When 'Glee' returns Feb. 6 to Fox, it does so following television's biggest lead-in, the Super Bowl. The Hollywood Reporter spoke with 'Glee' creator Ryan Murphy, who says the upcoming episode's tagline-- "A big night of passes, fumbles and personal fouls-- is appreciated by both "adults and children: subversive but where the double entendres go over the heads of 8-year-olds."
Murphy gets almost all credit for the show's music choices. He says his only formula for considering the three to five songs that might appear in an episode is that they have to "offer something for everybody." The show pays a fee to the artist's label for the use of their song, although some, such as Eminem's 'Lose Yourself,' are too "jaw-droppingly expensive" to use.
Kings of Leon turned down an offer from 'Glee', and refused to license their music to the hit musical show. "F*** you, Kings of Leon," Murphy said heatedly. "They're self-centered a** holes, and they missed the big picture. They missed that a 7-year-old kid can see someone close to their age singing a Kings of Leon song, which will maybe make them want to join a glee club or pick up a musical instrument. It's like, OK, hate on arts education. You can make fun of 'Glee' all you want, but at its heart, what we really do is turn kids on to music."
The band's frontman Caleb Followill told THR, "This whole 'Glee' thing is a shock to us. It's gotten out of hand. At the time of the request, we hadn't even seen the show... This was never meant as a slap in the face to 'Glee' or to music education or to fans of the show. We're not sure where the anger is coming from."
Murphy admitted the show hasn't been without controversy, and addressed the racy GQ magazine spread that raised a lot of eyebrows. "I must be so liberal and out of touch because when I first saw that cover, I said to Gwyneth Paltrow, who was with me on set, 'Oh, Lea looks so pretty.' She said something like, 'Get ready.' It didn't cross my mind there would be this big controversy.... but I never judge the actors because I know they all felt bad about it," he said. "And I think all parties involved learned a lesson about how parents look to the show as something inspirational and aspirational. We all realized that we have to be a little more careful when it comes to sexuality."
With Murphy's contract up at the end of season 5 and the McKinley High School students due to graduate at some point, there is an end in sight to 'Glee' as we now know it. But Murphy is working to ensure 'Glee's' longevity by constantly introducing new characters and plot twists.
"Chord Overstreet was new and really caught on this season," Murphy said. "And Darren Criss has become one of our biggest recording stars ever. Next year, we'll add two to four new people and every year as the show continues. I won't be doing it forever--or past my agreement. Then it will become somebody else's dilemma."
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