Better Late Than Never: 'Glee' Planning Full Whitney Houston Tribute Episode

With the passing of Whitney Houston, tributes are popping up left and right, especially on music-themed TV shows. Just this week, the "American Idol" finalists sang Houston songs, and now it looks like "Glee" wants to get in on the action.

According to THR, "Glee" is planning a Whitney Houston tribute episode for when the show returns this spring. The episode's theme will be saying goodbye and "letting go," as the seniors are getting set to graduate. Eight of Houston's hit songs will be used in the episode, but the track list has not been set yet.

One that won't be on the list of covers is Houston's "I Will Always Love You," which was covered by Amber Riley on the show just a few days after Houston's death. The cover was just a coincidence, as the episode had been shot well before the night that Houston died, but the show did place a title card at the end of the episode in tribute to the singer.

However, now the placement of the tribute episode might come off as a bit strange. After all, "Glee" is on its spring hiatus right now, and the episode is only just being filmed. Since the show doesn't return until April 10, it could be any number of weeks before we see the tribute ep, at which point it might just seem unnecessary to bring Houston's passing back to light.

Furthermore, there is the question of exploitation: considering that almost every song performed on "Glee" goes up for sale on iTunes, is it appropriate for the show to use Houston's music in a tribute episode and profit from it? No plans to donate proceeds from the song to charities has been announced, and if "Glee" donated any of the money from "I Will Always Love You" (which sold over 45,000 digital downloads), it has not made it public.

What do you think? Is the "Glee" tribute episode to Whitney Houston a good idea?