Reviews Series / Glee

Eh, I like it.

Then your stomach is far stronger than mine. Enjoy it.

you watch community, your argument is invalid loljk there is no argument. TRY HARDER

To clarify, you probably need more concrete arguments for a review than "it sucks".

Indeed. If only I'd said something about writing quality, song quality, derivative characters, and dropping anvils like they're going out of style.

I think this review requires something a little more substantial that proves you've actually watched the show, otherwise this is another case of complaining about shows you don't watch. Anybody can toss out criticisms like bad writing and anviliciousness. Just provide an example of one of the many anvils they dropped.

And for what it's worth, I agree with you. Lost & Community > Glee.

I don't like Glee either. It's too cherry for my taste. The brain-dead smiles of the actors as they perform covers of taste-like-diabetes songs irks the crap outta me. Plus it's funny how usually mean-spirited stereotypes, like the libby and the jock, while portrayed mostly faithfully in the show, fall flat of appearing even remotely menacing due to their inability to screw with the main characters, for no reason other than them being incredibly stupid. Talk about Villain Ball. And they are so silly that, when it's all said and done, they can even come across as sympathetic characters.

While the show mostly revolves around the rivalry between Schuester's and Sylverster's clubs, there is hardly any noticeable antagonism. Sue Sylvester works specially bad as a rival/villain, because she is such an eccentric and a Cloud Cucko Lander, and not very smart to boot. It gets tiresome to see Sylvester attempting to threaten Schuester - with that comically deadpan expression on her face, no less - only for said threats to lead to absolutely nothing meaningful.

I know the show is supposed to be a musical *comedy*, but these ideas simply don't work very well in context.

All in all, Glee is too happy, too pretty, and feels to fake to be likeable. And the show is made even worse - at least to me - on account that most of the songs that are performed in it are simply not my cup of tea.

See, that's why I like Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester. She's been given a character with very few tools. We all know that Glee club is going to triumph in the end in a joyous sea of rainbows, and thus the villain can't be too intelligent because she'd easily thwart the hapless Glee club and that would make the audience very sad. Still, she's more than a match for Schue, who can barely keep his own twelve-member club from imploding.

u mad?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, you all should have given the show some more time. sue does end up getting Glee Club in the 12th episode.

That was great, you should write for Sue.

Can you explain WHY you think Glee sucks? I'm just saying, a good review must not only say whether something is good or bad, but it must say WHY something is good or bad. Your review here doesn't really say much other than you think Glee sucks.

"All in all, Glee is too happy, too pretty, and feels to fake to be likeable. And the show is made even worse - at least to me - on account that most of the songs that are performed in it are simply not my cup of tea." Explain to me how being too happy makes a show bad? I'm very confused on that point. I can understand if you think the show is saccharine, but saying you don't like a show because it is happy makes you sound very depressed.

Reviews have shades of grey for a reason. It's not because critics are wishy-washy, it's because a good reviewer recognizes and anticipates that his tastes are not shared by everyone. Without that, it's just Complaining About Shows You Dont Like or Gushing About Shows You Like, neither of which is helpful or even meaningful to to the reader.

^There's plenty of people who would rather view the world in black and white. And then cry when reality isn't so simple.

Very true troacctid (I think that's a stellar name for a line of medication if you ever get some capital), but that's part of my point. This show sucked to such a degree that I couldn't pull out the conventional "but at least there's X". In Glee, I found a program without mitigating qualities.

What point are you trying to get across?

^ That glee sucks. I am amazed you didn't get that.

^^ That he sucks as a reviewer. I am amazed you didn't get that.

As for Glee... Your Mileage May Vary. To me, the good parts are So Cool Its Awesome, the bad parts are So Bad Its Good, and the happy LIGHTING and COLOURS (Glee's characters really aren't a happy bunch when they aren't singing) is more of a Crapsaccharine World IMHO. I especially like how the characters are walking stereotypes that still manage to deconstruct and subvert themselves considerably.

Also, the Klaine Kiss is TELEVISION HISTORY.

"I especially like how the characters are walking stereotypes that still manage to deconstruct and subvert themselves considerably."

The deconstruction card, along with irony and winking to the audience, is vastly overused. People invoke it to cover bad writing. I recently read Zack Snyder excuse the babes with guns (and prominent bare thighs, which on the basis of Watchmen I take to be a Snyder fetish) in his forthcoming Suckerpunch as not really babes with guns, but rather "a commentary on" babes with guns, an inversion of sexism which can still be enjoyed with a wink and a nod, or something. What a load of crap. I'm absolutely sure Suckerpunch will be no different on this account than, say, Barbed Wire. He wants to make a movie about babes with guns, no more.

In the case of Glee, I can honestly not tell the difference between these characters and theoretical straight characters with the same qualities. Aside from the fact that they're supposedly tongue in cheek. No doubt they are unserious, but what comedic characters aren't? I don't just mean in this, the so-called Age of Irony. When weren't comedic characters ever foundationalist? (is that the opposite of deconstructionist? I forget. Whatever, I'm going with it) Was I supposed to take Falstaff, Don Quixote, or Tartuffe at face value? No. Yet they were fully developed and realized fake human beings, as opposed to the gross stereotypes of Glee.

Which is not to compare an hour long musical sit-com/after school special with the masterpieces of the Western cannon. I'm just saying "deconstruction" is not an excuse for gross stereotypes, banal plots, and overall cloyingness. Them "subvert[ing] themselves" does not nullify them being "walking stereotypes." There is a place for walking stereotypes: an SNL sketch, for instance. Not a show we're supposed to take seriously.

Agreed, but with a caveat.

Deconstructions get boring, you don't have to make some uber-complex analysis of a genre whenever you make a movie or TV show or whatever, what happened to taking cheesy characters, goofy concepts and ridiculous plot lines and just rolling with them?

If you were to look at Glee's characters and dialogue and such, you could easily say it's an awful show, I can't refute that statement, but your problem is looking at the show like it's supposed to be a serious, thought provoking drama, it's Dawsons Creek: The Musical. Taking it seriously is like looking at The Rocky Horror Picture Show and thinking about it logically, you're kinda missing the point. (Admittedly, there is way to much drama sometimes, but those scenes can be easily ignored).

p.s. Sucker Punch! Looks incredible because it's so ridiculous. Straight up drama can be fine, but Goofy Over the Top action movies can be just as entertaining.

"but your problem is looking at the show like it's supposed to be a serious, thought provoking"

I did say it was merely an hour long sit-com/after school special. Which would be fine, don't get me wrong, if only it were a good sit-com/after school special. I don't expect that much from it, just more than an SNL skit. Somewhere between juvenile/facile and Shakespeare/Cervantes; there's plenty of room.

By the way, I was supposed to take Dawson seriously? I know they did the occasional "Don't Pick on the Gay Kid" and "Underage Drinking Is Dangerous" episode, but I thought it was mostly about sesex. The sexy and/or fumblingly awkward romantic kind, not the "AIDS Kills" kind.

Funny, I had no idea Sue Sylvester was a troper.

@Reviewer: Are you sure this isn't a comment instead of a review? :p

Amen, reviewer. You speak the truth.

Nothing is perfect if you dig far enough. Even the best movies tend to have flaws that you can write paragraphs about. The phrease "absolutely golden" merely means "It's awesome!" in review-speak. Similarly, the word "terrible" does not mean "Irredeemable". Because tastes vary, critics will often spend times on the contrarian aspects because those can appeal to or turn off audiences just as much as the main problems/good parts.