WHY I WAS WORRIED ABOUT GLEE
As the new network television season commences and we settle in with the hopes and fears about all of the content being given out to us, I was very hopeful about several new shows that had caught my eyes. It's not that hard for a good show to catch my attention but it is something when that show can make me wait near a third of the calendar year to see the next installment and not leave me feeling seriously wronged. They say that you don't bite the hand that feeds you and you also really shouldn't give out a nice sweet treat and not expect to have someone try and snatch your hands off when there aren't any more available for an extended period of time.
It was into this world that I found myself after the premiere of the pilot for a little show called "Glee". On the surface the story of a high school glee club and the trials and tribulations of their lives, I like many viewers was left wanting to see more of this show right away. Sadly we were only given a taste though it was a very melodically one at that. I just couldn't say no to a show that had that many interesting characters to play with and the guarantee from the shows producers that there would be at least 3 songs per episode.
After waiting like a good person through the whole summer, it was with major anticipation that I watched the season premiere of "Glee" a week ago. And, I'm sorry to have to say this but I was left feeling a little let down by what I saw. It wasn't that it was bad or unwatchable or anything of that nature. All in all, it was an adequately entertaining hour of television time.
But what bothered me was that it felt like there was so much missing from the pilot that was not in the first episode, namely the rest of the people in the cast. It can definitely be said that "Glee" is a show that will have some characters become background players for several episodes due to the simple fact that there are just so many of them in the show to begin with. If someone isn't involved in the A, B, or (depending on how much you can cram into an hour) C plots, then I can understand them being nudged back a little. It's just a given when it comes to an ensemble cast.
That being said, I was kind of taken aback at how far back some of those characters were moved back during the course of the episode. I might be mistaken but I really don't remember any of the other glee club members having any actual lines in the episodes other than Finn and Rachel. Add in all of the stuff with Mr.Schuester and his wife along with the normal cheerleaders/glee club battles and you wound up with everyone else seemingly frozen out of even spending more than a minute or two on screen.
Which brings us to last night's episode. It might only be the third broadcast episode of the whole series but I was starting to feel a little worried that the show that I thought would be was not what would wind up being shown on my nice HD screen. Thankfully I was proven totally wrong about my worries.
In the place of the small amount of participants of the previous episode, this week showed just what a talented group can do even in a crowded situation like this. You seemingly had at least 4 different plots going at the same time and every one of them were fleshed out and written perfectly. If you throw in all of the members of Acafellas separately, you have an additional 4 to 5 plots that were all woven together. There are some shows that can't even get one plot right and this show was nearing double digits by the 45 minute mark.
The thing that really made me happy though was that so many of the characters were allowed to come in and shine. You had the friendship/romance part and the cheer/glee battles and the male boy band and the unrequited high school love and the husband/wife issues and so on and so forth but none of these plots felt like they were being trimmed down or forced to be second class citizens due to any of the other ones. Many of them even complimented and played off each other to the point that you had moments of Plot A joining with Plot B to impact Plot C in a way that sheds new light on Plot D. It's a hard thing to write that many layers into a show but it is an amazing thing to watch when it does work.
As I said at the beginning, it can definitely be said that there might be some overreaction on my part when it is only 3 episodes into the shows existence but I was feeling a little nervous that what was seen in the pilot was not what we would get to enjoy in the following episodes. It is very nice to see that the show is not going to fall into that trap and will hopefully continue to let all of the myriad of characters have a chance to shine. Isn't that one of the best parts of a glee club to being with?
As the new network television season commences and we settle in with the hopes and fears about all of the content being given out to us, I was very hopeful about several new shows that had caught my eyes. It's not that hard for a good show to catch my attention but it is something when that show can make me wait near a third of the calendar year to see the next installment and not leave me feeling seriously wronged. They say that you don't bite the hand that feeds you and you also really shouldn't give out a nice sweet treat and not expect to have someone try and snatch your hands off when there aren't any more available for an extended period of time.
It was into this world that I found myself after the premiere of the pilot for a little show called "Glee". On the surface the story of a high school glee club and the trials and tribulations of their lives, I like many viewers was left wanting to see more of this show right away. Sadly we were only given a taste though it was a very melodically one at that. I just couldn't say no to a show that had that many interesting characters to play with and the guarantee from the shows producers that there would be at least 3 songs per episode.
After waiting like a good person through the whole summer, it was with major anticipation that I watched the season premiere of "Glee" a week ago. And, I'm sorry to have to say this but I was left feeling a little let down by what I saw. It wasn't that it was bad or unwatchable or anything of that nature. All in all, it was an adequately entertaining hour of television time.
But what bothered me was that it felt like there was so much missing from the pilot that was not in the first episode, namely the rest of the people in the cast. It can definitely be said that "Glee" is a show that will have some characters become background players for several episodes due to the simple fact that there are just so many of them in the show to begin with. If someone isn't involved in the A, B, or (depending on how much you can cram into an hour) C plots, then I can understand them being nudged back a little. It's just a given when it comes to an ensemble cast.
That being said, I was kind of taken aback at how far back some of those characters were moved back during the course of the episode. I might be mistaken but I really don't remember any of the other glee club members having any actual lines in the episodes other than Finn and Rachel. Add in all of the stuff with Mr.Schuester and his wife along with the normal cheerleaders/glee club battles and you wound up with everyone else seemingly frozen out of even spending more than a minute or two on screen.
Which brings us to last night's episode. It might only be the third broadcast episode of the whole series but I was starting to feel a little worried that the show that I thought would be was not what would wind up being shown on my nice HD screen. Thankfully I was proven totally wrong about my worries.
In the place of the small amount of participants of the previous episode, this week showed just what a talented group can do even in a crowded situation like this. You seemingly had at least 4 different plots going at the same time and every one of them were fleshed out and written perfectly. If you throw in all of the members of Acafellas separately, you have an additional 4 to 5 plots that were all woven together. There are some shows that can't even get one plot right and this show was nearing double digits by the 45 minute mark.
The thing that really made me happy though was that so many of the characters were allowed to come in and shine. You had the friendship/romance part and the cheer/glee battles and the male boy band and the unrequited high school love and the husband/wife issues and so on and so forth but none of these plots felt like they were being trimmed down or forced to be second class citizens due to any of the other ones. Many of them even complimented and played off each other to the point that you had moments of Plot A joining with Plot B to impact Plot C in a way that sheds new light on Plot D. It's a hard thing to write that many layers into a show but it is an amazing thing to watch when it does work.
As I said at the beginning, it can definitely be said that there might be some overreaction on my part when it is only 3 episodes into the shows existence but I was feeling a little nervous that what was seen in the pilot was not what we would get to enjoy in the following episodes. It is very nice to see that the show is not going to fall into that trap and will hopefully continue to let all of the myriad of characters have a chance to shine. Isn't that one of the best parts of a glee club to being with?
posted by RED Jr. at 1:08 PM
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