Most of the world has been locked down since at least mid-March, but now that some businesses and areas of life have begun to open up a bit, the entertainment industry is working to figure out how to get the many productions which were cut short or stalled going again. This is especially true for television shows, and the desire is to make sure audiences have as many new episodes of TV as possible on air this fall. The Masked Singer is set to return to Fox soon, and producers have a firm idea on why the show needs to go ahead, even during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Masked Singer caught a very lucky break earlier this year that many TV shows didn't, and managed to just miss the widespread production shutdown. The larger-than-life singing competition / guessing game completed filming its bigger, bolder Season 3 for fans by the end of February, and was able to air the full season through May. Now, executive producer Craig Plestis and his team are working on Season 4, and he spoke to TV Guide about some of the prep work going into the series under these odd conditions, as well as why they feel the show needs to get back on the air this fall.
We're still working on the process and the logistics. Safety is paramount. We're working on it as we speak — right now, I'm looking at mock-ups of some of the costumes. I feel confident we'll solve it. We don't know what's happening by fall with the pandemic, the election but we are this island. We need to be there so people can disconnect from everything else happening.
Well, I think we all know that Craig Plestis isn't wrong about people needing some happy distractions right now, and probably for quite a while longer to come, especially with regards to worries over the current health crisis this nation is still dealing with. Season 3 of The Masked Singer was able to provide some light, laughter and enjoyment for viewers who were stuck at home, through it's finale on May 20, and Plestis and the rest of those behind the scenes want to be able to do that for the audience again this fall.
Of course, that's going to a much taller order this time around than it was back at the beginning of the year, when they were planning Season 3. As Plestis said in his interview, the safety of the entire team, including the panelists and any potential celebrities who decide to don extreme costumes and perform on The Masked Singer, is of the upmost importance. Right now, there are a lot of new guidelines in place for the filming of TV shows and movies, and they're still figuring out ways to get everything done as safely as possible, but with still being able to give fans the experience they expect from the show.
Right now, we've only heard official word on a couple of network shows which have gone back to filming, with CBS staring up work on its soaps The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless in June and July, respectively. There are rumors that Big Brother and ABC's The Bachelorette are also either currently filming or very close to it, and you can rest assured that any production that starts filming in this climate will have made some very specific (and sometimes very weird) changes in an effort to keep all employees safe.
The Masked Singer is, similarly, looking at ways to get everyone back to work, but, a big difference with the shows mentioned above and The Masked Singer, is that this show usually has a live audience for the performances. Not to mention the panelists all sitting together in tight row, and host Nick Cannon up on stage with the (eventually unmasked) celebrity contestants. As you may have guessed, Craig Plestis couldn't confirm right now whether or not the show would film with an audience and basically look as usual, or if they'd need to film using self-distancing and isolation techniques.
Hopefully, they'll figure out the best way to film so that they can keep everyone safe, while also giving us the badly needed "disconnect" we're sure to be looking for this fall. The Masked Singer doesn't have a set premiere date just yet, but be sure to bookmark our fall premiere guide for the latest!
