Climate Loglines

Below are a few imagined climate loglines for off-air shows that we love, several of which are by writers from those rooms.

PROMPT

Try out a climate crisis story for the protagonist of your favorite show or the last show you worked on. What if Tony Soprano started selling counterfeit solar panels? How would he cope with the uncertainty of climate change? What would Will Smith do if he had to cancel Uncle Phil’s surprise birthday pool party because of wildfire smoke? What would Jack McCoy do if a climate activist was arrested and the case landed on his desk?

Bojack Horseman

Genre: Animated comedy
Logline: BoJack goes to his high school reunion, only to discover all the monarch butterflies he was in drama club with have died. (Written by BoJack Horseman writer/producer Elijah Aron.)

Scandal

Genre: Political drama
Logline: A huge protest against an oil pipeline is raging outside the White House. When a famous Indigenous youth activist, Melanie, receives multiple death threats, Olivia wants to help but has a conflict of interest: Melanie has uncovered that President Grant’s campaign donors are major funders of fossil fuel pipelines.

The Golden Girls

Genre: Comedy
Logline: On the brink of hurricane season, Dorothy is terrified and wants to call in their repairman to do some serious weatherproofing. Blanche is on board—if she can watch the handsome young repairman’s backside while he cleans out their gutters and downspouts. Rose tells her to keep her libido in check, and to Blanche’s horror, his $15k quote does exactly that.

Rugrats

Genre: Children’s animated comedy
Logline: Susie invites Tommy over to her house to see the “stroller panels”—creatures that live on the roof of her house and eat sunlight. Tommy is afraid, and it takes an adventure up to the roof for him to realize the creatures are friendly and “make Earth happier.”

Veronica Mars

Genre: Crime drama
Logline: When water usage is restricted in Neptune, 09er households disregard the regulation and continue to fill their mansions' pools with no legal consequences. Pissed off, Veronica is determined to hunt down the billionaire bribing Sheriff Lamb and make sure county police hold them accountable.

The Purge

Genre: Action/horror
Logline: This year on Purge Night, if the criminals don’t get you, the Category 5 hurricane might. (Written by The Purge EP/writer/showrunner Krystal Houghton Ziv.)

Preacher

Genre: Supernatural action drama
Logline: Jesse Custer makes an uneasy alliance with Hitler, who, now that he’s taken over for Satan, is pissed that global warming lets the Damned not mind the fires of Hell as much. (Written by Preacher creator/EP/showrunner Sam Catlin.)

Seinfeld

Genre: Comedy
Logline: When George starts dating a climate activist, Kramer goes berserk after talking with her, trying and failing to find the right way to act. He stops eating meat, stops showering. What is the best way to be!?

Fleabag

Genre: Dramedy
Logline: When the hot priest invites Fleabag to a climate protest, she agrees to go for one reason only: to troll for end-of-the-world sex, the best kind of sex there is.

Chewing Gum

Genre: Comedy
Logline: Tracey wants to have sex with Connor, but he’s gone plastic-free and refuses to wear a condom.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Genre: Comedy
Logline: A big summer storm has led to flooding in DUMBO, and the 99 is recruited to help with the rescue effort. Terry gets competitive with Rosa about how much debris they can each clear, while Jake and Amy get stranded in a collapsed building with several hysterical residents.

Frasier

Genre: Comedy
Logline: When Martin complains about the homeless, Frasier tries to shame his father by inviting a homeless man to spend the night in the recording studio during a freak snowstorm. But when the man invites a bunch of his friends to come stay as well, Frasier is torn between looking bad and having them inhabit his studio until March—“or longer, if this crazy weather keeps up!”

Community

Genre: Comedy
Logline: It’s been 75 degrees for a week in December, and the study group is loving that they can work outside in the sun—all except Britta, who gets them to help her stage a protest to get Greendale to divest from fossil fuels. It’s broken up by the dean, who tells them Greendale is already carbon-neutral: they can’t pay for fuel, so the power comes straight from a kinetic generator . . . powered by Chang running on a treadmill.

Genera+ion

Genre: Dramedy
Logline: When Greta’s neighbor is hospitalized for asthma, she discovers that she is living in a “sacrifice zone”—a typically working-class neighborhood within two miles of an oil well—and that asthma is rampant in her apartment complex. She enlists the GSA to campaign for a greater buffer zone between her community and the oil wells. But Chester, Delilah, and Ana decide to take more direct action—and are detained for trespassing. (Written by Genera+ion writer Michelle Denise Jackson.)