by Megan Bailey, Staff Writer

There’s been a lot of discussion about musicals lately, especially with the release of Wonka and Mean Girls, which both tried to hide the musical performances in their early marketing. Apparently, a lot of people hate musicals? Which is wild to me! I’ve been a fan for a long time, and I think musical tv shows are a fun little microcosm of all the usual tropes played out over longer story arcs.

In the 2019-2020 season, with shows like Katy Keene, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series premiering, it seemed like musical shows were on an upswing. In fact, The New York Times featured an article about how “television is in love with musical shows.” But with two of those shows firmly canceled, along with Schmigadoon! and Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies recently getting the ax as well, the current landscape isn’t quite as cheery.

This year, I’d like to take a Big Picture look at musical TV shows, with original music. (A good jukebox musical show is fun and, unfortunately, we owe a lot to Glee, in terms of the popularity of musical shows. But I’m more interested in the original music.) This covers diegetic musicals, where the music and performances exist in the world of the show like Nashville, Empire, and Schmigadoon!—as well as nondiegetic shows, where the performances are outside the real world of the show, like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Some shows use a bit of both, like Julie and the Phantoms, where some songs are onstage performances and others are more of a daydream.

Each month, I’ll focus on a specific show, talk about the songs, place it in the wider context of the musical tv show world, and point out any other fun tidbits. So, grab your microphone and warm up your voice! It’s time to get this show on the road.