3 Reasons I am Gleefully Pissed Off

Now before I start in on this rant, I must inform you of my love for Glee.  Not only was I hooked after the first episode and had to wait months for the second, I already have my tickets to 2 of the Glee concerts.

When the first half of the season ended, I could barely contain my anticipation for the second half of the season.  Like the rest of the Gleeks, when it finally arrived I was ecstatic.  That was until I started seeing some trends that made me wonder if Glee was taking some New Directions.

It all started when the writers seemed to cram performances down our throat.  The first half of season one was filled with performances, don't get me wrong.  However the performances made sense, logistically and storyline-wise.  But this time around, the Glee kids are breaking into music videos left and right.  Rachel and Jesse turned a library into a concert hall, where an entire back up orchestra was just waiting for a reason to play.  It seems that the performances start off as normal as someone busting out into song, but before you know it the wind machine kicks in, the fog starts rolling and the music video's begin.  There is a fine line between a good musical and a cheesy musical and Glee has started inching towards that line.  I love the songs, I love the dance numbers, but the biggest thing Glee had going for it was believability.  And I feel that with the production values going up, they are sacrificing good parts for glitz and glamor.  They should learn from the "Hair-ography " episode.

Another thing Glee has done that has saddened me is character assassination.  Look at Will for example.  The first half of Glee we rooted for this poor teacher that was being duped by his padded-belly wearing wife Terri and hoped that he and counselor Emma's love would win out.  We got a HUGE payoff when Will discovered the truth and when the season ended as Emma and Will finally kissed, we all screamed at the TV.  As Kelly Clarkson played in the background, we thought that a love story was just beginning.  But when we returned a couple of months later, we find that Will recycled his and Terri's song for Emma, and is so desperate for virgin Emma to give it up that when she doesn't he has a make-out session with the coach of Vocal Adrenaline.  Come on, Mr. Shue!  We waited patiently for you and Emma to hook up only to have you destroy it in one episode.

And how do they expect us to root for couples like Rachel and Finn when Rachel seems to be open to go for anything that looks her way?  From Finn, to Puck, to even a crush on Will, she has bounced around more than Pamela Anderson's fake boobs did on Dancing With The Stars.  Storyline continuity it a big thing for me, and Glee is very bad at continuity.  In one episode, Mercedes fell in love hardcore with a obviously gay Kurt. So much in fact she had to bust the windows out of his car when she found out he didn't like her.  In ONE episode.  Maybe it's not the continuity or reality that is a problem, maybe all of the Glee kids are just emotionally unstable.

I understand that writers thought they were too heavy on the baby talk in the first season and they felt that they had to stray away from it for the second half, but where the puck is Quinn?  Yeah she is popping up here and there when needed, but where is she living?  What is happening with her and Puck trying to be a family?  They make us invest into these story lines and then they just drop them.  How are we supposed to feel for these people when the thing that makes them who they are is usually evaporated and replaced with a singing Gleek waking down a school hallway filled with fog and in the middle of a wind storm?

And the final reason I am Gleefully pissed really has nothing to do with Glee.  It has more to do with American Idol, who cannot manage to shut that orange looking Muppet we call Seacrest up in time for my DVR to record the entire episode of Glee.  The finales on Glee are usually the best.  Above all, those Gleek know how to end a show.  But sadly I never get to see the ending since AI runs over every damn week.  How is it possible when they keep eliminating singers, that the show continues to go long EVERY FLIPPIN TUESDAY!  I missed the Like A Prayer number, the April Rhodes number, and almost missed Total Eclipse Of The Heart had I not managed to outsmart my DVR this week.  Maybe if American Idol would put a limit on Ryan and Simon's on-air flirtation, us Gleeks wouldn't be screaming at the TV as the DVR freezes mid-note.