Once More, With Feeling Podcast: When TV Breaks into Song

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...

“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...

“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...

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 l...

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...

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 discus...

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 Dav...

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...

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 Neo...

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! OMWFPodcast@gmail.com