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I have just realized that 'Glee' is the television equivalent of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.
Think about it. No spoilers here, but just look at the generalities. It started out as something interesting, kind of complex but not incomprehensible, with a decent collection of main characters, each with their own quirky personality. There were multiple plots, and each one showed some promise and thought, and looked like they would be fun to watch as they developed and played out.
And then it got super-popular, and the editing kind of fell by the wayside. And the writers started introducing more and more characters, but were never able to kill off or otherwise remove any of the original gang. And on the rare occasions that they did manage to get rid of a character, they wimped out and brought them back before too very long.
This, of course, led to plot-death. Plots were introduced, only to be forgotten, lost, or ignored because there were just too many things going on. Nothing progressed, because there was too much filler. No character ever wound up learning or growing, mostly because when you have 20 main characters and a 60-minute episode, that comes down to about 2 minutes per character. And story grinds to a halt.
But we keep watching, because we remember when it was awesome, and we're certain in our heart of hearts that it'll get good again, or maybe it's still good, if we kind of squint and ignore the more egregious issues.
(Why yes, I am halfway through 'Crossroads of Twilight,' and I did just watch the season premiere. And yeah, as much as I gripe, I'm likely to continue with both, if only to find out What Happens Next....)
Think about it. No spoilers here, but just look at the generalities. It started out as something interesting, kind of complex but not incomprehensible, with a decent collection of main characters, each with their own quirky personality. There were multiple plots, and each one showed some promise and thought, and looked like they would be fun to watch as they developed and played out.
And then it got super-popular, and the editing kind of fell by the wayside. And the writers started introducing more and more characters, but were never able to kill off or otherwise remove any of the original gang. And on the rare occasions that they did manage to get rid of a character, they wimped out and brought them back before too very long.
This, of course, led to plot-death. Plots were introduced, only to be forgotten, lost, or ignored because there were just too many things going on. Nothing progressed, because there was too much filler. No character ever wound up learning or growing, mostly because when you have 20 main characters and a 60-minute episode, that comes down to about 2 minutes per character. And story grinds to a halt.
But we keep watching, because we remember when it was awesome, and we're certain in our heart of hearts that it'll get good again, or maybe it's still good, if we kind of squint and ignore the more egregious issues.
(Why yes, I am halfway through 'Crossroads of Twilight,' and I did just watch the season premiere. And yeah, as much as I gripe, I'm likely to continue with both, if only to find out What Happens Next....)
