Photo: Chris Haston/ABC (Getty).
This noise has got to stop. That’s right, we said it. And just to elaborate so that there is no confusion on the subject: musical episodes of non-musical television series are more annoying than, say, when a lead character dies at the beginning of a brand new season of a show. OK, there are occasional exceptions to the rule, but such occurrences are few and far between. We’re going to be honest with you up front: this will be our shortest tropes list to date. But it’s not for lack of examples. Simply put, rattling off a select few will be torture enough. Besides, it’s all pretty much the same deal. So what do you say we get this show on the road?
Ear plugs in — let’s do this.
Second-Rate Tropes: The Musical Episode
Not only was that last example the final nail in the coffin, but it will make a great segue into our next trope that is long overdue for banishment. Stay tuned. We’ll get you all up to speed soon enough.
Are we starting to sound like a broken record yet, or is that just our previous beef? Second-Rate Tropes: The Groundhog Day Scenario
Second-Rate Tropes: The Musical Episode
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"Gotham"
Photo: Warner Bros. Television Distribution
That's right, one of the worst shows on TV is about to get... well, worse. We suppose it might be a bit unfair to throw shade on something that hasn't even come out yet, but our next example is a solid indication that it's a bad idea in the making.
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"The Flash"
Photo: Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Oh, so a couple of the cast member are former Glee actors. That doesn't seem to merit making fans suffer through a nonsensical, shoe-horned in musical. And yet, that's what Season 3's "Duet" leaves us with. And nothing more.
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"That '70s Show"
What's worse than having your show's actors get together to sing covers of songs best left alone? When the actors can't sing, either. Besides perhaps the entire final season of the series (give or take the first four episodes), Season 4's "That '70s Musical" is by far the worst in an otherwise great run.
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"Scrubs"
Photo: Chris Haston/ABC (Getty).
While much more tolerable since the cast wasn't godawful at carrying a tune, Season 6's "My Musical" still left us with songs that were just ripped off from famous musicals (sans the original lyrics, at least) and a plot that is probably medically possible, yet still too far-fetched to distract from the fact that all musicals are terrible.
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"It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia"
Don't get us wrong, we are absolutely NOT referring to the brilliant Season 4 episode "The Nightman Cometh." But Season 12's "The Gang Turns Black" pulls the cliché of having characters sing throughout, and really distracts from an otherwise funny story.
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"7th Heaven"
Photo: CBS Television
Season 9's "Red Socks" is your typical episode, but with people just spontaneously breaking out into song intermittently. Like we said in our intro, you get the point pretty quick with these. And it just gets more unbearable as you go.
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"The Simpsons"
Photo: 20th Television
Time for the grand finale. When even The Simpsons can't pull a trope off with ease, it's time to pull the curtain. Couple that with the fact that "All Singing, All Dancing" came not long after "The Principal and the Pauper" (an episode widely considered to be the series' downfall), and we think our point has been adequately made.
