In the spirit of television, this is a Christmas special. And we’re talking about “Muppet Family Christmas” - one of my favorite pieces of media. My guest, Ryan Mallette, and I talk about how the Muppets embrace kindness and love, practice this through music and musicking, and the art of repetition with Christmas and other sorts of media. What are certain media traditions that you take part in?

We even start with the ephemeral nature of music in media - how music in television shows, films, and video games gets shifted or replaced, making a different experience each time around.

We also talk about, what I call, an unnecessarily dramatic question: if you had to choose between Muppet Family Christmas or Muppet Christmas Carol, which one? It’s curious how this question comes up but just seems to put things against each other.

Also, be careful of the icy patch!

References:

The Fantastic Miss Piggy Podcast - https://toughpigs.com/tag/the-fantastic-miss-piggy-podcast/

Miss Piggy, Camp, and the Death of the Movie Star - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkvAckgH4Yw&t=7s

Jim Henson and Philosophy: Imagination and the Magic of Mayhem - https://bookshop.org/p/books/jim-henson-and-philosophy-imagination-and-the-magic-of-mayhem-timothy-dale/11843764?ean=9781442246645

Buffalo Game Space - buffalogamespace.com

The Muppet Show - Season 2, Episode 17 “Rudolf Nureyev”

“Song Beneath the Song” is one of those episodes that divides viewers. My impression was that if you were a fan of Grey’s Anatomy at the time, this episode flat-lined and was something to try to forget. In my classes, though, I love bringing it up because it is an episode trying to do a lot of things. Perhaps not successfully I might put “Song Beneath the Song” in the realm of Cop Rock - where the musical exists alongside another genre of storytelling. We’ve got a surgery and a song in counterpoint, not as one big happy number.

My guest for this conversation is Katie Bloom, an excellent public health trainer and curriculum developer and friend who is making waves in bringing together new parents and families and working on creating and maintaining community.

@raisingastorianyc for Katie’s work in building a safe space for families to connect and parents to have a night out.

“Song Beneath the Song” is one of those episodes that divides viewers. My impression was that if you were a fan of Grey’s Anatomy at the time, this episode flat-lined and was something to try to forget. In my classes, though, I love bringing it up because it is an episode trying to do a lot of things. Perhaps not successfully I might put “Song Beneath the Song” in the realm of Cop Rock - where the musical exists alongside another genre of storytelling. We’ve got a surgery and a song in counterpoint, not as one big happy number.

My guest for this conversation is Katie Bloom, an excellent public health trainer and curriculum developer and friend who is making waves in bringing together new parents and families and working on creating and maintaining community.

Visit @raisingastorianyc for Katie’s work in building a safe space for families to connect and parents to have a night out.

Today’s conversation is with Dr. Caitlan Truelove, a musicologist and violinist who shares a passion for thinking deeply and very often about the intersection of TV and musicals.

This episode is special because we hadn’t actually met beforehand. And while we are anchored in talking about Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, our conversation goes so many other places and into the complexities of studying a topic like this. What makes a tv musical series? What is/are the important aspects of a taxonomy? What does Crazy Ex-Girlfriend do well? What is considered successful? And why do people think musicals should be one type of thing? We go into a lot and have a great time finding overlap between Caitlan’s work on TV Musical Series and my own work on Serial TV Musical Episodes. This is definitely an episode to check out the notes afterwards as well since we cover a lot of material. Enjoy our conversation!

References:

TV Musical Series to Check Out:

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Galavant

Schmigadoon/Schmicago

Numbers from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend:

“Our Twisted Fate”

“F*ckton of Cats”

“I’m the Villain in My Own Story”

“The Cringe”

“West Covina” - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

“Cheek to Cheek” - Irving Berlin

“What a Movie” - Trouble in Tahiti, Leonard Bernstein (listen for the “Island Magic” part)

Musicals We Mention:

Passion - Steven Sondheim

Assassins - Stephen Sondheim

Kelly Kessler. Broadway in the Box: Television’s Lasting Love Affair with the Musical. NewYork: Oxford University Press, 2020.

Anna Michelle Knapp. “Serial TV Musicals: A Taxonomy.” Masters Thesis, University of Pittsburgh, 2020.

Raymond Knapp. The American Musical and the Performance of Personal Identity. Princeton, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2006.

(to read more about MERM - Musically Enhanced Reality Mode)

Jessica Shine. “‘I’m on My Own Path’: Musical Development of the Musical in Crazy Ex- Girlfriend (2015–2019).” Music and the Moving Image 13, no. 3 (Fall 2020): 15–26.

Special Issue on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend from Music and the Moving Image. Volume 13, Issue 3.

This episode we start with a discussion about the musical sequence in “Summer” from A Year in the Life - the Gilmore Girls sequel series. For about 20 minutes, we get to watch Lorelai watch a Stars Hollow musical and look disgusted the entire time. It’s really quite… an experience.

My guest for this episode is a good friend, Jackie Havington. Her husband actually was in the previous episode about the Scrubs musical! Jackie and I have taught music together at a summer camp, which is probably one of the most stressful and rewarding things you can do. And transformative - summer camps are a great way to grow a lot in only a summer, even if you are the counselor!

Our conversation then goes into more about the feeling of ‘being trapped in a musical’ and how that applies to a lot of TV Musical intersections like Schmigadoon and Lexx. We then, as music teachers do, we start talking about teaching and how social pressures on audience members affect if and when we give a standing ovation, what that means, and how special it is to teach young people and support them in their musical journey.

I have really been enjoying these conversations, but not only do we analyze aspects of TV and musicals, but also how they relate to so many other aspects of our lives. I hope you have been too. If you want to chat, please email me or comment on the podcast’s social media.

And yes, buy my fruit! (Inside joke)

Jackie’s Medium: https://medium.com/@jaclyn.havington

“They are a great way to state important ideas. Ideas that can really make a difference. Charley, we can change the world” - Merrily We Roll Along

References:

“Brigadoom” - Lexx 2.16

The Hollywood Musical - Jane Feuer - https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Hollywood_Musical/Mv8qAQAAIAAJ?hl=en

Little Shop of Horrors Review - New York Times - Ben Brantley - https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/03/theater/review-in-little-shop-of-horrors-a-ravenous-plant-is-reborn-at-city-center.html

In today’s conversation, we are focused on “My Musical” from Season 6 of Scrubs. “My Musical” is one of those episodes that bubbles up to the top when people make their top 10 lists of musical television episodes. It also brings in a lot of the dynamics of the series, something I got to learn about through my conversation with my guest Andy Havington.

Andy and I have taught together and our discussion goes some interesting places - in particular, how the episode bucks medical show trends by having the patient be the central character (everything is seen and heard through her eyes and ears) and the struggle she has in advocating for her own healthcare. Don’t worry, we also talk about guy love and poo - it’s not all so serious.

Wheel of Morality says: Remember to advocate for yourself in healthcare and find providers that listen and collaborate with you.

References:

“My Screw Up” - Scrubs, Season 3, Ep 14

“My Old Lady” - Scrubs, Season 1, Ep 4

“Selfless” - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 7, Ep 5

Buffy matters - if anything, the series solidified the serial TV musical episode. But it also did so much for TV with its experimental storytelling and ahead-of-its-time genre-bending. Dr. Sabrina Boyer and I discuss these things, personal connections to Buffy, and a little bit about Buffy Studies.

“Fighting the Forces: What’s at Stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer” - Edited by Rhonda Wilcox and David Lavery - https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780742516816/Fighting-the-Forces-Whats-at-Stake-in-Buffy-the-Vampire-Slayer

“Why Buffy Matters: The Art of Buffy the Vampire Slayer” - Rhonda Wilcox, https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/why-buffy-matters-9780857717917/

“Why are Americans Afraid of Dragons?” - Ursula K LeGuin https://w3.ric.edu/faculty/rpotter/temp/waaaod.pdf

“Slayer Slang: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon” - Michael Adams https://academic.oup.com/book/48386?login=false

“The Body” - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 5, Ep 16

“Lie to Me” - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 2, Ep 7

“The Weight of the World” - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 5, Ep 21

“Chosen” - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 7, Ep 22

This is one of many episodes that will focus on “Once More, With Feeling” from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Shoshana Greenberg joins me to analyze how the episode fits within musical theater conventions, what does and doesn’t work, and the short-lived sing-along events (that we’d love to see return!).

Shoshana is the host of the podcast “Scene to Song” which analyzes musical theater as literature. As a creator of musical theater, as well as a journalist and critic, Shoshana’s episodes examine a wide range of topics and bring in great guests like Michael R. Jackson (“A Strange Loop”) and Dr. Ashley Pribyl. I, also, happen to have been a guest - but I’ll let you determine if I’m a great one or not.

Shoshana’s Information:

https://shoshanagreenberg.com/:

Scene to Song Podcast - https://scenetosong.podbean.com/

Episodes Mentioned:

“Once More, With Feeling” - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Ep 6

“Earshot” - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 3, Ep 18

“Out of Mind, Out of Sight” - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 1, Ep 11

Songs Mentioned:

“Unworthy of Your Love” - Assassins

“Over the Rainbow” - The Wizard of Oz (MGM)

Resources:

Over the Rainbow, from Kansas To Oz - https://www.npr.org/2008/10/15/94281015/over-the-rainbow-from-kansas-to-oz

Dolly Parton on possible Buffy Revamp - https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/dolly-parton-buffy-reboot-cast-b2486562.html

Kazoo Solo: Chris Culp (host)

For episode one, I invited Brandon to grill me on why I’m doing a podcast about this topic. This also sets a few seeds in motion for future episodes and hopefully inspires you all to think about television and musicals a little differently already. We get into consumer culture, philosophy, and I may have even coined a new phrase - “speech in drag.”

Check out Brandon’s recent book, “The Rise of Neoliberal Philosophy: Human Capital, Profitable Knowledge, and the Love of Wisdom” here - https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793616005/The-Rise-of-Neoliberal-Philosophy-Human-Capital-Profitable-Knowledge-and-the-Love-of-Wisdom

Marshall McLuhan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_Media

Anahid Kassabian - https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520275164/ubiquitous-listening

“Oz and the Musical” - Ryan Bunch - https://academic.oup.com/book/44854

Media Referenced

“Once More, With Feeling” - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

“2 Girls, 1 Tongue” - Todd and the Book of Pure Evil

“Brigadoom” - Lexx

“Song Beneath a Song” - Grey’s Anatomy

“My Musical” - Scrubs

“The Bitter Suite” - Xena: Warrior Princess

“Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire” - Xena Warrior Princess

“Subspace Rhapsody” - Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

A brief intro to what this podcast is about - we'll be having conversations about the intersection of musicals and television and figuring out some truths along the way. Reach out if you have any questions or comments or want to be a guest! [email protected]