reverb11 day 17: loathing, gleefully

Please enjoy these two reasons to continue watching Glee

Today's (freaking awesome) prompt asks: Wo or what do you loathe and how have you expressed that in 2011? 

May I just take a quick moment to say this is exactly the kind of prompt I was looking for last year? Something not so serious, sprinkled in with all of the reflecting and manifesting and what not? I mean, it's December, people - we're all going nuts. Sometimes you just have to lighten up.

Because of course I'm not going to talk about a real person I loathe or anything. Oh, no. I will take a moment to discuss the thing that I have probably complained about the MOST on Twitter this year. Yes, even more than the dreaded snow.

I am talking about GLEE.

Yes, yes - some of you are nodding your head, perhaps clicking away from the post because you cannot bear to hear me rant against this -  comedy? drama? dramedy? WTF is it these days? - yet again. But I am nothing if not a lover of the pop culture, and I have some very, very strong feelings towards this show.

See, when it came out a couple of years ago, it seemed like the IDEAL show for me. I'm a musical theater NERD (you know this). And here was this show, starring some Broadway stars (Lea Michelle, Matthew Morrison) singing and dancing their way through high school shenanigans? SIGN ME UP.

And for about six episodes, I was all in. Loooooved it.

And then it began to suck. Nearly every main character began to piss me off. Like, what is up with Finn's FACE? He looks stoned all the time! And Mr. Shu - oh God. He's so jumpy and annoying and his whole relationship with his compusive wife (I can't remember her name) irritates the living shit out of me. Have you noticed they both carrying lunch boxes to school? And also, remember at the end of last season some random dude in NYC basically convinced him he could have a Broadway career after hearing him sing by himself in a dark theater? But he decided to give up on his dream and continue running glee club? I mean...WTF? I know I'm not really making any sense, but he annoys the ever-loving shit out of me.

As does Rachel, played by the other Broadway star, Lea Michelle. Now, I know I am not alone in my disgust of Rachel. There is truly nothing at all appealing about her character. I want to punch her most of the time. Oh, and what the hell is going on with Quinn? I mean - whatever they did to her this season to turn her into some sort of bass-ass rebel was a truly terrible idea. Her voice! What is up with her new deep voice?

Does anyone remember the episode last year where they all of the sudden were a bunch of in-school drinkers? They never drank at school before or after this ep, but to make all of the songs make sense, they had to create this assinine storyline. It really seems like the writers are given a bunch of songs, and then they try to squeeze some sort of plot around it. And it blows.

I'm not even going to get into how there seems to be a full orchestra hanging out everywhere, and that this Glee club has a bigger budget to produce than the professional theater I worked at up until recently. I can forgive that stuff.

It's the characters. The plots. It's the fact that Sue Sylvester isn't even really making me laugh anymore.

So why do I still watch this thing? I don't know. Mostly I hate myself for it. I do have a new crush on Blaine, so there's that. And then, every once in a while, some Broadway star will make a cameo that gives me great amounts of joy. Like Idina Menzel, and (this does not happen often enough) Cheyenne Jackson.

So, like a total asshole, I still sit there and watch. Loathing.