NBC shows exploit Oakland’s Ghost Ship tragedy

Andy Kershaw carries his wife’s death certificate in his back pocket, because three months after her death he frequently needs the document to take care of her estate. His wife, Amanda Kershaw, was one of the 36 people who died in the Ghost Ship fire on Dec. 2. She was 34. Two of the Kershaws’ friends — Johnny Igaz, 34, the electronic music DJ known as Nackt, and Chelsea Faith Dolan, 33, an electronic music producer whose stage name was Cherushii — also were killed. On Wednesday night, the death of Kershaw’s wife and friends — and all the others who died at the Ghost Ship — became cheap entertainment. Millions of people turned on their television sets for some “high octane” drama — that’s how NBC promotes its linked shows “Chicago Fire,” “Chicago PD” and “Chicago Justice,” which were drawn from Oakland’s tragedy. I didn’t follow Chronicle television critic David Wiegand’s advice to avoid watching this week’s TV dramas. I had to see how the deadly fire was portrayed. Actors choked and gagged as they stumbled out of a building with steam floating off their clothes and Chicago’s elevated train tracks in the distance. It was eerily reminiscent of… Read full this story

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