Are you ready for yet another tribute episode on Glee? E! Online is reporting that the musical hit show is in the middle of filming a new tribute episode, this time for the late Whitney Houston. The cast will perform eight songs from Houston’s catalog. In a recent episode, Amber Riley’s Mercedes covered “I Will Always Love You” mere days after the late singer’s death; this was a coincidence, as that episode was filmed about a month before the singer’s passing.
This “will not be a typical tribute.” As a source tells E!, “It’s using Whitney’s music as a way to say goodbye. A way to respectfully say thank you for her music.”
Fans in the past have complained that these tribute episodes, as well as other big spectacles on the show, take away from focusing on the core cast of characters. But this Whitney tribute will apparently be a “character piece” that does in fact center around the seniors who will be graduating later in the season and how hard it is to say goodbye and move on with their lives.
Just this week, Lea Michele (Rachel Berry) tweeted that she was “Starting a new episode today. A very special tribute to one of the worlds (sic) most amazing singers. Very excited about this one.”
Glee aired a Michael Jackson tribute in January; after it debuted, songs from the episode dominated on iTunes. The show will also be paying tribute to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in April. And the Whitney tribute will air not too long after that one. Do you think this is too much for one season? Maybe Ryan Murphy is worried that with the decline in ratings, the show won’t make it past season 4 and is trying to cram in as much as he can while he has the opportunity to do so. Or else he’s hoping that the songs will dominate the charts again as they did with the King of Pop.
Too many tributes aside, I’m sure many fans will also say that it is way too early to be doing this episode just a couple months after Whitney Houston’s death. American Idol waited until last year to do a Michael Jackson theme night, and Glee waited until this year to do their MJ tribute. Then again, Idol did just do their own Whitney theme night, so I guess the wait time has decreased tremendously when it comes to her.
What do you make of this news? Can the show do Whitney justice? Or are they getting desperate at this point?
Glee returns April 10 at 8pm on FOX.
Source: E! Online
(Image courtesy of WENN)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
Jeff Dodge, a graduate of Western Washington University, has been a TV news editor for many years and has had the chance to interview multiple reality show stars, including Randy Jackson, Nick Cannon, Heidi Klum, Mel B and John Cena.
