Wow so — this story just won’t ever end, will it? This story about the far away future in which Lea Michele, Findeldorf and Chris Colfer may/may not be leaving the teevee show Glee after the third season / starring in a spin-off / staying on the show in a different capacity?
Firstly, I wanna say that I’m fairly certain I’ve never criticized or called out Ryan Murphy directly although perhaps I should have. I’ll often criticize the ambiguous creature known as “the show,” and then readers take it upon themselves to directly target Murph in the comments. I suppose I’m just not convinced that every unpopular decision Glee makes can be traced back to Ryan Murphy — he’s got writers, after all.
But honestly, I think the primary reason for my hesitance to Murphy-bash is that when you’e been dating Ilene Chaiken for six years, everyone else seems like a perfect gentleman.
That being said, it’d be irresponsible of me not to report to you that I think from reading this new interview that Ryan Murphy is a little bit butthurt!
dorothy snarker of afterellen.com
not the real ilene chaiken
“... for any of those actors to say, ‘I found out that I was fired off the show from Twitter,’ is absolutely 100% not true. None of them were fired. It was never about that. We were going to do a spin-off where the three of them were going to go on. They all knew what was happening, they all had approved it, they all said they wanted to do it… So then what happened was it blew up and a lot of articles were written about it. Some people were writing they’re not on the show so that means they must be fired. Well, no. That was 100% incorrect.”
– Ryan Murphy
Essentially The Deadline interview reveals that when Ryan Murphy told The Hollywood Reporter that Rachel/Finn/Kurt would graduate and leave the show at the end of Season Three, he was saying this under the assumption that they’d be graduating, leaving the show, and joining ANOTHER show — the Glee spin-off!
This Glee spin-off was allegedly to be set at Julliard in New York City, because it’s totally absolutely 100% probable that three kids from McKinley High would nab three of the 24 spots available for incoming freshmen in Julliard’s acting program (12 for men, 12 for women), the most competitive theater school in the country. (Actually Rachel Berry would get into Julliard, but Finn getting into Julliard is about as likely as Kurt getting a football scholarship to Ohio State.)
Then this happened:
“I think that some of those actors’ representatives spun it in a certain way, to be quite honest, I don’t understand. We weren’t allowed to talk about a spin-off. It was too premature. We didn’t want to do it then. The idea was to do it this fall when Glee gets back on the air. Then, to pick up and read the actors saying, “We found out we were fired from Twitter.” All of us, the studio, the network, were like, ‘OK, that isn’t exactly cool,’ because we involved all three of them in that decision. So then what happened is that we decided, ‘OK, let’s not do it.’ So that’s where we are today.”
So then essentially Murphy decided to shelve the spinoff idea, at least for now, because he’s mad at the press for turning it into a thing and he’s mad at his actors. However, because he has them in seven-year contracts, he’s not letting them go, either:
... they couldn’t come out and say, ‘No, we weren’t fired. We’re talking about a spin-off.’ Because we told them not to. And this has blown up. So now we’re not doing the spin-off. It’s not my call. Those actors have a contract for seven years. So just because they’re graduating and so many of them are beloved, if they don’t go to New York, maybe they’ll do something else. We haven’t even thought of that.
Hence Brad Falchuk saying at Comic-Con that the trio would not be leaving the show after all. Ta-da!
Anyhow, don’t let this crush your dreams of the Sanatana’s Lesbian Colony Spinoff or The Heather Morris Show or the Kurt/Santana Vampire Show! Because if Mr. Schuster taught me anything, it’s that even if you can’t sing or dance or are a male lesbian, if you believe in yourself, reach for the stars and dare to dream , you too can have a solo at Nationals or an entire spinoff all to yourself. Like Frasier!
What Glee spin-off would you like to see?
I’d be interested in a Glee spin-off where only Rachel and Kurt went to New York. Finn could go live in a hole for all I care. Besides, the Rachel/Kurt duets are always super pretty.
Except instead of going to Julliard, it would be like Glee-flavored Party Down.
If “Colony L” doesn’t happen I’m gonna go all Lima Heights on everyone.
I just had a BRILLIANT idea for a spin off: why not have Quinn Fabray falling in love with Rachel Berry and then they both move to Los Angeles and become part of a group of lesbians who are all friends but not really and then Quinn can’t get pregnant and Rachel Berry cheats on her with Whitney Mixter but they kiss and make up and end up having kids and then someone dies and they end up involved on a murder investigation?
No? Ok then.
Now this would be entertaining
Rachel, Kurt and Blaine get into a theatre conservatory. They’ll be sides of Finn trying to continue a long distance relationship until Rachel dumps him for a cute red head girl who upstages her in a RENT audition. She’s turned on by the competitive nature of the relationship as well as the mutual love of all things Broadway and the dream of making it big.
I’m just entranced by the rollerskating photo. Rachel Berry sings, border collie appears out of nowhere to follow and look up her skirt?
I don’t think I EVER noticed the dog in that picture before. Whoa.
Even just beyond the fact that Juilliard is way harder to get into than the media thinks it is, they are aware there are other performing arts schools, right? Why does everybody have to go to Juilliard? It’s like how every super-smart kid has to go to Harvard, Yale or Princeton.
Also, Juilliard’s theater program is in straight theater, I’d think someone like Rachel or Kurt who is clearly more into musicals would choose a school that has a specific musical theater program, like NYU or Carnegie Mellon.
obviously NYU, it has to be set in New York.
The only spin-off I’d like to see is a Lesbian Colony with just Britanna and Faberry.
And no Finn for the rest of my EVER.
this may have been mentioned before, but that ilene f-cking chaiken twitter is genius. pure gold.
that is so, so true
I found out about it the other day and the old tweets had me laughing out loud
RIP “The Farm”
Why am I a fan of TV shows where the creators annoy the heck outta me?! First The L Word, then Skins, now Glee.
Too bad I can’t quit the shows. Ugh, my life.
Go forth and become a fan of Buffy/Angel/Firefly/Dollhouse.
Be happy forever.
Insert obligatory reference to the group Browncoats, Scoobies & other Whedonites.
you know what would be great? if whedon took over glee
My brain is dancing with a million musical possibilities at this idea!
Yes, Buffy will cure your hatred.
And now I know why Glee is so inconsistent…
IFC strikes again!
This seems really really petty of Murphy to be all huffy and sulky and just call it off because “we” ruined his “big surprise”. I can just picture him sitting in a press conference with a big frown and arms crossed, hunched over while he says: “It’s not faaaaair!! It was gonna be so cool and fun but YOU JUST HAD TO RUIN IT!!”
Yeah, I know. Who is he, Stephanie Meyer?*
*for those who don’t get it, after a draft of Midnight Sun (her version of Twilight from Edward’s POV) was leaked she was so mad she refused to write the rest of the book. Don’t ask me why know this, since I haven’t read any of those books and have no desire to. Maybe I just spend too much time on TV Tropes?
Wait, really? She did that?
I follow IFC on Twitter. She’s hilarious. Ditto on Ms. Snarker.
I have a major crush on Snarker
Fondue For Two. That is all.
I’m so glad someone else has made the Ilene Chaiken/Ryan Murphy comparison because I’ve been saying that for ages.
I officially don’t care about anything Ryan Murphy says anymore, but I do have to say that I think he’s really crossed the line in publicly chastising his actors. Considering that the actors reportedly work harder/longer than almost anyone in the business for a lot less than they deserve, and that they still manage to be remarkably professional and supportive of the show even when it’s a fucking train wreck, it’s pretty low of him to throw them under the bus to make himself look better… especially when anyone who’s looked at the facts can see that he is clearly at fault here. Just admit you made a mistake and move on. Jesus.
I’m probably the only one, but I want the Rachel/Santana spinoff. That’s all I care about right now as far as Glee goes.
Also Fondue for Two. Or anything related to Heather/Brittany, really. And Lord Tubbington.
BRITTANA The Movie.
Oh and here’s the trailer! http://youtu.be/wqOPWmlZr28
I pretty much think its your fault…. the press, that is.
the reporting and commentary on this story has been as destructive as possible.
FWIW, if anyone is interested in facts, Murphy said the mix up was his own fault, not the fans or the actors.
but don’t let that stop you from trolling for hits with lies.
I would like to see “Brad”, the show about the piano-playing mastermind’s journey through the showchoirs of the US, resulting in vicious attacks on all the rising stars of musical theater through an anonymous blog.
So while it is highly, highly, HIGHLY unlikely that 3 kids from some Midwestern high school would get into Julliard (or that any of them would get into Julliard, for that matter) it’s not completely impossible. I don’t mean to brag about my friends, BUT (I’m going to brag about my friends) two of my friends from my high school class got into University of Michigan’s musical theater conservatory, which only takes about 25 people every year. It’s up there with Julliard. So, you know, it could happen.
Oh God I would NOT be interested in such a spinoff. Rachel is the most annoying character ever made and I feel like the show has turned Kurt into someone I don’t recognize… or like at all.
I just would like to know why it is necessary for them to parade Lea Michele’s T&A in every single Glee promotional photo EVER. Really?
/off topic
Wouldn’t it be cool if for the last season….at nationals or one of their last competions rachel, Kurt, and Santana are already famous!! And they would be celebrity judges…..and WMHS wins cuz of them???!!!