In recent weeks, I’ve received quite a bit of heat from people on Twitter over my passionately vocalized opinions towards the FOX hit Glee, including suggestions that I simply stop watching the show should I continue to approach it with such bitter cynicism. I could understand their reaction, simply because I’m not very funny, thus rendering these frequent attempts at snark essentially null and unworthy of being brought up. But I just cannot quit Glee. There’s a certain charm to its wild tonal and character inconsistencies that make it one of the most worthwhile television experiences this season. Though I always vocalize solely my frustrations over the show’s utter incompetence and idiocy, those same factors may be what I love about the show so much, because, pardon the pun, no show brings me as much glee as Glee.
Creatively, the show is nothing short of fascinating. Some weeks ago, Todd VanDerWerff posted an interview he did with Ian Brennan, largely concerning the conception of the series through its current, ongoing creative process. Brennan described the development of an episode as the three writers (Brennan, Ryan Murphy, and Brad Falchuk) essentially spitballing ideas on a week-to-week basis, and collaboratively drafting a script around whatever sticks. This model breaks away from the standard television conventions, and probably plays a large part in what I find so endearing about Glee – its insane energy. But I had to grow into this appreciation. Contrary to the constant embitterment I seem to direct at the show, I’m enjoying this season much more than the last, not in spite of its ridiculousness, but because of it.
I watch and judge television on a very emotional basis. Shows like Lost and Battlestar Galactica, though ripe for thematic and philosophical analysis, ultimately spoke to me through emotional demonstrations – episodes provoked tears, or joy (very rare on BSG), or utter shock. Glee is similarly emotional, though not to a deadening capacity. The insanity of the show brings a certain frankness and alleviation on a weekly basis. That it doesn’t necessarily try to be a critically good show is what makes it a great show, one that rewards week to week. It’s entirely unpredictable in its clichéd predictability (if that makes any sense), putting something new forward every week and trying to one-up itself constantly, often to its detriment. It’s when the show settles for bored mediocrity, like the most recent episode Comeback, that I fail to be emotionally rewarded. The Big Bang Theory is the same mediocre shtick week to week, abiding to its formula and failing to develop its characters because people continue to watch. Were Glee to ever do that, I would love the show a whole lot less.
From a critical standpoint, is the show terrible? Absolutely. Flimsy characters service the plot, rather than the plot servicing them. They are shapeshifters of variable likeability and common sense on a week-to-week basis. Yet, the variability of these characters, regardless of whether it makes sense or not, energizes and invigorates the show to the extent of it being thoroughly enjoyable. Being pissed is just as equal of an emotional response as being charmed – Glee stimulates me emotionally more than anything else currently on television.
And it’s not like the show is terrible through and through. Episodes like Duets, The Substitute, or Silly Love Songs have generally received praise for their smaller scale stories revolving around a central emotional core. Does that mean that they are devoid of any insanity or off-the-wall humor? Absolutely not. But they do prove that the show is capable of bringing emotionally fulfilling episodes that no other show currently on can do, and it’s episodes like these that make me want to continue to watch Glee. That, and the fact that an excellent episode like Duets could fall directly before that ridiculous atrocity of a Rocky Horror tribute.
Good grief, I need to write more regularly. This is embarrassing, because I’m basically out of stuff to say. There’s a lot more that I feel beyond what I’ve typed in this short (failed) articulation of my opinion on the show, but I’m too out of it to properly phrase them. Criticism of the show’s presentation of diversity (and the undeserving praise it acclaims for it) is an intensely heated discussion point, but at this moment, I don’t really care. Though nitpicking (read: tearing a show apart) is fun, and Glee provides more than enough material for that to happen, it’s not primarily why I watch the show. The show’s capacity for fun and alleviation amidst all the droll, played-out crap on television is why I tune in every week. The three writers rarely seem to settle for anything less than their all, and that unique passion could bring out an awful Britney Spears tribute, or it could bring out a warm, earnest Silly Love Songs. You never know what you’re going to get the next week, and that’s a core element of the fun of the show.
Besides, if I didn’t watch Glee, I wouldn’t retain nearly enough enjoyment out of Glee Sucks dot com.
TOTS! TOTS! TOTS!