Here’s what you missed on Glee! Starting in 2009 and running until 2015, Glee was a fan-favorite comedy-drama following the lives of misfits in their failing high school glee club, run by a washed-up theater kid turned Spanish teacher, William “Mr. Schue” Schuester. With six Primetime Emmy Awards, the six-season show was known for its absurd humor, entertaining musical numbers, and groundbreaking representation in queer spaces and highlighting people of color. It was truly a generational show, and with such great power, unfortunately, comes great responsibility, because Glee is getting a reboot. Or should I say, a Glee-boot?
On Oct. 21, it was announced that Disney+ greenlit Ryan Murphy’s infamous comedy-drama, Glee for a reboot. I can’t say that this greenlight was all that shocking after a few strange teasers in the days leading up to the announcement: Murphy saying on a red carpet that there had been talks of a reboot, Blaine’s actor and Tony Award winner Darren Criss performing various Glee numbers at the Royal Albert Hall with his on-screen love interest, Chris Colfer making an appearance, and a whole lot of hype around the show resurfacing due to former Glee-star, Harry Shum Jr.’s appearance on Dancing with the Stars. In the past few years, we’ve seen plenty of our favorite childhood shows and movies either get highly overdue sequels, unnecessary reboots, or sorry attempts at live-action remakes, so truly, after Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, I had an inkling that Glee would be the next victim.
The Dos
One of the only consistent things about Glee in its six-year run was that their covers were almost always better than the original song. From showstopping covers of iconic musical theater numbers to rearranging pop songs into original mash-ups to full recreations of Brittany Spears music videos, Glee was constantly outdoing itself, and if this reboot is going to even make it past the pilot episode, then the covers are going to have to be amazing. It’s not Glee if they aren’t.
Some songs that are a must for the reboot:
- Hamilton week (“Wait for It,” “You’ll Be Back,” “Guns and Ships,” and “Burn”)
- K-pop week (“Dynamite” by BTS, “Golden” by HUNTR/X, and “Animal” by KATSEYE)
- Taylor Swift week (“Style,” “Cardigan,” “Cruel Summer,” and “You Belong With Me”)
- Pop girlies week (“drivers license” by Olivia Rodrigo, “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter, “Sports car” by Tate McRae, “I Love You, I’m Sorry” by Gracie Abrams, “Good Luck, Babe!” by Chappell Roan, and “make you mine” by Madison Beer)
- Dolly Parton remembrance week (“9 to 5,” “I Will Always Love You,” and “Jolene”)
- Stephen Sondheim remembrance week (“Being Alive” from Company, “Sunday” from Sunday in the Park with George, “Johanna” from Sweeney Todd, and “No One Is Alone” from Into the Woods)
Two words: Sue Sylvester. It has already been (mostly) confirmed that a handful of the original cast members will be returning, such as Lea Michele as Rachel Berry, Heather Morris as Britney S. Pierce, and Kevin McHale as Artie Abrams, but the show would be nothing if it didn’t have its antagonist turned sort of anti-hero, Sue Sylvester. Played by Jane Lynch, Sue Sylvester is a genuine must if the show is set to return, because the character’s obscene, rude behavior makes or breaks the comedy in the show. If Lynch doesn’t return, I fear there will be no point to this reboot.
The absurd humor must remain. In this political climate, Glee has already aged like milk, but that’s what makes it memorable — it’s what makes it Glee. Even though the show is only about ten years in the morgue, it’s wild to see how pop culture has changed, and in the comedy spaces of TV and film, the industry has gotten a lot dryer and less willing to offend. In a lot of ways that’s better because it means representation has moved forward, but Glee virtually has nothing if it isn’t actively pushing the envelope.
The Don’ts
If you were wanting my pure, unbridled opinion, I would tell you that a Glee reboot itself is a don’t, but since we are already past that, I’ll just say that I think Glee having a reboot is disrespectful. During the show’s run, one of the leading actors and most vital characters in the show, Cory Monteith as Finn Hudson, sadly passed away. He had taken a small sabbatical from the show near the end of the fourth season and was checked into rehab. It was slated that he’d return to the show after dealing with his own personal obligations. Unfortunately, he died soon after his stint in rehab due to an accidental overdose. His last appearance on the show was “Sweet Dreams” (season four, episode 19), and after his death they gave him a tribute episode. Obviously, Glee ended up running for two seasons without Monteith, but it saddens me to say that since the show has wrapped, two other members of the original Glee Club have passed. Most notably, Naya Rivera, who played Santana Lopez on the show very tragically passed away on July 8, 2020, in a drowning accident. Both Monteith and Rivera were one half of the main romantic relationships in the show, and Rivera, especially, was a part of one of the first and still most highly regarded sapphic pairings on teen television. Not having them leaves such a noticeable gap in the cast, which will be extremely apparent in the reboot.
There has been a curse in teen reboots that I briefly mentioned before with Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, which is maturing the show with their audience. It is most visually obvious in the reboot of Gossip Girl (2021). The original Gossip Girl (2007), based on the book of the same name, was a very iconic show in the 2000s, and it was rated TV-14. When the reboot was greenlit by HBO, it was rated TV-MA for mature audiences. From a logical perspective, it makes sense, because it had been a decade, so obviously the people who watched the original had grown up, but instead of tailoring it to their former audience, it alienated the new audience they could’ve gained. It was also overwhelming for the previous audience because it didn’t feel like the Gossip Girl they had grown up with, but a newer, raunchier version. With Murphy and his track record lately — for example, Netflix’s very controversial anthology series, Monster (2022) — it would not surprise me if the Glee-boot is rated TV-MA, following the curses of its predecessors.