The Influence Of Production For Glee By Ryan Murphy

Television has been impacted throughout the years by many different producers. Each producer has contributed to the success of television and played a pivotal role in making television what it is today. Although television may never be perfect, it still offers the best content created by producers for the sake of an audience's entertainment. By pushing boundaries, producing compelling stories or segments, television has come a long way and it can only go further on from here. In today’s era of television, Ryan Murphy is one of the most well-known producers. Not only does he produce his shows, but he writes and directs as well. Murphy had a long journey before he was able to launch his successful career as a producer. Before diving into television,
he was a news journalist and had the privilege of writing for the Los Angeles Times and Entertainment Weekly. However, Murphy’s true passion lied within television and so he decided to take the leap. Through many trials and errors, Murphy had a lot of failed pilots that were never launched by certain networks. It wasn’t until Murphy’s comedic series Popular got picked up by Fox, that he launched this career on television in 1999. However, the show only lasted for two seasons, until his drama series Nip/Tuck on FX in 2003 and lasted until 2010. The show itself was a major success for Murphy and was able to gain him the recognition he sought after. The following year after it had been launched, Murphy won his first emmy award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama series, thus making Murphy’s work recognizable and distinguished. A year prior to Nip/Tuck ending, Murphy was on the brink of major success. He created his most known show, Glee that aired on Fox. Glee was a major phenonem amongst teenagers and young adults. Murphy decided to take a different route and challenge what television was comfortable with. He produced Glee with a different vision in mind: musicals and dancing. It was a different take on what you normally see, however it was a major success because Murphy targeted America’s youth and all the troubles that come with growing up. The show tackled themes of: sexism, racism,classism, disabilities, homophobia, and xenophobia all within the setting of high school, which is perhaps why it resonated with America’s youth but left a bitter taste behind for older generations. Questions arose and concerns came from parents who no longer wanted to allow their children to be exposed to such topics and were against Fox for even airing the show on their network. However, luckily Glee was going nowhere because of major ratings it was bringing to the Fox network.
Murphy challenged the norm of not only society, but what America is used to seeing on television, by creating a dialogue on national television about controversial topics.
However, it wasn’t the only major aspect of the show. Production for Glee was intense and Murphy had to make sure everything was fine in order to continue producing the show. Since it was a musical show and the actors sang songs from every different genre imaginable on every single episode, Murphy and the rest of his team had to make sure they obtained legal copyrights from other companies in order to obtain the permission to sing songs on their show every week. Murphy started the show in 2009 and ended it 2015. Murphy’s show defined a generation of teenagers who grew up exposed to many controversial topics all thanks to watching it unravel within a screen at the comfort of your house. Nonetheless, Murphy describes his time on Glee as being simultaneously the worst and best time of his
life.
Moving Forward, Murphy decided to tackle a different genre and a different network. In 2011, American Horror Story debuted on Fox and became an anthology series. Murphy produces the show with this co-producer, Brad Falchuk. After Glee he decided to produce a show that was completely the opposite and filled with gore and horror. Some people thought it was strange how drastically different Murphy’s shows were and found it hard to fathom how it would be as successful as it became. As the producer, Murphy will usually stick to keeping the same actors such as Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters on the show, despite the plot being different every season. However, what made the show incredibly popular, is the fact that it’s not your traditional NBC show. Murphy understands what is at stake with television while platforms like Netflix and Hulu are on the rise, yet he manages to stay leveled with these competitive shows. As a producer, he recognizes the traditional planning of season-to-season no longer is appealing as it once was. In order to create a captivating show, Murphy has developed an entire universe within his anthology horror series. On his part, he secured himself because this strategy enables him to keep Hollywood’s A-list actors on contract under a show with the same title for each season, but a completely different synopsis for each one that has no correlation to the previous one. This allows Murphy to make mistakes and evolve within a small time frame as producer. If a certain theme doesn’t resonate well with an audience for one season, Murphy is able to try again the following year with a different theme for a new season. He’s made his mark on television by producing a show and enticing an audience by always developing a new project with different themes and bringing it to life on screen.
The different seasons Murphy decides to produce within American Horror Story , are a testament as to how he challenges television and entertainment itself each year. He remains true to his style of producing and writing shows that tackle current day issues by adding eerie elements and an awful lot of horror to them. Murphy wants his audience members to take away something from each show he produces and dialogue he creates. In order to create an allegory within his show, he’s careful about what may be perceived as offensive or not. Last year, he produced American Crime Story: The People Vs. O.J. Simpson, and it became to be one of television’s most riveting shows in 2016. Although America knows the outcome of this particular case, it’s the spectacular way Murphy produced this show that made it gain its popularity. He told the story of O.J. Simpson in new way that still made it relevant to the trials we face in America till this day: racism and sexism.
His most recent work, American Horror Story: Cult, Murphy is pushing boundaries. He produced a show that is depicted modern day society under Donald Trump’s presidency and the effects it’s causing, however he does not forget to add his signature element of terror to American Horror Story. However, producers have to be ready to handle anything that comes their way in post production. In light of the recent mass shooting in Vegas, Murphy made the quick decision to edit out scene that depicted a mass shooting as well. He wanted to film this as direct anti-gun message in America, however last minute changes were made because he did not want to be insensitive towards the families who have been affected by this tragedy. In times like these, Murphy is a prime example of how producers must be ready at all times and know when to re-edit and how exactly it should be done in order to not ruin the flow of the show.
As a producer, Murphy wanted to create shows that depict real life.
When it came to creating Glee he withdrew inspiration from his own childhood and troubles he faced. He incorporated and channeled himself through almost all the characters he created. When it came to American Horror Story he drew inspiration from observing everyday life and submerging it with supernatural elements. He wanted to depict a show that people could somehow relate to while fearing it simultaneously. He produced shows that would keep everyone at the edge of their seats and stimulate your thought process. Every season of American Horror Story was a mystery that had to be solved at the end. He entices an audience through television by creating projects that reel you into a different universe. Especially in regards to American Horror Story, he revolutionized the way American television is produced. Instead of continuing a six year show, he’s created multiple shows under the name of one title: American Horror Story.Whether it be through Glee, Nip/Tuck, or American Horror Story, as a producer he’s done a fantastic job at adapting to different genres of television but still remaining true to his style and producing majorly successful
shows.
Overall, Ryan Murphy is a triple threat. He’s a producer, writer, and director. He produced content for television that was able to resonate well with America. He challenged the norms of what is shown on television and managed to do so effectively without being too controversial. He takes risks and executes them perfectly while thinking outside the box. He’s regarded as a producer that everyone in Hollywood desperately desires to work with because he’s deeply invested throughout the entire process of production, thus creating award winning shows throughout all categories. Therefore, Ryan Murphy in his own way, impacted television forever.