Glee catch-up
Dec. 6th, 2010 09:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroIt seems like most of the comments I have to make have already been made by folks who are watching the show when it actually airs. Season 2 have been problematically overwhelmed with sub-plots but lacking in any real main plots. Someone made a comment that it seemed like the writers expected the show to be cancelled halfway through the first season, and when it wasn't, they had no idea how to handle that. It seems like a decent theory, given that most of this season has been a rollercoaster of "Oh, hey, let's do X!" If they hadn't established the show as having significant continuity in the first place--if it had started more sitcom-like--I don't think this would be as much of a problem.
I think, though, I'm much happier with the show when I remember my season 1 mantra, "These are the worst people ever." When you get through a full season and the characters have been humanized a bit and you have sympathy for them, you tend to forget that. But seriously, Will is a dick and a chump. Sue is an asshole who is out of her goddamn mind. We can go on and on with this about each of the kids, but honestly, the only ones who don't come off as horrible are the ones who never have the show's focus on them (Tina and Mike tend to get ignored and haven't done much that was terrible; Eyebrows McGayboy just needs more time to catch up). These people aren't role models, and every moral one can read from the show should be suspect.
This show does not reflect reality. They have an infinite budget for the band, sets, flashpots and costumes; but the shortbus is too expensive. The school has, at most, five employees plus the guy who sells slushies; and the get fired or quit and get rehired on a weekly basis. The town has exactly one restaurant and it's an Olive Garden knockoff. Seriously, Sue becomes "permanent" principal for two episodes because Figgins was sick. In what universe of academic politics?
TVTropes gives us the MST3K mantra: "If you're wondering how he eats and breathes / And other science facts / Then repeat to yourself 'It's just a show, / I should really just relax.'" It's improved my enjoyment of Glee immensely.
This also got me thinking about the difference between shows that are written to be watched all at once, vs. those intended to be watched in "real time". Consider Heroes versus Dawson's Creek. Each episode of Heroes leads directly into the next, often involving a cliffhanger. Watching five episodes in a room seems like a smooth, continuous experience. Dawson's Creek was written more to "simulate" a high school experience, so each episode takes place over a couple of days, and it's implied that a week or two takes place between each one. If characters are dating for three episodes, it's treated as if they were dating for about a month, and that things are happening "off camera" / "while we're away". Watching a show that's intended for DVD on a week-by-week basis can be painful because it doesn't seem to move enough. (I had this problem with the last season of Star Trek: DS9.) Watching a show intended for weekly breaks in large chunks can cause similar problems, because you get mood whiplash. Well, if you care about the characters, that is.
I think, though, I'm much happier with the show when I remember my season 1 mantra, "These are the worst people ever." When you get through a full season and the characters have been humanized a bit and you have sympathy for them, you tend to forget that. But seriously, Will is a dick and a chump. Sue is an asshole who is out of her goddamn mind. We can go on and on with this about each of the kids, but honestly, the only ones who don't come off as horrible are the ones who never have the show's focus on them (Tina and Mike tend to get ignored and haven't done much that was terrible; Eyebrows McGayboy just needs more time to catch up). These people aren't role models, and every moral one can read from the show should be suspect.
This show does not reflect reality. They have an infinite budget for the band, sets, flashpots and costumes; but the shortbus is too expensive. The school has, at most, five employees plus the guy who sells slushies; and the get fired or quit and get rehired on a weekly basis. The town has exactly one restaurant and it's an Olive Garden knockoff. Seriously, Sue becomes "permanent" principal for two episodes because Figgins was sick. In what universe of academic politics?
TVTropes gives us the MST3K mantra: "If you're wondering how he eats and breathes / And other science facts / Then repeat to yourself 'It's just a show, / I should really just relax.'" It's improved my enjoyment of Glee immensely.
This also got me thinking about the difference between shows that are written to be watched all at once, vs. those intended to be watched in "real time". Consider Heroes versus Dawson's Creek. Each episode of Heroes leads directly into the next, often involving a cliffhanger. Watching five episodes in a room seems like a smooth, continuous experience. Dawson's Creek was written more to "simulate" a high school experience, so each episode takes place over a couple of days, and it's implied that a week or two takes place between each one. If characters are dating for three episodes, it's treated as if they were dating for about a month, and that things are happening "off camera" / "while we're away". Watching a show that's intended for DVD on a week-by-week basis can be painful because it doesn't seem to move enough. (I had this problem with the last season of Star Trek: DS9.) Watching a show intended for weekly breaks in large chunks can cause similar problems, because you get mood whiplash. Well, if you care about the characters, that is.
