As fans anxiously countdown to the February 6, 2011 Super Bowl to find out which of their favorite (or not so favoite) teams will be crowned NFL Champion, those of us in TV Land already have ours.
GLEE has been awarded the pivotal post-Super Bowl timeslot that will see the hit FOX show feature covers of the Black Eye Peas, Lady Antebellum, Katy Perry and Michael Jackson’s Thriller. And while we have no doubt the football-themed episode that will revolve around the local football championship will be a bonafide crowd pleaser, we can’t help but wonder if FOX fumbled with their choice of shows.
After-all, from the A-TEAM (1983) to UNDERCOVER BOSS (2009), the timeslot that follows the big game — with the notable exception of ALIAS for which we will never forgive Bon Jovi — has a celebrated tradition of virtually guaranteeing upwards of 20-30 million, which in TV terms is basically the showrunner equivalent of well, winning the Super Bowl. And herein lies the problem.
Of all the shows on the FOX network, does GLEE really need the publicity? Would not a freshman series on the brink of break-out hit status such as RAISING HOPE not benefit far more from the eyeballs the Super Bowl will surely deliver. Answer: Of course it would. Unfortunately, unless HOPE star Lucas Neff can pull a Darren Criss (Read: Sell a record 175,000 songs on iTunes), it’s not going to happen. Particularly since GLEE has, thanks to music sales, live concerts, and oh yeah, the actual TV show transformed itself into a global cash cow.
That said, after yet another hilarious instalment of RAISING HOPE last night, we for one couldn’t help but wonder what could have been had Fox decided to think outside the box. Considering your average episode of GLEE is usually comprised of little more than half an episodes worth of must-see musical numbers, enough dialogue to push the extraneous “plot” forward and a quip or two from Sue Sylvester, GLEE, more than any other show, could have easily taken their usual hour-long format and cut it down into a half-hour one, providing for more than enough time for a solid episode of RAISING HOPE, and in the process, giving Fox the best of both worlds.
Just a little something the proverbial powers that be might want to think about come Super Bowl 2015. 