The Worst
Grey’s Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song
Based on where it sat in the season arc, this could have been a highly moving episode. That is if it was, you know, minus the singing. This was a real musical flop, where the characters broke out into song for literally no reason (and unlike in Scrubs, didn’t have the comedic factor to justify it). Oh Grey’s, we’re not sure who exactly thought this was a good idea, but best not to listen to that person anymore.
The basic premise seemed to be “how many Grey’s-related songs can we fit into one show?” Needless to say, that approach did not inspire high quality television. Not that the cast was musically lacking, indeed lead by Sara Ramirez (Callie Torres), they did a pretty great job. It’s just that the songs made no sense, as they were essentially just squeezed in from prominent Grey’s promos.
Worst moment: All of it, but especially “Running On Sunshine.”
Fringe: Brown Betty
This episode was planned as a musical specifically to fit into a Fox advertising campaign. As such, while the episode itself was okay (though nowhere near one of the strongest Fringe episodes), the music seemed oddly placed and extraneous. The film noir elements were quite fun, (we loved the costumes!), but most of the rest seemed unnecessary. As such it is on this list not for being a bad episode, but for being a poor musical one.
The episode was essentially justified as Walter’s drug-dream, while he tried to deal with Peter’s disappearance. The only thing it did plot-wise was explore the possibility of Peter and Olivia’s romance. Again the singing wasn’t terrible, but the songs were too random, the singing felt out of character, and didn’t suit the noir element. If they really wanted to do a musical episode, it could have been done a lot better than this.
Worst moment: The singing corpses performing “The Candy Man,” because, why?
House: “Get Happy” from Bombshells
If this was just a bizarre musical side-project from Hugh Laurie, we would kind of love it. But as part of an episode of House, it made no sense and was one of the strangest things to appear on our TVs. It was The Mad Hatter meets Willy Wonka meets Marilyn Manson with some zombie nurses as back-up dances and an overzealous use of the fog machine. And he seemed to forget his American accent. Plot, what plot? This was a disaster.
American Horror Story: Asylum: “The Name Game” from The Name Game
Here is a brand new entry. Electroshock therapy leads to mod singing and dancing, at least that is what Ryan Murphy seemed to be telling us earlier this month. From the incredibly dark and twisted episode, we were suddenly thrown into this jarringly light and cheerful song. No matter how they tried to justify it, it was nonsensical. Jessica Lange has a great voice, but next time please just give her a Glee guest role.
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.