“‘We Hope They Forget COVID Exists’: Pandemic Dissonance in HGTV’s Evergreen Escapism”

Abstract

This article analyzes American cable channel HGTV’s programing strategies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and specifically their construction of a “COVID-free” fantasia in their series Home Town and its spinoff, Home Town Takeover. By considering this response through the lens of dissonance, I argue that while the network originally emphasized their social responsibility to mitigating the spread of the virus, their business model incentivized them to move past the virus more swiftly than other channels, pushing the labor of mediating dissonance onto their on-screen talent and their audience. This case study foregrounds how variables like genre, channel, and audience shaped the television industry’s response to the pandemic, with HGTV’s business model built on “evergreen” reality programing leading them to abdicate principles of social responsibility both more quickly and more thoroughly, despite numerous options that would have addressed the dissonance of COVID in a more balanced fashion.