F(l)o Show: Why TV musicals suck – and how to fix them

Given that I’ve spent the better part of a year writing about my love of TV shows, it may come as a surprise to you that my biggest love in life is not, in fact, television.

To be quite honest, I only first truly started getting into television as a freshman in college. Before that, and even now, my number one priority when it comes to entertainment is Broadway and musical theatre.

You might be asking yourself why I’m talking about theatre, since this is a column about TV and not about Broadway. Well, with that little introduction, I’m leading up to musical TV series.

There aren’t that many of those around, unfortunately. Obviously, the most well-known musical series is “Glee,” which started a trend of musical performances in TV that was continued when “Smash”premiered last spring.

What upsets me, though, is that both of these shows — the only shows that blend my love of theatre and TV out there right now — are pretty freaking crappy.

I believe I watched about half of the first season of “Glee” before giving up completely (although I will admit to finding all the episodes Idina Menzel is in and watching only her scenes without having any idea what is going on).

With “Smash,” I did a bit better, and I managed to finish the entire first season. Unfortunately, this show also made me want to smash my head against a wall multiple times, and I’m sure my suitemates can attest to hearing me scream at the inaccuracies and illogicalities about doing live theatre that were portrayed in the show. I think “Smash”ended up giving me more high blood pressure than my final project for my most difficult class.

Maybe I shouldn’t invest so much in these shows, but since theatre is my one great love, I just want one TV show that will deliver at least some of what I love about live performances to my laptop screen every week. Is that too much to ask?!

Clearly, it is.

As far as I can tell, the problem with these shows is that they tend to get caught up in the big musical numbers, sacrificing plot and characterization left and right.

One of the biggest criticisms I’ve heard about “Glee” is that they do not seem to understand the need for continuity. As for “Smash,” other than the fact that I hate the main character whom I’m actually supposed to be rooting for, the show seems to shove all the characters’ personalities in my face with unrealistic actions and scenes. To be honest, the only person I actually like on “Smash”is probably the main character I’m supposed to dislike.

So if I could produce my dream musical TV show, what would it be like?

First, I wouldn’t focus only on the musical performances. The plot is just as important, and the music should serve to highlight the plot points, not detract from it.

Second, characterization. Just because this is a musical doesn’t mean people need to be caricatures or inconsistent. Just have it seem real, you know?

Finally, I’d cast Idina Menzel somehow. “Serious” musical theatre fans might find her overrated, but I just...really like her, okay?