 Since the musical episode of Buffy aired , several other series have worked musical format into episodes , including Scrubs , ( " My Musical " ) in 2007 , an episode of Grey 's Anatomy entitled " Song Beneath the Song " in 2011 and Batman : The Brave and the Bold , ( " Mayhem of the Music Meister ! " ) in 2009 . The musical television episode was declared a genre , a gimmick , according to Mary Williams at Salon.com , for series that had run out of interesting story lines and characters . Both Williams and Margaret Lyons at New York magazine , however , declared " Once More , with Feeling " the " gold standard " for musical episodes . Despite this , Joss Whedon recognized the influence " Once More , with Feeling " has had on other shows , but denied that it was primarily responsible for the rise in musical television episodes or series such as Glee , citing the popularity of High School Musical instead . 
