English: Logo of the TV series Glee (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“GLEE” to pay tribute to Finn Hudson

On October 10, 2013, people around the United States and perhaps beyond will tune in to watch Fox’s hit show “GLEE.” But it will not be like any other night, as this will be the episode that has been promised to deal with the death of Finn Hudson necessitated by the untimely death of the much loved actor Cory Monteith. Since 2009 Cory played the part of Finn Hudson…both the quarterback of the high school’s football team and a member of the Glee Club. This GLEE episode is aptly named “The Quarterback.”

Many wonder how Finn’s death will be portrayed…

This week the news media has been filled with articles discussing how “GLEE’s” creators, producers and writers finally decided to handle Finn’s death. According to some articles this decision took some time to finalize…and while at first Fox’s Chairman Kevin Reilly indicated this past August that the episode would deal with drug abuse, it now seems the people in charge might have changed their minds.

We know for sure that there will be six or more songs included in the episode to honor Finn and to remember Cory. If you haven’t already heard them, you can visit The Hollywood Reporter’s article and listen for yourself.

Author David Sheff offers his hopeful observation about “The Quarterback” episode

In this past week the final coroner’s report on Cory Monteith’s death was released. According to a number of news reports, the “Coroner’s Report – which has been obtained by TMZ – states that the 31-year-old actor was shooting heroin and downing champagne alone in his hotel room on the night of his death…The young star’s official cause of death is listed as ‘mixed drug toxicity, involving intravenous heroin use combined with the ingestion of alcohol.'” So now we know for sure what caused Cory’s death and we know he died alone.

On October 7, 2013, David Sheff wrote an op-ed piece for TIME Magazine. He poses a powerful question:
“Will Glee’s Tribute to Cory Monteith Romanticize Addiction?” We hope you will find time to read Mr. Sheff’s article…it is powerful. For example…

In America, we still view addicts as the other: those on the streets huddled in alleyways or doorways, unkempt, uncouth, possibly dangerous. We walk around them, averting our eyes. Or we follow their antics on TMZ— Paris Hilton and Charlie Sheen, the brunt of jokes about their attempts at recovery followed by relapse. Monteith was a fresh faced, clean-cut heartthrob. When he died, a radio interviewer called and asked me to explain what happened. He said, “But Cory seemed so normal.” He was so normal even in his drug addiction, a condition he shared with 23 million Americans.

Honoring Finn, but remembering Cory

In our earlier post about Cory we offered the following observation: “Perhaps Cory Monteith’s life and his passing will be a message for parents, teenagers and young adults to learn more about the dangers and symptoms of heroin use. It is important to remember that while many news outlets will emphasis the “new face” of heroin the truth is heroin has been around for over 125 years and Cory is not the first celebrity to die as a result of a heroin overdose. Heroin use and abuse takes lives every day in the United States and these people come from every walk of life, every community, every socioeconomic demographic…the heroin addict might be your co-worker, your neighbor, your child; however, it is also important to remember that recovery is possible.”

Today as we prepared to write this post, we thought back to so many years ago when another beloved entertainer passed away unexpectedly – Elvis Presley. Born in 1935, Presley passed away in 1977. He was 42. His cause of death was investigated and debated for years and it was concluded, according to Wikipedia, “Whether or not combined drug intoxication was in fact the cause, there is little doubt that polypharmacy contributed significantly to Presley’s premature death.”

To remember Cory we would like to share a 1973 video of Elvis Presley singing: “I’ll Remember You!”

If you are having trouble viewing the video, you can see it here.

Finn was a fictional character, Cory was real and he died alone. If you watch GLEE’s “The Quarterback”…let us know your thoughts.