Trash Talk Tuesday

OPINIONS AHEAD. 

PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

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Today's topic: 

Yep - It's BACK!  Been back for three weeks, actually.  Wow, time flies.  Feels like 5 minutes ago that I was anxiously awaiting the premiere, but missing it because I was out of town for work.  

I am a HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE gLeek.  I watched the special premiere of the first episode with my sister last summer, and it was true love by the first commercial break.  The music? Incredible.  The acting?  Incredible. The comedic timing?  Incredible.  I love it so much that I already own the first half of the first season on DVD, and I've already watched it all the way through, even after seeing every single episode live the nights they aired.  Granted, it was mainly to introduce J-Non to the wonder that is high school show choir, but even still... 

Since I missed out on that initial viewing of the April 13th return (luckily I was able to catch up the next night via Fox.com's full-length episodes. J-Non did you catch that?  You can watch all of the episodes online the day after they air.  If you hurry, you can get caught up!), I read several articles on the spring premiere to gear myself up for the big [make-up] night.  I was saddened, I must admit.  A lot of them weren't so positive.

Glee is so novel, that it actually makes me a bit nervous.  Were any of you Pushing Daisies fans?  I was - and not just because I worshiped Chuck's wardrobe.  

PD was pretty, and sweet, and quirky, and just plain weird.  The acting was great, the stories fresh.  The concept - totally unique.  So, of course it was doomed from the start.  Pushing Daisies only made it through 2 seasons. 

Glee is everything that PD was.  Totally novel, and beautifully done.  And it terrifies me that it will meet the same fate. 

The problem with shows like this is that it's really hard to keep up the momentum.  Eventually, you're gonna run out of ideas.  (Point in case - my soap.  See Trash Talk from two weeks ago.)  So, unless you change your approach, you risk coming up empty.  Unfortunately, Glee already started making that change...

The first week back (April 13th's episode), I admit - I was bored.  And utterly appalled by where they took Will's character.  The second week brought us the hyped "Madonna" episode.  It was much better.  Sue Sylvester's version of Vogue?  Priceless.  

Tonight's episode featured the return of April - the druken 40-year-old glee club understudy from last season.  (Ironically, April is played by Kristin Chenoweth (LOVE HER!!!), who incidentally starred opposite of Chuck in Pushing Daisies.  Her voice is absolutely amazing.)  It was good.  Not great, but good.  

(Do yourself a favor and check out this kick-ass clip from April's first appearance last fall.  I couldn't embed it properly, so click: Last Name)

Glee's new M.O. is fill the show with musical numbers until it's busting at the seams, even if that means cutting back on actual storylines.  Now, I admit that the best part of Glee is the INCREDIBLE music, but even still - the stories are pretty awesome, too.  I was really getting into the whole Fin/Quinn/Rachel/Puck drama, and I audibly cheered when Will and Emma kissed for the first time.  I fell in love with Kirk and Artie, and laughed my ass off at Britney and Santana (one thing Glee is definitely getting right - much more of these two in the new episodes).  I hate to see the show shy away from character development in order to avoid writer's block.  Hopefully, either the last few episodes have been a fluke and Glee will hit its stride again soon, or, at the very least, the writers will take the SVU approach and just develop the characters sloooooowly.  


I'm not writing Glee off yet.  I just love it too much to do that.  So, fingers and toes crossed that it picks back up again.  Maybe next week's guest appearance by Olivia Newton John will do the trick.  Or Joss Whedon's (Hello!  Buffy the Vampire Slayer! Pure GENIUS!) direction on the May 20th episode will be Glee's saving grace.  Either way, you can bet I'll be tuning in.  I'm glued to the ride to the very end.