And you thought downloading Duolingo to pass the time was a big deal? HBO announced today that the network will film a satirical comedy special called Coastal Elites during our socially distant era, which focuses on “characters from New York to Los Angeles coping with politics and the pandemic.†Bette Midler, Kaitlyn Dever, Dan Levy, Sarah Paulson, and Issa Rae star in the Jay Roach–directed special, which will be produced entirely under quarantine and “tells stories of breaking down and breaking through in the summer of 2020 that are funny, searing, poignant, and now.†It’s set to be released in September, and we’re already calling bullshit if there isn’t a ten-minute comedy-of-errors vignette about a contactless Seamless delivery. Or about figuring out how to change a Zoom background when your laptop is too old for the required update.
An earlier version of this post claimed that Coastal Elites had already been filmed. We’ve corrected it because the special hasn’t begun filming yet.