The “Glee” series finale delivered glorious news that William McKinley High School is being turned into an arts school and that Will Schuester, who started its glee club way back in 2009, will become its principal.
Oh, and that wondrous show choir, New Directions, won the national championship.
But “Glee” always had the underlying message: With a song in your heart, dreams do come true.
Another dream fulfilled: Mercedes (Amber Riley) told the gang she’ll be the opening act on Beyonce’s upcoming world tour.
Cue the songs: “Teach Your Children” … “Someday We’ll Be Together” … “The Winner Takes It All” … “Daydream Believer.”
That’s how it went — happily ever after — as the Fox song-and-dance show concluded its six-season run Friday night.
Oh, sure, there were some unexpected nightmares, too. Looking ahead five years, faculty mean girl Sue Sylvester was seen winning a second term as vice president of the United States (in the Jeb Bush administration). She announced to Geraldo Rivera that she planned to seek the presidency in 2024.
On a brighter note, five years from now Rachel will be a surrogate mom for gay couple Kurt and Blaine. She’ll also be a Tony winner: “Being a part of something special does not make you special,” she said on accepting her award. “Something is special because you are a part of it.”
The show finished with a rousing rendition of “I Lived.”
“Glee” leaves behind a remarkable legacy.
First of all, it dared to try something that had seldom if ever succeeded in television history, blending episodic narrative with musical production numbers. It set those performances in the context of New Directions at fictitious McKinley High, a setting replete with stories about growing up, self-acceptance, perseverance and dreams.
“Glee” did something else few would have thought possible: It helped make glee clubs cool while it promoted arts programs in schools.
And it served as a platform for new talent, launching such stars as Lea Michele (Rachel) while giving wide exposure to veterans like Matthew Morrison (Will) and Jane Lynch (Sue), with guest appearances by a broad range of celebrities that included Helen Mirren, Lindsey Lohan and Ricky Martin.
Pop music — both new and well-established — reached new audiences, both on the show and through sales of more than 50 million songs and 13 million albums under the “Glee” signature.
While it was demonstrating a viewer appetite for musical theater among its audience, “Glee” accomplished one more thing: It highlighted, and even helped normalize, young people traditionally deemed marginal both in real life and on TV. Among the characters included in the “Glee” big tent was transgender girl Wade “Unique” Adams. Tolerance, or at least reaching for it, was a “Glee” hallmark.
On “Glee,” glee club was the default matter-of-life-and-death. But story lines frequently reminded its membership, along with the viewers, that plenty of other things were equally important — or even more so.
During its mostly joyous run, “Glee” weathered loads of onscreen drama. But there was bitter, real-life drama, too — notably the death of Cory Monteith. A breakout star who played singer-quarterback Finn Hudson, he had struggled off-camera with substance abuse. Then, in July 2013, he died at 31 of an accidental alcohol and drug overdose.
That October, “Glee” said goodbye to Finn (whose death, never described, was written into the series) while paying tribute to Monteith in an emotional farewell episode where reality intruded all too vividly on the show’s make-believe tale.
In the finale, the fabled high school auditorium five years from now will be renamed for Finn Hudson.
Meanwhile, reality intruded once again: For the characters at McKinley High, as well as the audience that has followed them with every note, graduation day has come.
By Frazier Moore, Associated Press
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http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/song-over-glee-ends-its-tuneful-6-season-run
[Editor’s note: Scoff as you want, but Glee did more to help out arts in the schools than can ever be counted. Before the series started, it was estimated that there were less than 100 show choirs in local high schools. It didn’t take long before young people were clamoring for after-school Glee clubs and the number escalated to more than 600, giving youngsters who love to sing a chance to find like-minded friends. And friends who played instruments were recruited to back them up. That doesn’t even count the many other lessons that the show taught, among them that it’s o.k. to be “different” and that all of us have more in common than what might appear on the outside.]
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KC and the Sunshine Band Founder Gets Emotional Over Lonely Past
Harry Wayne Casey knew he was a part of something special as the leader of the 1970s interracial supergroup KC and the Sunshine Band. Their hits “Get Down Tonight” and “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty,” helped them sell 100 million records worldwide, and become the first group to have four No. 1 hits in a single year since the Beatles.
Despite all their success, Casey struggled personally to keep some sense of privacy.
“The reaction for us, to me, felt like Beatlemania,” Casey says. “It was crazy with us. I mean, there would be 5,000 people outside of our hotel everywhere we went. I couldn’t go anywhere.”
This led Casey to feel more alone and isolated than ever before. “For me, it was the most loneliest time of my life,” Casey admits.
These feelings led Casey to turn to prescription drug abuse.
Once he got clean and sober, he returned to the band in the 1990s and has toured around the world ever since.
“I know that my music has brought a lot of enjoyment to a lot of people. We all have purposes here on earth. That’s one of my purposes,” declares Casey.
Read the whole article here:
http://features.aol.com/video/kc-and-sunshine-band-founder-gets-emotional-over-lonely-past