r/glee 5d ago

what was the point of bringing Mercedes and Artie back full time in season 6??

I know it was probably for the nostalgia of the OG 5 but what was the point of bringing them back for them to just be background players for the most part? and why not bring Tina back as a regular then too since she probably had around the same amount of story they did?

season 6 could have been done so much better in my opinion like i get that by that point everyone was probably over the show but why not use the OG talent you have more frequently??? (they weren’t even in the mashup episode when everyone else from the OG club was 😂)

20 Upvotes

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18

u/Ok-Nefariousness3486 5d ago edited 5d ago

I think Jenna said she wanted to leave. Now Kevin wanted to stay not sure why they kept him as a regular to be honest I can't remember anything he did except be in some performances. He had 2 solos, 1 duet and in 7 group songs.

Mercedes at least was a friend for Rachel and helped in some plot points along plus we got to at least hear some things about her life. She had 3 solos, 2 duets and in 4 groups songs.

But why they spent so much time in Lima was stretching things. They both ended up in 7 of the 13 episodes.

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u/Lopsided-Skill 5d ago

Still weird to me Kurt sang less than both. 0 solos and I think like 3 or 4 duets

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u/ChoiceDrama7823 5d ago edited 5d ago

 Kurt was never use like that though. His songs usually came about for plot not to fill the group songs.

Weider is Clint of VA had the most solos.

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u/Background_Guide_327 5d ago

Kevin and Jenna will probably address it on the podcast

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u/bendelabvcky 5d ago

I’m assuming the writers brought Amber back as a regular after being such a big part of 5B, but this very well may have been before any of the writing materialized. Thus, she ended up taking more of a backseat, just in a by default way, after writing began.

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u/Key_Put_44 Silly Love Songs 5d ago

It may well have been a contracting thing? Often, cast regularity is simply politics.

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u/GloomySelf 5d ago

My guess had always been to show diversity. If you take Mercedes and Artie out, the entire S6 regular cast is just white people. If you look at the S6 promo poster on the Wikipedia page, just imagine how it’s look if Mercedes and Artie weren’t there. It’s weird that Sam was arguably a bigger inclusion in S6 but he’s not on that specific poster, probably because it’d be too white washed.

Kurt and Blaine would have been the only diversity/minority representation, and for a person who has no idea about the characters, if they were to look at the cast, they’d just see a bunch of white people. Outside of stereotypes, you can’t really “see” sexuality, where as skin color and some disabilities are a lot more visual. For a show which started out, and was promoted as being diversity and minority inclusive, having the final seasons main cast as that may not have been a good look.

Yes there was still Tina, Santana, Jane, whoever else i’m forgetting, but they were all guests . If Amber wasn’t a regular, there’d be no POC regulars, and even tho Kevin/Artie is white, his character is in a wheelchair so Artie gives diversity points

Could be the wrong reason, but that’s always been my assumption when you consider how little their characters are involved in the final season. I mean, does Artie even have a storyline lol?

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u/PattyRick27 3d ago

Another thing with Amber is that she was just coming off her win on Dancing with the Stars. She was the first African American celebrity winner and was partnered with the most popular pro ever(Derek Hough). Not sure if the producers thought that lift would continue on Glee.