Remember when Glee was that new kid on the block that everybody was either talking about or desperately trying to avoid hearing about? It was fresh, fun and satirical enough to take the edge off an otherwise bubblegum experience. However, despite hopeful beginnings, Glee-mania has dwindled and the show has amassed an impressive following dedicated to complaining about lacklustre comedy, dissolving plot threads and ever-present guest stars. May I present to you a not at all conclusive list of why this writer and Glee fan thinks a show that once generated such positive buzz is now barely constitutes a threat to the timeslot it occupies?
1. Pointless Songs
Well, its a musical, you say. What really did you expect? Frankly more of a musical experience than tuning into the best Top 40 cover artists. In musical theatre (even jukebox musical theatre), the songs sung usually have some relevance to the story that is trying to be told. Glee more and more often deems lack of relevance to the story being told as a relatively minor setback, giving a select few prized performers a jukebox of recent hits to pick at merely because they can (Im looking at you, Blaine Anderson). The sheer amount of musical numbers in each forty minute episode have also proven a threat to storytelling in the last season, Glee featured six or more songs per episode in thirteen of the twenty two episode sets. In three episodes the musical number count was as high as nine songs. With this in mind, its no surprise the quality of narrative has taken a step back to accommodate the shows musical whims.