by Megan Bailey, Staff Writer

How do you measure a year? Well, in musical TV shows, of course. This project led me to watch a bunch of musical shows I’d had every intention of watching at some point. And it had me start a couple shows to consider for this column and quickly abandon them because, well, oof. (I’ll be kind and not mention those by name.)

It also put me in a funk about the state of television—which happens relatively often, given the conversations Emily and I have on Someday We’ll Be Syndicated. Please excuse me while I rant once again: The streaming era has wrought so much damage to the television landscape, and niche shows, like ones with original music (among others), are the first on the chopping block. Case of the Week shows—franchise shows in hospitals, police stations, or courts—are television’s bread and butter, but daring to dream a little bigger is far riskier. But at the bottom of the barrel of good news, is that at least most of these shows are still available so you can watch them now at the mercy of the streaming overlords.

Unfortunately, with Girls5Eva officially canceled by Netflix as of this month, that means Hazbin Hotel is the only show from this column that’s still ongoing. Things aren’t looking great, Bob! But I’m hopeful that, with 2024 awash with movie musicals, more television won’t be far behind. There were a lot of musical films released this year, ones that hid their musical numbers (Mean Girls) and ones that didn’t (Wicked). There were also multiple films about pop stars with original music and several biopics about musicians, so musical-ish films ran the gamut this year. I hope this means more musicals will make money in the coming years, and we’ll get more big swings on the small screen too. But only time will tell.

Now, for some of my favorite numbers over the course of this project:

“I Want More” from Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies. An incredible “I Want” song for one the members of our girl gang.

“Bustin’ Out” from Schmigadoon season 2. A great number from the girls.

They Just Keep Movin’ the Line from Smash. Megan Hilty is a goddess.

One silver lining for me is that the Smash musical is coming to Broadway in March, and I’ve already secured my tickets. I can’t wait to see the adaptation, and I hope it’s a ridiculous good time, just like the show was.

All in all, this was a fun project that got me thinking about a niche of television that I’ve always enjoyed. I love watching performances, competitions, someone having to win something in order to save a beloved institution, et cetera—so, most of these shows were right up my alley. And a lot of the music was truly delightful. I fully believe there’s a musical show out there for everyone—even if you don’t think you like musicals. And I hope there will be more to come soon! Until then, keep on singin’!