Keith Vlasak Forum Posts

1. Glee Season 3 Ratings Down

   My point of view is that I'm not so happy with the third season of Glee.  I wondered if ratings were down ... and they are, but still "good," although I'm not sure what that means and couldn't find actual rankings of all shows for all three seasons (meaning were they a top 10 show in the first or second year or a top 50 show out of maybe 80 or 90 total shows?).

    

   I don't know what these articles say (and they suggest difficulties and then suggest the suggestions are phony), but wanted to stick them where other Gleeks might look at them and maybe say something that will help me figure out what I think I can expect of Glee going forward ...

    

   Article: Why Is "Glee" Down In Ratings?

    

   http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/08/us-glee-idUSTRE7B72PJ20111208

    

    

   Article: "Glee" Drama - Is Lea Michele Leading a Mutiny?

    

   http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/09/us-leamichele-idUSTRE7B81YQ20111209

    

    

   Los Angeles Times Article: Has 'Glee' lost its grip?

   Softening ratings and grumbling over the Fox series' third-season direction are raising questions about its future.

    

   http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-glee-20111213,0,2540999.story

    

    

    

    

    

    

   Posted 12/21/2011 6:56:01 PM #

2. I don't understand something

   I think it was the costumes and what the song was about -- but I was never sure either. If no one jumps in to say, maybe you can figure it out by finding the review and comments of that episode, although I'm sure I read them and still don't know (but then sometimes things go right by me). If you didn't notice, in "Home" there are a couple of thousand pages, and maybe you can look under shows and then reviews there.

   Posted 5/12/2011 10:31:09 AM #

3. The Inconsistency of characters

   At the end of the 1st 13 episodes, the characters were all resolved.  those episodes were written to end the show (if the network didn't want any more episodes).  I read after they came back that they "reset" all the characters, since they'd resolved all their initial conflicts.  I think that created then and still creates the inconsistencies because they keep doing it.  Quinn is a bitch, Rachel is overly sensitive and vulnerable, Finn is a dumb jock, etc., etc.

   Other shows allow their characters to grow while still solving a crime every week, or healing their patient, or whatever the show is about.  Glee should.

   Quinn for instance began to grow as she dealt with her pregnancy to the point that when she asked Scheuster if he thinks she can get it all back, he says, "No, she can get something better."  Why can't they let her?

   I guess they want to keep the characters simple so they can plug them in as a stereotype and feature the songs (think about how so many songs are about the different aspects of love and maybe that's why all the partner-drama).

   Posted 5/12/2011 12:31:12 AM #

4. Finn and Quinn AAAH

   I think one of the thoughtful things Glee has done with Quinn, Finn, and Rachel is explore Quinn's shallowness and Finn, who's not too bright, finding that he is constantly drawn back to Rachel, "with whom he doesn't feel alone," to paraphrase what he once said to her.  Also, there are people, many of them actually in every high school, who care who is homecoming queen, say, and those like Quinn who want to be (and, although in Glee things aren't always consistent, Quinn did change from being totally unthinking to having thoughts about what she, at least, was going through ... at least to the point where she could grow as a human being now and in the future).

    

   Anyhow, this ongoing conflict rings true to me ... but I'm inclined to see the endgame as more along the lines of how it turned out in "The Way We Were."

    

   Posted 3/13/2011 9:34:35 AM #

5. Lets talk about (Quinn and FInn) Sex, Baby

   I don't think they had sex either ....

   Posted 3/13/2011 9:26:55 AM #

6. Top 5 Favorite Glee Episodes

   The pilot episode (#1) was, in my estimation, the best episode for story, the way that the sectionals episode (#13) was very satisfying musically (and convincing story wise).  I also very much liked Duets (#26) for both the Sam and Quinn storyline and the Rachel and Kurt duet at the end.  After that, though, I've found I watch a lot parts of 3 recent episodes, mostly for the music: A Very Glee Christmas (#32), Silly Love Songs (#34), and Blame It On the Alcohol (#36).

    

   I suppose it's important to note that Rachel is my favorite character and that the episodes I enjoy the most feature her the most.  With that in mind, I like Showmance (#2) just for her changing the assembly program and Theatricality (#20) both for the Mom-Shelby storyline and Lady Gaga numbers.  Or, I can not really care much for The Sue Bowl Shuffle (#33), and still find I put on the Rachel-Puck duet of "I Need You Now"; and I was among the many who were very disappointed in the songs they did at Sectionals (Journey, episode #22), but find I enjoy the last 20 minutes or so of the episode, beginning when they leave the stage.

    

   In fact, there are actually 13 episodes I watch all the time.  What that leads me to think is that Glee is really a great show, for whatever shortcomings any of us can gripe about.  I'd even bet that no 2 of us would list the same 5 shows as favorites -- which means to me that there are a lot more than a few good to personal favorite shows in the Glee catalogue to date.  That puts the gripes in perspective (if I'm correct in how varied favorites are, of course).

   Posted 3/3/2011 5:14:44 AM #

7. Someone's going to die. WHY?!

   If it is the bird, it may mean that Kurt will be thrown off the Warblers, for not taking good enough care of it or whatever way they explain their rules ... in which case, Glee is so important to Kurt, he would return to McKinley, even with the threat of death!

    

   I like this.

    

   The thing that throws me about there being a "death" is that Glee is heavy on the public service announcement themes (to where some get annoying) ... and I can't see how any death can be a public service message, especially of a young person.  A death is a tragedy, not a lesson -- and certainly setting up the audience to be glad someone's dead is a little too much, isn't it?

    

   Posted 2/28/2011 6:44:31 PM #

8. I'm Shocked No One Mentioned This Before . . .

   I suppose all the cheating is that the relationships are limited by the cast ... when, of course, there are really hundreds of students in the school.

    

   I, for instance, miss that afro-haired blogger with the crush on Rachel.  I liked their almost-actually-friends.

    

   They're also never very clear on the ages/grades of the New Directions members (besides Rachel saying she was a sophomore in the pilot episode).  Finn, Puck, the rest of the football players and Quinn and Santana, at least, have acted like seniors for 2 years now.  And, isn't it rather rare for a cheerleader captain or the starting QB on the varsity squad not to be seniors?

    

   Of course, by leaving out the grades, they don't open up the inter-grade dating, like younger girls dating the senior stars of the school.

    

    

   Posted 2/28/2011 6:23:41 PM #

9. Glee: 19 NOMINATIONS @ EMMY'S!

   I actually watched Emmy's to see Glee win ... and was disappointed. I don't have cable, so had never heard of just about all of the shows that won. Oh well, the opening number was fun!

   Posted 8/30/2010 4:40:38 PM #

10. If you could change one thing about Glee

    I agree about the inconsistencies and messages, but also agree the character and plot inconsistencies are due to ignoring character and plot (for that minute) to deliver a message.  I would think that that was just not good writing ... except the show is so well written overall (to get the songs in and the one liners which this forum points out we all love) that any criticism for bad writing isn't justified.  Maybe the time constraints mean they shoehorn some messages in.  Often they work very well (and what GREAT writing was it that Mercedes can sing "I Am Beautiful" to the assembly to Sue's horror and then Sue's reputation is saved by the journalist thinking it was Sue's program).  I suppose when someone throws in a line about Sarah Palin or Ann Coulter it's just Hollywood in-crowd in-jokes politics, being clever for the people they go to cocktail parties with, and I do think they missed by a lot regarding what was going on between Kurt and Finn and the "fag" word that got the lecture --- but they do succeed with the messages for the most part (except for some of the character inconsistencies which we have to shrug off -- like Quinn delivering a very mature lecture on diet and self-image ... which, in a novel, they could have indicated her figuring this out, but in a 1 hour TV show with musical numbers taking up some of that time, are just a matter of being rushed to make their statements within the time constraints).

    So, if I could change one thing it would be that they make their messages secondary to plot and characterization ... and, thus, let them be more natural which would make them more on the mark.

    Posted 6/25/2010 8:56:34 PM #