If it feels like more television shows are having their characters sing these days, it’s not in your head. But musical episodes—even in TV shows that don’t feature music as a rule—have been around a lot longer than you might realize. It’s been a tradition since the 1950s, when I Love Lucy turned a dream sequence into a comical fantasy story set to song.
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Since then, music has appeared in comedies and dramas. Sometimes it’s naturally incorporated into the show, and sometimes it’s explained away through a schtick. While there are plenty of series where the musical episode REALLY hasn’t worked—looking at you, Riverdale—there are some where it goes completely right. These best musical episodes in non-musical TV shows will have you tapping your toes through the whole program.
1. “Life Is a Cabaret” — Schitt’s Creek
Schitt’s Creek became a beloved show thanks to its many comically dramatic characters. But the one character who could not be described that way was Stevie Budd. Awkward, subdued, and sarcastic, Stevie was the last person fans would have expected to be cast in a community musical. When Moira Rose chose her to play Sally Bowles in the town’s performance of Cabaret, no one expected it to go well—least of all Stevie herself.
To make matters worse, the episode opens with Stevie learning about David’s engagement on the morning of the show’s opening. Stevie promptly vanishes, making David think the news has upset her and causing doubts about whether the show really will go on. Finally she reappears with a gift for him, then hits the stage in a truly memorable performance of “Maybe This Time.” The other characters are blown away, but no more so than the audience.
2. “Grab Your Hankies” — Only Murders in the Building
The third season of Only Murders in the Building was an unusually musical one, as it followed Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) attempting to salvage his Broadway play after the shocking onstage death of Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd). With his producers ready to pull out and his dreams in shambles, Oliver turns to his star, Loretta (Meryl Streep) to sell them on his new musical. Streep’s performance of “The Nanny’s Lullaby” not only leaves all the characters in awe, but provides a hefty reminder of Streep’s singing chops.
The episode is a standout in a season filled with playful musical numbers. These include Steve Martin’s Hail Mary performance of “Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It” and a Bob Fosse-style hallucination that prompts Short’s character to tell him, “You should consider sequins, and a lot of them.”
[RELATED: 5 Memorable Music Moments from TV Shows]
3. “My Musical” — Scrubs
Television has used dreams, plays, and even demon possession to explain why characters are suddenly boogying down. Scrubs took it in a new direction by showing events from the point of view of a patient having an aneurysm. Her whole experience in the hospital is in song, down to collecting stool samples. Hospital work as a musical is as hilarious as you might expect, but it also provides the kind of exposition that just doesn’t exist in real life.
“My Musical” features some of the most iconic moments in Scrubs, like “Guy Love” and “The Rant Song,” performed to perfection by Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley). It was nominated for five Emmy Awards, and may have sparked a new interest in musical episodes in television.
4. “Once More, with Feeling” — Buffy the Vampire Slayer
In some ways, Buffy the Vampire Slayer restarted the popularity of modern TV musical episodes. In 2001, the already-popular vampire-themed show aired the episode “Once More, with Feeling.” It was so good, it became the metric by which all other TV musical episodes were measured.
The episode follows Buffy and her friends as they are overtaken by a demon named Sweet who makes them sing. They don’t understand why they are breaking out into song or where the demon has come from. However, his presence leads to uncomfortable secrets being revealed. “Once More, with Feeling” was an ambitious but wildly successful foray into a new kind of storytelling for the show.
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