Confession: I’m a former choir girl. I danced around stage while singing show tunes in glittery outfits, strolled down many a wintery street singing Christmas carols, and have brought tears to the eyes of many singing a beautiful Aria. (Okay, I’m lying about the latter. While I’ve sang an aria or two, I have never done one solo, so I can’t really claim to have had that effect. My only two solos consist of a song from The Secret Garden and a Motown hit). I credit this history with the fact that a large chunk of my television viewing is connected to music in some way or another. If the sheer number of music-themed programs are any indication, I would guess that having such a background is not a prerequisite for enjoying them since a great many people out there are watching them.
I credit American Idol with spawning the various singing competition shows that came after it: The Voice, X Factor, Rock Star, Nashville Star, Making the Bands, Duets, The Singing Bee, The Glee Project, etc. While some of these have been more successful than others, the genre as a whole is still doing well despite over population. These shows require a great time investment, often airing 2-3 times a week (consisting of competition nights and results nights), so I can usually only watch one such program at a time. (This is why I’ve yet to see The Voice as it overlaps with American Idol. I’m a loyalist even though I think the show has suffered every year since Simon Cowell’s departure, much more so this year having lost Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler from the judging panel). Every year I prepare to drop these shows but feel the pull to be in the cultural “know” – aware of who the next big flash in the pan is. But even so, perhaps I’m getting burnt out on these reality shows because this year, although I’m happy that the final five contestants on American Idol are women, and there’s even one I like quite a bit, I find myself fast forwarding through most of the episodes.
However, I find myself spellbound when watching the various music-orientated dramas that exist in the current network lineups. For this I credit Fox’s Glee (2009-present). In an intelligent essay, “The Television Musical: Glee’s New Direction,” Jack Harrison ponders why Glee found success in this contemporary moment. He notes:
Television has, of course, always included music. Talent contests like The Gong Show (NBC, 1976-1978), televised music videos on channels like MTV, and, perhaps most notably, variety shows like The Ed Sullivan Show (CBS, 1948-1971) have played major roles in television history. However, up until this point, narrative fiction punctuated by break out song and dance numbers has primarily been restricted to film and stage… Serial musical has rarely been attempted and has almost never been successful. There have been a few examples of failed musical TV shows, most notably 1990’s Hull High (NBC) and Cop Rock (ABC), neither of which aired more than eleven episodes. And even in film and on stage, musical sequels have almost always flopped.
One of the reasons behind Glee’s popularity, according to Harrison, can be tied to the Internet-Television coalition that exists in this post-post modern age. Television programs no longer exist within a bubble, they are connected to other texts and commodities and the music programs lend themselves to this especially well. TV always existed to encourage us to buy products (those advertised in ads) but now it also encourages us to buy items related to the television show itself. In this case: songs.
Recordings of Glee’s songs have been sold on CDs and as digital downloads on iTunes. Because of this, thirteen million copies of digital singles have been downloaded, and as of 2009, the show had already had twenty-five singles chart on the Billboard Hot 100, the second highest number in history next to the Beatles. (Harrison)
This type of music purchasing is promoted in the singing competitions discussed earlier, but even non-music focused dramas are encouraging viewers to download the soundtrack to various episodes. This is just one more way the music industry, like the television industry, is changing in this new technological era.
But I’m not quite sure that this explains why suddenly music is big on TV. Is it just a fluke? Is it because these music-themed shows are a bit campy and right now in the post-9/11 era we all could use lighter programming to balance out the vast array of grim, post-apocalyptic, terror-focused shows? Perhaps. Whatever the reason, I find these shows to be delightful. So I’m going to discuss two of them.
NBC’s Smash (2012-present) debuted last year and focused on the making of a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe. It stars Katharine McPhee (a former runner-up on American Idol), Debra Messing, and Anjelica Huston. As a melodrama, the plot is very soapy – full of love triangles, affairs, backstabbing, blackmail, and more. This year Jennifer Hudson (another former American Idol finalist) joined the cast and the plot opened up to be more about the theatre community more broadly as competing Broadway productions are being featured. Like Glee, this show follows a traditional “musical” set-up. It has music when music makes sense (at shows, rehearsals, auditions) but it also uses song as a way to show interior thoughts and dream sequences. Since I’m a fan of musicals I love this aspect of the show but critics have been harsh on this stylistic. I love it all: the plot, the music, the acting. It’s loads of fun and I find myself as mesmerized as I am when I sit in a live theatre watching a musical unfold. But I might soon face disappointment since the ratings have suffered after the show moved to Saturdays this season. Renewal appears unlikely.
ABC’s Nashville (2012-present) debuted this Fall and is a different type of music-themed show. While every episode provides viewers with song, it is not in the musical vein. This program also has some sudsy qualities. In article for TV Guide, Matt Rouch described as “a country-fied ‘All About Eve’ pitting vetran diva Connie Britton against scheming crossover upstart Hayden Panettiere,” calling the show “a Grand Ole Soap Opry.” With mistaken paternity, corporate corruption, and scandalous love affairs, the soap descriptor is fitting. But melodramatic moments aside, the acting and singing are terrific, the characters are compelling, and there are endless plot possibilities with its behind-the-scenes of the music industry set-up. And, unlike Smash, its ratings are high and renewal is likely.
I’m not sure why America is digging music on the small screen as of late but I like it because with my remote in hand I can imagine it’s a microphone and sing along with the divas on the screen, I can transport back to my glory days on the stage (of high schools and community theaters), and I can live vicariously through the fictional exploits of those who made music the main part of their lives, and not just a passing fancy reflected upon in a quirky blog post.
No comments:
Post a Comment