Netflix, Comedy Central, Fox, NBC, CBSIt has been far too long since a TV show did a musical episode—and we're not counting the dearly departed Glee or our new love Empire. We're talking about when a show, like Grey's Anatomy, does a straight-up and unexpected musical episode. Let's change that.
Musical episodes can either be amazing—try and tell us Buffy the Vampire Slayer's "Once More, With Feeling" is not one of the finest hours of TV you've watched and that you don't own the soundtrack to Joss Whedon's genius episode—or just dreadful. Sorry, 7th Heaven, but whuck?
Here's how we would do musical episodes for seven of your favorite shows.
Law and Order: SVU
Now we wouldn't have this be a full musical episode, it is Law & Order: SVU after all and the wackiest they can get is Olivia Benson getting blasted by some trippy mushroom gas. However, we were inspired when Mariska Hargitay and Sara Bareilles started tweeting at each other. Then showrunner Warren Leight got involved and said the singer can come by whenever she wants.
So when Olivia Benson gets a bad cold and is home from work with nothing to watch but some of Noah's kids shows, well, her mind goes to a strange, musical place. Bareilles can do some original songs and everything will be grand.
Talent: Bareilles, Hargitay (who showed off her pipes with the rest of the cast), Ice-T, Kelli Giddish (yes, she sings!), among others.
Scandal
Grey's did it, why can't Scandal have an accident-induced musical extravaganza? OK, yeah, Shonda Rhimes wouldn't reuse the same plot device, but come on. The cast is just too talented and the show is ripe with emotion around every turn.
Talent: Basically everyone in this cast sings! Katie Lowes (here she is doing "Maybe This Time"), Bellamy Young (her take on "Easy Money"), Kerry Washington (she sang with Jordin Sparks and on SNL), Tony Goldwyn (Promises, Promises on Broadway)…
The Flash
The Flash is probably the easiest show to have a musical episode with a plausible explanation because of all the superheroes and villains. Blame it on one of them—Andy Mientus' Piped Piper? (He sings, duh)—and then have some fun!
Talent: Grant Gustin (you may recall his big break on Glee) and Jesse L. Martin (where are the Rent fans?) are known for singing.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
30 Rock never did an entire musical episode, but had its fair share of songs courtesy of Jenna Maroney. Tina Fey's new show has Jane Krakowski and Tituss Burgess in the cast and already gave us "Peeno Noir." Unfortunately, Krakowski told us she will likely never sing on the show…unless there's a full on musical episode. Let's make it happen! "I don't think Jacqueline will ever be able to sing. I've been told it's one of the purposeful choices keeping Jenna and Jacqueline separate is that Jacqueline does not sing and won't sing, we'll see if that changes as the series grows," she said. Kimmy Schmidt is wacky and funny enough that it can just do this and doesn't need some odd hook.
Talent: Krakowski (don't forget she won a Tony), Burguess (don't forget he's also a Broadway vet), Ellie Kemper (sure Subtle Sexuality is a auto-tuned, but she committed to it)
Broad City
The girls get super high and, well, s—t happens.
Talent: Abbi Jacobson (never forget Val!), Eliot Glazer (he has an act) and we're sure Ilana Glazer can carry a tune.
The Good Wife
Christine Baranski already told us the best pitch. "How cool would it be if Alicia just had a dream where there was a nightmare Christmas party where we could make use of all the musical talent?" We already saw inside Alicia Florrick's (Julianna Margulies) head, so that's another route we could go if nightmare Christmas party doesn't work. Besides The Good Wife just not being that type of show, there's another hurdle standing in the way: Margulies doesn't think she can sing. "If I could sing, I would audition for every musical ever produced on Broadway," she told us. "But the sad reality is, I only sing in the privacy of my own home. But I like to pretend I can."
Talent: Baranski (she sings in basically every other project except The Good Wife), Nathan Lane (you have seen The Producers, right?), Alan Cumming (He's now synonymous with Cabaret), Laura Benanti (she's been in like…everything and won a Tony for Gypsy), Steven Pasquale (his Bridges of Madison County performance was acclaimed), etc.
The X-Files
David Duchovny sings! He drafted Gillian Anderson to help him celebrate his CD launch and they did a duet. The X-Files is always so fun when it's kooky and scary, and nothing scares audiences more than dramas doing musical episodes. If we get more than six episodes, this should happen. What if they did the The Mulder and Scully Variety Hour? What if…
Talent: Anderson and Duchovny, here's their duet on "Helpless."