in New York, but the hospital where he was receiving treatment, Great Ormond Street Hospital, asked the High Court to override the parents' transfer decision. Eventually, it was determined that it was too late for Gard to receive treatment and he was transferred to a hospice where he died in July at 11 months old.
"That's a life and death story," Chernuchin explains.
Among the other topics Chernuchin said the show will cover this season include cat-fishing, cyberbullying — which he describes as "our answer to 13 Reasons Why" — and an airplane episode covering "all the turmoil on airplanes these days," such as that of David Dao, who was violently dragged off a United flight in April.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/law-order-svu-season-19-plans-charlottesville-episode-1033727