Hello! I’ve been very busy and focusing on school, hence why it’s been a while since I’ve written a proper essay outside of school, which is sad. In the meantime – please, enjoy this stream of consciousness!
If you’re at all active on my social media, you’ll know over the pandemic I’ve been watching a lot of TV. Over the course of 6 months, my Netflix binges have included watching Glee, High School Musical The Series, Crazy Ex Girlfriend and – as of this week – Julie and the Phantoms.
GOD, IT’S GOOD.
Other than Glee – which is more of an indulgence – all of these shows are very good. The music really enhances them, too, which I think is significant. Crazy Ex Girlfriend, for example, wouldn’t be nearly as funny, impactful or clever without the songs (of course, it wouldn’t even exist without it, but that’s another issue entirely).
So why have I now watched basically the entire catalogue of major musical television shows? That is not okay!
The breakaway critical and commercial success of these shows, surely, can’t be denied? It’s clearly a profitable genre, and more and more as musical theatre becomes more mainstream, with shows like Hamilton having such a presence in the public consciousness.
I’m at the point, now, where if any show has music, I would probably watch it, because I’ve enjoyed every single one I’ve seen. Yet it’s still so uncommon. It’s more common in children’s TV, especially animation – but shows like Crazy Ex Girlfriend, with very mature themes, prove that this genre isn’t just for kids. Even Julie and the Phantoms, whilst appropriate for kids, is incredibly popular amongst all ages.
TV shows have often done one-off musical episodes, to varying levels of success (from Buffy and Psych excellence, to… Grey’s Anatomy.) The more successful ones do seem to be the ones with real effort behind them, which perhaps is why as a genre musical TV isn’t that frequent – it takes a lot of energy, and they’re only good when you can see real thought and heart behind them. Your ‘Unsaid Emily’, over the fiftieth Britney Spears episode in Glee, for example.
But I do believe the future of television is getting more creative. The shows which I personally enjoy often have their own quirks, which is what makes them enjoyable – Scrubs’ fantastical comedic bits, Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s flashbacks, Parks and Recreation’s talking heads (which I know are really a child of The Office, but after the first season it loses the mockumentary style as a whole, so I think it becomes its own thing). Are these features entirely unique to each show? No, but they give them their own unique style, which really makes you feel like you’re watching one cohesive show, not just a series of episodes that just happen to have the same actors. And for Crazy Ex Girlfriend, and Julie and the Phantoms, their “thing” is music, in their own different ways.
More and more, TV is becoming something bigger than just casual entertainment (not that there’s anything wrong with those casual shows!), and giving us the same scope of depth as in film, for instance. It’s a genre with so much potential – it fosters an investment that a film can never give you, where you can grow along with your characters, and follow a much larger part of their journeys than even a film series allows. It allows you to feel close to not just one or two characters, but a whole cast, on a level that spawns thousands of fan accounts all over Twitter. TV has potential. And as a musical theatre fan, having TV shows with music is a dream, and has a vast well of potential.
My point? Please, renew Julie and the Phantoms, and write more shows like it! Musical TV, guys! Do it!