'Glee' Season Three: Less Guest Stars, More Core Cast (Plus - the Spin-Off Lives!)
by Richard Sharp
In a decision that is bound to effect ratings (one way or the other), Fox executives said this week that "Glee" will be cutting back on guest stars in season three of the show. In a meeting with the Television Critics' Association yesterday, Fox programming president Kevin Reilly discussed the show's new focus on returning to the elements that drove its initial success.
“I sat down with [executive producer] Brad Falchuk and Ryan and talked about this season’s arc. My two cohorts at Fox were fighting back tears at one point. The season feels so focused this year. It’s a very back to basics year," said Reilly.
It sounds like the new focus will also mean fewer appearances by mega-watt stars like Britney Spears, Josh Groban and Neil Patrick Harris.
"There’s not going to be any guest stars or tributes. There will be a graduation at the end and three will graduate. There will be surprises about how that will play out. 'Glee' is an incredibly creative enterprise. It’s almost too much of a good thing. We’re going to focus on our core cast,” said Reilly.
While paring down the distractions will be important, the show will make an allowance for a new entrant from their pet side project.
“Initially, there’s not going to be any big guest stars or tribute in the first batch of episodes. And in general, [back to basics] will be the focus for the season. There’s an arc that will drive the year. The competition will be alive and well. You will have the winner for The Glee Project joining at some point down the road," said Reilly.
The Spin-off Lives!
Speaking of big side projects, the other big topic of the day was a potential spin-off of the show.
As we reported last week, Ryan Murphy talked about how the idea for a spin-off was instrumental in the whole "Glee" graduation hub-bub, wherein Lea Michele, Chris Colfer and Cory Monteith would reportedly be axed after graduation at the end of season three.
Executive Producer then came out and changed the story, saying “It was never our plan or our intention to let them go. They are not done with the show after this season.” Turns out all the hubub was due to a possible new show for those stars, which apparently was not going to happen after all.
"We were actively talking to actors, we were actively writing, we were actively getting ready to pitch. OK, here’s the three actors, and they want to do it, so here’s the story for them. Now that that has collapsed. We’re not talking about it, we’re not pitching it. We’re not doing anything for the next several months except for this third season," Murphy said.
But wait; hold your horses "Glee" fans. Once again, another executive attached to the show, Reilly, has a different take on the supposedly dead spin-off.
"The spin-off was in the wind and is still in the wind," Reilly said.
"We haven't said we're not doing it. We talked about it last season. I can tell you that Ryan [Murphy] did talk to all the actors. The public nature of it took all the actors by surprise. Ryan probably does regret talking about it. We did decide to focus on this year."
So there you go, different stories about the future of "Glee" once again. I'm beginning to think all these competing stories are just an elaborate ruse to get reporters to spill some "Glee" ink. Hey wait a minute...