If there’s one thing I’ve learned living in a house with three other girls, it’s this: We sure watch a lot of dumb television.
Whether it’s “House Hunters International,” “Gossip Girl” or “Gene Simmon’s Family Jewels,” there always seems to be something inane on TV. To be fair, three of us are journalism majors, so we do watch quite a bit of news (cough, cough, “The Daily Show”). But there’s one show in particular that makes me eternally grateful that I work Tuesday nights: “Glee.”
Every Tuesday at eight, my roommates and friends@@Are the roommates also your friends in this reference?@@ settle in to watch the show that Huffington Post contributor James Sims@@http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-sims@@ described as one in which “social outcasts everywhere can rejoice … knowing that they are certain to have an outlet to turn to on TV each week.”
My typical reaction to the show thus far has been nausea. I’ve never been good at stomaching bubblegum pop, and in my experience, that’s “Glee’s” @@How would you punctuate this?@@bread-and-butter. But this show has won countless awards, including a Golden Globe for Best Comedy over “30 Rock” (are you kidding me?), so I decided I should probably see what all the fuss was about.
I sat down and picked a recent episode at random. Mainly for the alliteration, I settled on “The Purple Piano Project”@@How would you punctuate titles of episodes?@@, which turned out to be the premiere episode of season three.
Now before we jump in, it should be noted that I actually really like musicals. “Funny Girl,” the movie classic starring Barbra Streisand@@http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062994/@@, is one of my all-time favorite movies, and my very own sister is pursuing a career in opera. It’s in my blood to love them.
The first thing I noticed about the show was how horrifically stereotypical all the characters were. There was the super-effeminate gay kid who had dreams of Broadway. The bitchy, dim-witted cheerleaders. The type-A perfectionist. The sassy, soul-singing black girl. The whip-smart Asian boy with an academically controlling mother. The girl with Down syndrome who seemingly never attends class and essentially acts as a servant to the manly female gym teacher. These characters are the embodiment of the most ignorant kind of stereotypes, and in this episode, the writers seemed content to leave it at that.
Then there was the music. I’ve heard “Glee” described as “Kidz Bop for adults”@@By who?@@, and I quickly discovered that it was a very apt description. On this particular episode, the spunky New Directions@@Where does this this come from? Glee? or somewhere else?@@ (apparently the name of their glee club) launched into a rendition of The Go-Go’s “We Got The Beat”@@http://www.lyricstime.com/the-go-go-s-we-got-the-beat-lyrics.html@@, and the cast managed to be even more upbeat and incessant than the original@@Hey! I liked the original.@@. The cover was followed by the most cliche of high school cliches: a food fight. Not even an ounce of creativity was used in the writing of that scene.
There were, however, some bright moments musically in the episode. I actually really enjoyed the mash-up of “Anything Goes” and “Anything You Can Do.” It was entertaining and not the least bit embarrassing to watch. Of course, it also didn’t feature any of the recurring cast, so that might have had something to do with it.
All in all, I registered two forehead slaps, four “Oh my god”/eye-roll combinations and one moment of actual appreciation.
I think what bothered me most about the show is that it’s billed as some sort of misfit haven, a place on television where all those kids who are just trying to make it through high school, college or whatever else can find someone who looks just like them. Kids take this show really seriously, and I don’t think the creators and writers of the show deserve that kind of adulation. It was entertaining enough, of course, but from what I could see, they weren’t doing anything particularly ground-breaking or enlightened. Apart from the portrayal of a young gay couple that I found pretty cute, they’re just perpetuating stereotypes that have been around forever, and lord knows there’s enough shows like that on TV.
My friends take the show with a grain of salt, and I think that’s how it should be@@Yet they watch it every week?@@. If anything, I see the show as a satire: Here are the characters and situations you’d expect from a show about high school, but we’re going to throw in a few snarky secondary characters and musical numbers for novelty.
I left my “Glee” experience understanding why my friends watch it: it’s mindless entertainment with pretty people and flashy musical numbers.
Me, I think I’ll stick to Simmons.