cheerfulness was immensely popular during its time on Fox, lasting over 120 episodes over its six-season run. The series, created by Ian Brennan and brought to the small screen by Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphyfollowed a group of high school misfits when they joined a gay club led by their passionate Spanish teacher Mr. shush.
Matthew Morrison played one of the lead roles as Mr. Schue and kept the group together during the endless drama the club faced. While the show covered some heavy themes and legitimate issues, at its core the series was a light-hearted comedy that served as a fun hour-long show during its primetime slot.
However, Ryan Murphy recently appeared as a guest on the… And you REALLY missed that podcast, hosted by cheerfulness with Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz. During his time on the pod, the creator discussed the series’ original direction and why cheerfulness was almost an NC-17-rated version. Insider recorded his comments, which are a stark contrast to the pilot that aired in 2009. Before the show was developed, Murphy said he struck a blanket deal with Fox, with plans to make a musical TV show. He wasn’t sure how to turn the idea into a successful series, but eventually someone came to help him.
“As we were having these conversations and I was trying to figure it out. Like serendipity, I went to the gym and I was in a towel and a guy went up and gave me a script and he said, ‘I felt like you were in the show choir, weren’t they?’ And I was like, ‘Yes.’ And he said, ‘My friend wrote this script and you should read it.'”
Murphy claimed the script furthered his inspiration for the series, although co-creator Ian Brennan’s first script was a much darker version than the final product.
“Mr. Schue, I believe, was a crystal meth addict in Ian’s script. The NC-17 version of our show choir with a strange protagonist unraveling.”
Ultimately, Murphy would push for something a little more family-friendly, while tackling adult topics that both younger and older audiences can enjoy. It seems that the writer made the right choice because cheerfulness is still one of the most popular musical TV series ever produced.
cheerfulness Almost had a different actor for Mr. Schue
Matthew Morrison appeared in every episode of cheerfulness, along with Chris Colfer, Jane Lynch, Lea Michele, and Kevin McHale as the only actors in the series to do so. He was one of the backbones of Fox’s hit show; Morrison, however, was almost completely uninvolved in the series. According to Ryan Murphy, cheerfulness was written explicitly with one actor in mind.
“When we wrote the pilot, I never really talked about this, that pilot was written for Justin Timberlake,” explains Murphy. mr. Schue was written for Justin.” Naturally, Timberlake made his name with the boy band NSYNC before venturing onto the acting field with big movies like The social network, Friends with benefitsand On time.
His popularity was sky high at that time cheerfulness began, and Timberlake’s presence would have been a huge draw for the new series. However, few could argue that Morrison was perfect in the role. Anyway, cheerfulness continued to be a consistent success thanks to its mashup of current hits, an excellent cast and light-hearted comedy mixed with mature themes. All six seasons of cheerfulness are now available to stream on Disney+.