Showing posts with label Kevin McHale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kevin McHale. Show all posts

Friday, August 3, 2012

Haterade: Glee

This probably won't be a regular feature, but possibly something I do every so often. I admit that I sometimes find a hatred for something without ever really giving it a try. I think it happens because I don't really love what everyone else loves - and if everyone loves it, I sometimes hate it for no real reason.

So, as I said, every so often I may give something a try that I think I am going to hate and then I will post about it - sometimes what I watch will maintain my hatred for it, but occasionally I may just find out that I was completely wrong - and I am not afraid to admit that.

My first experiment was with the television show Glee. I realize it became pretty popular when it first hit the airwaves in 2009. And, both my wife and son have watched the entire series to date - and my parents even purchase the CDs. Well, I have heard about it a ton and heard a lot of the music - and I had to give it a shot.


To give the show a little bit of a rundown, a high school Spanish teacher, Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), looks to take over the school's glee club and look to rekindle his high school glory days.

The glee club, though, is pretty much considered off limits and the lowest of the low by all of the cool kids in the school. Only a few sign up initially, an uber-insane girl with a ton of talent but knows it, Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), a born diva, Mercedes Jones (Amber Riley), a girl with a stutter, Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz), a guy in a wheelchair, Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale), and a still-in-the-closet gay guy, Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer).

Though all five kids are very talented, the group is definitely lacking in the cool department - and to even compete as a glee club in competitions they need 12 members. Will makes it his mission to recruit some of the cooler kids, and stumbles across star quarterback Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith) singing in the shower. Once he gets him aboard, he is able to pull in three other football players - Noah Puckerman (Mark Salling), Mike Chang (Harry Shum Jr.), Matt Rutherford (Dijon Talton), and three cheerios - Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron), Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera), Brittany Pierce (Heather Morris) - to round out the group.


Pretty much the show is a typical high school show with tons of drama, but this one also features a ton of singing.

Just to make things clear, I am currently in the middle of season two, but for the purpose of this post I am only speaking about season one.

First, the things that sort of drive me crazy about the show. I have never been in a glee club, but for a group that is getting ready for competition they sing an awful lot of different songs and are always looking for the perfect song for 'regionals' or 'sectionals' or whatever is coming up. Don't you think they should find this song and stick with it? And, spoiler alert, by the time they actually get to sectionals - they totally make up their choreography and their songs on the spot. Cool, yes, but what's the point of all the practice?

Next, Rachel. I think she extremely talented - that is obvious. But, wow what a bitch. Totally thinks she is so much better than everyone else in the club. And the problem is, Will way over uses her. She sings way too much. The rest of the group is so talented (with the possible exception of Mike who is more of a dancer than singer). The group needed to mix up the solos way more.

Finally, Will's wife. Couldn't stand her from the beginning and what she probably should have been crushed for what she did to her husband. He was way too nice to her.

But, those are small pieces of the show. For something I thought I would never even think of trying out - I am pretty addicted to it. Despite the issue I have with the process of glee club, I do realize why a television show does it - they need to mix up the music to keep us interested. And, they do it very well. Like I said, they all sing so well and the numbers they do are amazing.

Every member of the cast brings something great to the table - and because of my gripe about Rachel, I just feel everyone needed to be featured more (again this is my thoughts on season one).

So for my first batch of Haterade - my opinion has been changed. I will definitely continue to watch Glee and see how things play out. I admit my ignorance.