Random Times TV Shows Dealt With Real-Life Tragedies (12 items)

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  (#4) Riverdale

  • K.J. Apa, Lili Reinhart, Camila Mendes, Cole Sprouse, Madelaine Petsch, Casey Cott, Skeet Ulrich, Mädchen Amick, Vanessa Morgan, Charles Melton, Drew Ray Tanner, Erinn Westbrook, Mark Consuelos, Marisol Nichols, Luke Perry, Ashleigh Murray

  Luke Perry, who played Archie Andrews's dad, Fred, on The CW show Riverdale, passed unexpectedly at age 52 in March 2019 following a stroke. Showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa told Entertainment Weekly the creators decided to wait until the next season's opener to add Fred's passing to the storyline: "We didn’t want to rush it; we didn’t want to sandwich it into all the other plotlines, and we just wanted to take our time and think about it." 

  In the episode, Fred dies in a hit-and-run incident after stopping to help a woman with car trouble. That woman is played by Shannen Doherty, Perry's former co-star on Beverly Hills 90210, making a surprise guest appearance. 

  “Very early on, we landed on the idea that Fred should have a heroic death and that would be impactful for Archie,” Aguirre-Sacasa said. “It felt like that’s a way that Fred could have gone." He said he and Perry had discussed including Doherty on the show before the actor's passing, but it hadn't worked out. For the tribute episode, he said, when casting Doherty's character, "we thought it would be nice if it was someone that he cared for in real life and he cared so deeply about Shannen... And she really wanted to be a part of it from when we first talked to her about it.”

  The episode ends with Archie vowing to live a life that would make his dad proud. There are fireworks and a parade. The final screen is black, with the words "In Memoriam Luke Perry 1966-2019."
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  (#8) After 9/11, 'Sesame Street' Aired An Episode Where Elmo Is Traumatized By A Fire But Overcomes His Fear With The Help Of Firefighters

  Sesame Street was in its 33rd season when 9/11 happened. The show wanted to acknowledge the tragedy and the confusion children faced with compassion. The program had filmed nearly all of its episodes for the season; the remaining four shows were devoted to 9/11 topics.

  "We felt we needed to do something in response to 9/11, but we knew we had to be very careful, because our viewers are so young, and parents are returning to educational programming as a safe haven for kids," Rosemarie Truglio, senior vice president of curriculum and content at Sesame Workshop, said in 2002. 

  Lewis Bernstein, executive vice president of education and research at Sesame Workshop, said in 2011 that after consulting with child psychologists and emergency responders, the show decided to explore two topics in the four episodes: "fear and intolerance."

  The first episode doesn't address the 9/11 events directly. Instead, the show focuses on Elmo's fearful reaction when a fire breaks out at Mr. Hooper's store when he and Maria are inside. He's scared until an NYPD firefighter shows up and assuages his fears. He gives Elmo a tour of a fire station, lets him ride a fire engine, and explains how firefighters' protective equipment works. The episode includes guidance for kids on what to do in case of fire. 

  “We wanted to teach kids that it is okay to be scared, but that there are adults who are trying to protect you and take care of you," Bernstein said. "We also wanted to tip our hats to the firefighters of New York.”

  In one of the intolerance-themed episodes, Big Bird's friend, a seagull, visits him but doesn't want to hang out with Snuffy because the latter is not a bird. 
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  (#5) NewsRadio

  • Dave Foley, Vicki Lewis, Stephen Root, Andy Dick, Maura Tierney, Joe Rogan, Phil Hartman

  The '90s sitcom NewsRadio never took anything seriously, not even itself. But one episode, although it still contained humor, was also filled with emotion: the show that dealt with actor Phil Hartman's passing. Hartman played Bill McNeal, a self-involved, pompous radio personality everyone loved to hate. He was a crucial part of the show and an essential cog in the cast's group dynamics. On the show, Bill dies from a heart attack. In real life, Hartman's passing was mind-numbingly horrific: His wife shot him before taking her own life. 

  The NewsRadio episode begins with the team back at the office after attending Bill's service. It starts off somber, but soon they're making their usual jokes and it seems like life will go on. Bill has left behind a letter for each of them, and they get teary-eyed as they read them. 

  Stephen Root, who played station owner Jimmy Jones, talked about the episode in a 2020 tribute to Hartman for Entertainment Weekly:

  We read it once on the day that we usually do, on a Monday. We all cried through it and we all decided, unilaterally that we weren’t going to rehearse this show... And it was pretty tearful to shoot, but it was cathartic that we did something within the fictional structure that was real, because we really hurt that he was no longer there. That was good that we were able to address it. The rest of that season, we would have a cardboard cutout of him just peeking around the corner, almost on every show. 

   
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  (#3) Family Guy

  • Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, Mila Kunis, Patrick Warburton, Arif Zahir, Mike Henry

  Family Guy, ever since it first aired in 1999, has always been tongue-in-cheek, offering plenty of toilet humor and off-color gags. But sometimes, the animated program has shown some emotional depth, albeit with plenty of humor mixed in. 

  Beloved actor Carrie Fisher was a regular on the show, playing Peter Griffin's boss at the brewery, Angela. After Fisher passed in 2016, Family Guy paid an uncharacteristically heartfelt homage to her via a service for her character, Angela. Peter gives the eulogy for Angela, who passes from taking a swim after a meal. He talks about how Angela "may be gone, but her voice will live on in DVD, Hulu Plus, and tiny droid-projected messages," and ends his speech with, "I may have lost a boss, but heaven has gained a princess."

  Of course, this is Family Guy, so Peter discovers he's been delivering these words at the wrong service.

   
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  (#10) Buffy the Vampire Slayer

  • Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan, James Marsters, Emma Caulfield, Anthony Head, Michelle Trachtenberg, David Boreanaz

  On April 20, 1999, the Columbine shooting happened: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, seniors at Columbine High School in Littleton, CO, took the lives of 12 students and one teacher before taking their own lives. One week later, a Season 2 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was scheduled to air. In the episode, titled "Earshot," Buffy, while in the crowded school cafeteria, can hear someone thinking, "This time tomorrow, I'll kill you all," and assumes it's a student.

  The Columbine incident was unprecedented, and the nation reeled in shock. Searching for someone or something to blame, the media and others pointed an accusatory finger at violent video games and shows. In such an atmosphere it was prudent to delay the airing of "Earshot," even though in the episode, the potential offender turns out to a cafeteria worker, and Buffy actually prevents a student from taking his own life.

  The episode finally aired two months after the Season 3 finale, delivering a powerful message about mental health and loneliness. 
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  (#7) Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

  • Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, Kelli Giddish, Peter Scanavino, Octavio Pisano, Molly Burnett, Jamie Gray Hyder, Demore Barnes, Philip Winchester, Raúl Esparza, Michelle Hurd, Danny Pino, Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, BD Wong, Tamara Tunie, Melissa Sagemiller, Christopher Meloni, Stephanie March, Michaela McManus, Diane Neal, Adam Beach

  The long-running NBC drama Law & Order: SVU takes place in New York City, so the show would have been remiss if it didn't address the events of 9/11 in some meaningful way. So, in the opening sequence of the show's third season, which aired on September 28, 2001, a new voiceover was added that said: 

  On September 11, 2001, New York City was ruthlessly and criminally attacked. While no tribute can ever heal the pain of that day, the producers of Law & Order dedicate this season to the victims and their families and to the firefighters and police officers who remind us every day with their lives and courage what it truly means to be an American.

  The Twin Towers appeared twice in the opening sequence of the show for the first two seasons; those images were removed in the third season. 

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