Mythic Quest: Quarantine is the most realistic use of a pandemic-themed episode

Variety

The Apple TV+ one-off special was so good, "I forgot several times that it is, essentially, a very effective commercial for Apple products," says Caroline Framke. While All Rise and Parks and Recreation's pandemic episodes had a “let’s do it because we can” self-dare attitude, Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet's version "has the bonus advantage of an all-virtual episode making complete sense within its own established world," says Framke. The episode was also aided by Apple's high quality. "With video technology already layered into the show, Mythic Quest was simply better equipped for a virtual special than most shows ever could be," says Framke. "And from a character standpoint, the show’s collection of nerds work together at an increasingly powerful video game company and already spend their days making cyber connections more tolerable or even more interesting. That is, after all, their literal job... But what makes this Mythic Quest: Quarantine episode most interesting is that it takes a moment to figure out how its characters would actually be doing in quarantine beyond the base level of bored and annoyed that everyone in self-isolation can acknowledge."

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• Rob McElhenney called Michael Schur after hearing about his Parks and Rec pandemic-themed episode: McElhenney was working on the Quarantine special when he heard the news about Schur's A Parks and Recreation Special. So he called Schur for advice and to make sure they weren’t doing anything too similar. They weren't, which McElhenney says was great because “I can’t compete with Mike Schur! He’s the high water mark and someone I respect very much.” Calling it “the most difficult production I’ve ever been a part of in 15 years of television," McElhenney also remembered the challenges of filming the episode, including 20 to 40 people logged into the same Zoom meeting and cast members having to film with closed windows, and without fans or air conditioning. But despite Quarantine's challenges, it's the episode he's most proud of in his TV career.
• McElhenney wanted to avoid overused Zoom jokes: “From an emotional standpoint, we wanted to be authentic to the global experience that everybody finds themselves sharing right now. At least those of us who respect science,” McElhenney said. “So we thought, Sure, we could do 25 minutes of Zoom jokes. But I don’t know, that just seems like, why bother at this point? Yes, we want to get people working. But we also want to make sure that we’re putting something out into the world that feels different from what anybody else has done and feels like a premium episode of the show.”
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