'Til Death Do Us Part

Ever since the tragic death of Glee star Corey Monteith last week to a heroin and alcohol overdose, I have been pondering a key difference between TV and the movies. When an actor dies during the filming of a movie, changes are made to the script to reflect this sad reality before it hits theaters. When (instead) that person passes away after the release of the picture, say in the case of Heath Ledger, that actor often moves into the realm of legend. (I do not mean to lessen the human tragedy involved in anyone's death--especially in the case of a senseless drug overdose.)

While it can sound calloused that fans/critics are pondering online how the next season of Glee will handle Finn's death, this need for resolution is indicative of the way viewers connect with a TV ensemble differently than with film characters. The level of connection seems more intimate and prolonged with the "people" who enter our homes weekly through our television sets than those we have encountered via the silver screen.

Where the serialization of characters often goes awry, however, is when we unknowingly equate the actor with the character s/he portrays. These words from NPR reporter Nathan Rott (by way of blogger Mark Memmot's "The Two-Way") sound initially crass, but he is onto something important:

The Cory Monteith that most Americans knew wasn't Cory Monteith at all. He was Finn Hudson, the high school football star turned Glee club member, whose singing talents were discovered in the shower during the musical comedy's pilot episode on Fox TV. ...
And that wasn't the reality. Monteith wasn't a high school football star. He was a high school dropout. ... Monteith got into drugs at age 13. He dropped out of school at 16 and found work as a Wal-Mart greeter and a taxi driver. At 19, he checked into rehab. ...
Earlier this year, he checked back into rehab.

I fear that more fans will weep more over the "death" of Finn Hudson than of the conflicted/addicted actor who brought him to life.

In a bizarre, life-imitates-art twist, Monteith was dating in real life Lea Michele, the actress who plays Rachel Berry on the show (his character's girlfriend). Unlike the Jacob story in Genesis 29, I hope it is Lea (not Rachel) with whom we sympathize. 

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/07/16/202748241/heroin-alcohol-killed-glee-star-monteith-coroner-says