Sorry, Glee

After mounting evidence that I should indeed check out Fox's hit series, Glee, I recently caved and started watching it. However, four episodes later, due to mounting evidence that this show wasn't for me, I stopped.

Now, fear not Glee fans, it will not be earning my dubious, career-ending "Bad Things" tag (here's looking at you, James Cameron), as I do think it's a mostly fun show that does make you want to know what's coming next, but, for me, the bad eventually outweighs the good.

Initially, after the pilot, I thought I was really going to like the series, and if the following episodes were more like the first one, I very well may have. What the pilot has that I thought they really got away from was a sense of humor about itself. Obviously, the show is pretty ridiculous: all the kids in this school are Broadway-quality singers (which I found really funny in the first episode as each of these prodigies auditions), instruments and more voices often come out of nowhere, the little, scrawny gay kid turns out to be a better kicker than Nate Kaeding, Will's wife fools him into thinking she's pregnant, the list goes on and on, and I'm fine with all that stuff (okay, not the pregnancy one). The problem is that the pilot seemed to acknowledge this and have these things be jokes in themselves; it was almost like Glee was a parody of other high school shows--which would've been great.

But, by the second episode, it seemed like every other scene had soft, melodramatic piano music underneath one character telling another how he shouldn't give up, how she felt isolated, or how he can do anything if he believes in himself--and none of this struck me as very funny anymore. What had come across as satire originally had quickly devolved into a show that wanted to have it both ways, that is, an outrageous unbelievable comedy and a moving, poignant drama.

That is, of course, not an impossibility. One of the reasons I think the quickly cancelled Freaks and Geeks is one of the best shows ever is that it places the comedy and drama alongside each other in a way that makes sense, both those elements exist together, just as they do in real life. Glee almost nails this formula, but it's absurdities are just a little too absurd to work with the more melodramatic moments (and vice-versa).

Allow me to try and further explain with this brilliant exchange from an episode of The Simpsons, in which the people at Itchy and Scratchy try and figure out what the kids want to have happen on the show:

Moderator: Okay. How many of you kids would like to see Itchy and Scratchy to deal with real-life problems? Like the ones you face everyday?
All the Kids (screaming): Me! I do!
Moderator: And who would like to see them do just the opposite? Getting into far-out situations involving robots and magic powers?
All the Kids (screaming): Me! I do!
Moderator: So, you want a realistic, down-to-earth show that's completely off the wall and swarming with magic robots?

In other words, Glee can't have it's cake and eat it too*.

* Along with, "letting the cat out of the bag" this is one of the more confusing sayings in terms of its origin.

If Glee was dedicated to being a comedy, trying to funny and playing up the silliness of, well, everything that happens in it, I could enjoy it a lot more, but I can't justify spending my time watching it when it can't resist sliding into melodrama every other scene.

In it's defense, I did want to know what was going to happen, particularly to three main characters: Will, Rachel, and Finn. I'll admit I read on Wikipedia what happened in later episodes because I wanted to make sure that I could justify walking away (and I won't completely rule out that I may check in on it every now and then). The singing is really fun most of the time, though, depending on the song, I found myself skipping over a few of them. Also, as show choir can be (let's be honest) pretty lame, I can't help but cringe when, for example, Will "raps" over "Gold Digger."

All in all, Glee is a fine show, it'll just be continuing on without me. With time always being a factor and all of Generation Kill to watch before Treme starts in a couple months, and some other shows I would rather try out (Big Love, Sons of Anarchy), Glee got the axe.

Sorry, Glee. I hope we can still be friends.