in which i attempt to articulate my feelings about this show without favoring the letters o, m, and g, and the !
I am a hardcore gleek.
I don’t even know how this happened.
When the pilot previewed last.. whenever it was, I didn’t even watch it because I was still in that phase of my life where I wasn’t really watching TV in real time and I didn’t bother with the difficulty of streaming videos (Granny was already having issues then, the old gal) (Granny is my computer, FYI). Note that this was not me trying to resist the show. I had absolutely no reservations against it. It just takes me a while to start watching a show. And the ones that I do decide to watch over the others, well there are a few questions that I unconsciously ask myself before making a gut decision:
a) Is it a Joss Whedon show? Are there Whedonverse alumni in/involved in it? If yes, I will be counting down the days til the show premieres. (Which is kind of a lie because I only started watching Castle after I saw Nathan Fillion at the Apple Store recently, and I missed the premiere of V, which apparently happened at some point this week? but if the answer to these questions is yes, I will be more inclined to catch the show.)
b) Is there something inherently geeky about it? i.e. is it sci-fi? is there science involved? If yes, I will probably watch it.
c) Are there hot men on it? If yes, I will watch it.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
Anyway, Glee happened to hit 2 of these prerequisites, and eventually will hit all 3. And throughout my history of watching this show - I’d also like to point out that this is the only show that I try to make it home in time for to watch on TV - it has never disappointed. There have been great moments. Truly poignant moments, the first that comes to mind centers around Kurt and his sexuality - seriously, that episode where he came out to his father is one of the best things I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Kurt’s dad is awesome. The lines that he delivers are just so good. The first thing he says when he sees Kurt on the field is, “He’s so small,” (unless I made it up, which is likely) and it’s so simple but so.. good. Bah. Articulation fail. But hey, I haven’t cracked a single o-m-g, points! And then there’s Finn with his frustratingly sympathetic naivete and good heart trying to deal with something as life-changing as teen pregnancy. And then there’s the glaring fact that there are no parents on this show. Seriously - what’s with all the missing parents? Kurt’s Mom is dead. I’m assuming Finn’s dad is dead. Puck’s dad is MIA. I guess this is a more realistic depiction but why you gotta be so sad? In the showdown episode when Finn yelled at Mr. Schue and Sue and said, “If those of us who still have two parents wanted to listen to them fight, they’d just go home,” my tear ducts gasped. In pain. (I have issues.)
But this is what I love most about this show. At the heart of it, it’s a comedy. (I think the newfangled word for it would be dramady? Dram-edy? Meh.) So you have your hilarity with some tender, sweet, relatable moments thrown in. It’s a good television formula. Or rather, a formula for “good television.” Hot people + relatable storylines/characters + something edgy* = a full season. (Fact: Glee was the first new fall show to get picked up for a full season. Way to go, Fox! (You still suck balls. I mean, what the fuck do you have against Joss Whedon?)) I mean, I don’t know if this is the formula. It certainly isn’t universal because I can think of more than a handful of shows who had that formula that have been prematurely axed. Grr. Arg. It’s the nuances that you pick up on and cling onto that makes a good show your favorite show.
*I asterisked this because I haven’t quite figured out the “something edgy” in this show yet. For a show that’s set in Ohio, it sure has a pretty diverse cast. Is that edgy? You’re basing an entire episode on a kid in a wheelchair and bringing to light an issue that people take for granted because there are other, more popular (for lack of a better term, you know what I mean, don’t send me hate mail), causes that you can talk about. And you do it so subtly, without preaching, but you hit all the right notes (pun intended) and it becomes a very touching story. Is that edgy? You have this very mean, ball-busting, uncategorizable, but absolutely awesome character played by Jane Lynch who consistently does unethical things to prove her point, frequently at the expense of her students and so when she lets Becky on the squad, you’re just as nervous as Will and you’re almost preparing yourself to flinch when the other shoe drops and when it finally does, it’s not what you expect (at least, it wasn’t what I expected) and it paints Sue in a totally different light. And you cry. Because as it turns out, she might have a heart. Is that edgy?
This show is amazing. This episode was truly top-notch. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.
And then I realized, or it was brought to my attention, that not everyone loves this show as much as I do. What the fuck?
me: who hates on this show??
besides the heartless!
and the tasteless
W: everyone who doesn’t watch it
me: those ppl who watch survivor?!
W: haters
me: fuck them.
Thinking back on it, I do recall reading an early review of Glee from somewhere and the reviewer basically said that the show was entertaining, yeah, but you get the feeling that in the end, all the problems get resolved and all the characters end up exactly where you want them to, etc. etc. and so it lacks that tension that characteristically drives a person to keep watching a show to see what will happen. And, you know, maybe that’s true. Maybe you do get the feeling that everything will work out in the end. And instead of leaving things miserable and open-ended and with more questions than answers, because that’s life, or whatever, maybe Glee will deliver everything to you nicely wrapped in a shiny box with a pretty bow with hearts on it.
Well, if it does, I will take it. I like boxes.
