Thursday, February 24, 2011

Why I hate Glee (but keep watching it anyway)

I've been annoyed with Glee ever since the end of season 1 when Quinn got pregnanter and pregnanter and Will's wife was pretend pregnant and the writers were clearly like, Ooooooo crap, what are we gonna do now? Then, in one shitty season finale, Quin has the baby, Will gets a divorce and everyone brushes the dust off their hands and pretends the whole thing never happened. That's lazy. That's Alias season three lazy. You've gotta think four seasons ahead, Whedon-style.

1. What is this show, a Teenage Morality Tale or an Over-the-Top Ironic Comedy? Pick one, Gleeks. In one episode you've got the elements of a "very special drama" (this week: Underage drinking) coupled with Crazy Sue Sylvester Antics. I mean really crazy - she pushes a guy down the stairs? Really? And Will gets drunk and dials her and she plays the vm over the school speakers? It just doesn't make sense, they should choose, and they should choose the Over-the-Top thing. But it's just ridiculous, for example, to do a show about bullying with Sue as the unexpected protector and a couple shows later having the same character knocking down students and shoving them into lockers in the hallway and trying to launch the cheerleaders out of a cannon.

2. They're only about half-way to being pro-gay. I applaud Glee including non-normative characters like Artie in his wheelchair, the overweight Mercedes and Lauren, and a racially diverse cast, and I love Kurt, he's probably my favorite character. For the most part, I think the Kurt-story line is great, especially with his dad, but I think they really foul up other non-normative relationships like Santana and Britney and Puck and Lauren and particularly the character of Coach Beist. I wish they would spread the love when it comes to being open-minded.

3. Shut up and sing. I guess I'm going to keep watching because I like the musical numbers a lot.

After writing all this down, I find I care less and less about Glee. I think I'm going to take it off my queue. Probably next week. We'll see.

OMG, has anyone seen that show Perfect Couples? SO. HILARIOUS. I'mnotkiddingyou.

4 comments:

KHM said...

yeah, I'm far less of a Gleek than I was. It does kind of suck. But I'm happy to have found a new show I can really love: Episodes on Showtime. Have you caught it? The entire first season (only 7 episodes) are available on demand. Hilarious. Matt LeBlanc has never been funnier (or hotter, IMO)

Carrie said...

I am a season behind on Glee as I watch the whole thing on DVD when realesed. I have some real issues too. I completely agree about Sue; I don't know how she can focus on her part/performance with so much contradiction. I hated the episode last season where Kurt finally stands up for himself and tells her name calling is bullying and to stop. Then she gives him three choices of "nicknames" and he choses Porcelin. They attack the issue and then backed right down- who are the writers afraid of? Then when Kurt finally reports the terrible abuse of football player bully- he is expelled on the spot. While we sometimes wish the world works like that- it just doesn't. If you're writing a show about high school, shouldn't you know a little about high school policies? Obviously they want to protray the reality of budget cuts to arts, but you have have one reality and imagine everything else. Lazy.
Everything else you wrote is spot on- especially how I am going to keep watching.

d00dpwn1337 said...

And I don't even like the singing, so imagine how I feel. :)

KHM said...

d00dpwn, c'mon: you had to love last week's episode where Mercedes and Rachel did the "Take Me or Leave Me" duet. That was really great singing and Rachel's eyes didn't look like they were about to pop out even once---not a hint of a wince, either. That's artistic development!