Glee-I am Unicorn

Sorry Glee – we’re breaking up!

Yep, after 2 full seasons, The Glee Project and a whole load of downloads I’ve finally decided that Glee has gone from must see TV to totally un-essential viewing.

As regular Remote Patrolled viewers will know I’ve been up and down on the quality of Glee for quite some time. Season 2 was erratic at best, but also featured some terrific moments in amongst all the gratuitous guest stars, Sue Sylvester silliness and inconsistent storytelling. But now, just 2 episodes into Season 3 I’ve realized the magic has gone…

Last night’s episode ‘I Am Unicorn’ was the tipping point. It wasn’t that the episode as a whole was terrible. But it was boring. Really, really boring. And for a series to be in such bad shape a couple of episodes in is not exactly an encouraging sign.

Watching last night’s show you could totally see that Glee boss Ryan Murphy was making a definite effort to get back to basics. The episode was painfully earnest in places, with Kurt coming to terms with the fact that his flamboyant personality might also limit his career and Quinn cleaning up her act for the sake of her baby (following the totally implausible return of Shelby). Unfortunately the episode also featured Britanny mounting a class president campaign for Kurt and more Sue Sylvester campaign craziness – both pointless storylines that undercut any seriousness the show tries to work up.

And that’s the key problem with Glee these days – it doesn’t know what it wants to be. Is it a crazy comedy – or a serious teen drama? Balancing these two tones is a tricky act and one that’s clearly beyond the skillset of the show’s producers and writers. The show now reeks of desperation and feels frantically put together. Quality control is non-existent.

Last night also featured several cast members trying out for a production of West Side Story – another lame excuse for yet more auditions (a storyline Glee has plundered numerous times now). Rachel and Shelby did pair up for a terrific duet of ‘Somewhere’, but Kurt’s campy audition was so excruciatingly awful I’m amazed the execs at Fox allowed it on the air. Is anyone actually overseeing this train wreck these days?

 Kurt-Glee

The fact is there’s barely a single character in Glee who interests me anymore. Rachel is one note annoying; the same goes for Kurt (although I do like their recent friendship). Blaine is hardly given anything to do now he’s joined the Glee club. Mercedes, Mike, Tina and Artie are just background characters. Brittany and Sue have both become over-used caricatures that now can’t be taken seriously as characters. And does anyone out there really care about Will and Emma and their antiseptic romance?

On Sunday night I watched Desperate Housewives – another show that’s now starting to run on fumes. But Housewives has entered its 8th and final season and even though it’s not what it used to be – the show is still slick and fairly solid. There’s still enough of the magic there to keep me watching until the very end (although I may fast forward a little hear and there).

But Glee is only in its third season and already it feels creatively exhausted. After so much critical backlash the show needed to come back in amazing form this season. But it hasn’t. Both the show’s premiere and last night’s episode felt like fillers – certainly not a patch on some of the peaks the show has hit in the past.

Most worrying for Fox is that last week’s opener was down a full 30% on the season 2 premiere – and I have a feeling last night’s show is going to shed even more viewers. If this trend continues Glee may struggle to make it to a 4th season – which would make the recent announcement of a second season of The Glee Project somewhat pointless!

Anyway this is one former fan who’s now signing off. I’ll probably check in on Glee from time to time (I’m intrigued to see how Glee Project winner Damian fits into the show) but the fact is there are too many good new shows out there to waste time on a show that’s lost its spark.

So am I the only person who feels this way? When did you decide to give up on Glee –or are you still watching? Comment away…