Musical in Serie

In the highly praised American television series, event episodes or special episodes regularly break the visual and narrative conventions of their respective shows, thereby questioning them. A popular variant of such special episodes is musical episodes, which can be found in series like Chicago Hope, Xena: Warrior Princess, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Scrubs, That '70s Show, 7th Heaven, or Grey's Anatomy. Stephanie Boniberger explores this phenomenon in her exceptional study, raising questions about the reflexive potential of musical episodes. Does such a genre shift or breaking of conventions necessarily lead to the often claimed increase in reflexivity? Do musical episodes serve the same function within the context of their respective series? And why is the reference to film musicals so popular?.