Should Lea Michele start rehearsing the graduation march? Glee creator Ryan Murphy has confirmed that he will write some of the comedy's most popular characters off the show once they graduate from high school. That means the end of next season is the end of the line for Michele's Rachel Berry and Cory Monteith's Finn Hudson, whose junior year was chronicled in the just-finished season. "We didn't want to have a show where they were in high school for eight years," Murphy said. "We thought it would be really cool if we were true to the timeline." Other series, such as Friday Night Lights, have taken this approach to its teenage characters, while shows like Dawson's Creek and 90210 infamously had its characters stay in high school while the actors were pushing 30. Is Glee's decision the right one?
This could be just what Glee needs: "It's a bold move," says Amos Barshad at New York. The Fox series took some hits from critics and viewers this past season, and after two years, already seems to be grasping for believable plot lines. Bringing in fresh blood could "goose up the show, British Skins-style." That hit U.K. show cycles in a new cast every two years. Plus, "these damn kids gotta grow up sometime."
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