GLEE's Lack Of Showtunes These Days...

[EricMontreal22]

"The first 12 episodes of the show were brilliant, hilarious, and fresh. Once it came back after the hiatus, it was a completely different show where character and plot where thrown out the window to accommodate"

That's pretty much the average consensus on any Ryan Murphy show (well, up till Glee anyway--I actually prefer nutty American Horror Story more this season, but fans seem divided, and as for New Normal...).

[ClumsyDude15]

I was sort of on the fence about The New Normal in the beginning, but I generally enjoy it when I watch. Yes, sometimes it can be a bit much, and it's really meta of Ryan Murphy to have a character who is essentially himself, but it's got some great things going for it - Justin Bartha is adorable, Nene Leaks is a pistol, Ellen Barkin is a hoot, and I just adore Andrew Rannells and that wee little nugget who plays Shania.

[EricMontreal22]

Clumsy, you should prob avoid the thread on it in the offtopic forum For me it just doesn't have enough of the stuff that, often in a *shaking my head* way, I find watchable in Murphy's shows, or oddly compelling. It just has too much of the stuff I dislike--like a bad Glee episode without even any songs. But I respect your opinion

[Wynbish]

Has anyone heard Kurt sing Being Alive yet?

[SporkGoddess]

Wow, and he isn't even singing it in a higher key!

[ComingUpRoses2]

Kurt's Being Alive certainly doesn't sound that bad. Better than a lot of other versions I've heard.

I wish Murphy could stay invested in a show long enough to make it worthwhile. He seems to get bored and check out. I have hope for American Horror Story due to its anthology nature. Nip/Tuck was wonderful for its first two seasons and parts of the third before it all went to hell in a handbasket.

[ClumsyDude15]

Eric - I totally get what you mean, because I was so uncomfortable by the episode where Nana and Bryan and David went toe to toe over politics, because it was just so preachy and had some really ridiculous crap to it. Overall, I enjoy it for the reasons I mentioned, plus when he mocks Glee with the whole Sing thing and even those jabs at Lea and Matt when Bryan visited the set of Sing to rid them of their cell phones after Nana leaked the video of him singing.

Overall, it's nothing hugely special, but I enjoy it for what it's worth.

[EricMontreal22]

Roses, I'm with you on Nip/Tuck. Actually--maybe I lasted a bit longer--it was when that serial rapist (a story that went on way too long) was revealed to be the bisexual guy who we had seen having sex several times, but apparently he had no penis. I sorta half watched for a while longer, but it got way too mean spirited (besides still crazy) by the time they moved to California and I never saw the last season. I have a sick form of loyalty to tv shows I once loved (and zero social life apparently), and usually try to stick with them till the bitter end, but just couldn't. By the end even the actors were openly complaining to mags like Ent Weekly that they had no idea how to play their characters anymore, things were written so inconsistently.

I think Murphy may do better now with shows like Horror Story, oddly, because he has so many projects going at once that he has to depend more on people like his largely silent Glee and AHS co-creator Brad Falchuk (who seems happy to get none of the notoriety Murphy gets). We'll see.

Clumsy, I wish there was more of the Sing! in-joke actually, it kinda reminds me of that pretty funny show Darren Star did Grosse Point, that completely mocked his time creating 90210.
I posted an article I really liked about Ryan Murphy's "world" that I thought was spot on about Nip/Tuck and Glee (good and bad), as well as how much New Normal didn't work, and how Horror Story does despite itself. I don't agree with all the credit she gives Murphy (though I thinkhe does largely come up with good concepts), and most others who read it seemed to disagree completely, LOL, but if you didn't see it, it's worth a read. http://broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.php?thread=1053820&boardname=off&dt=11&boardid=2

[ComingUpRoses2]

I agree with you about when the show really jumped the shark. The entire 3rd season was all about the Carver and it was building a great deal of momentum only to have a lousy "so what?" reveal on the season finale. Season 4 was all about the crazy guest stars and the main characters were put on autopilot. The later seasons were just...dear Lord! Yikes!

[darquegk]

Agreed. The absurdism of the end of the Carver plot- TWO separate people working together as a team to deal with the man's homicidal insecurities over being a eunuch- derailed one of the most truly menacing characters I can think of in TV history.

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

i was such a GLEEK for the first years of this show...and yes i am glad someone else noticed the derth of show tunes...for god's sake Kurt and Rachael are now living in NYC...jeez...pay some homage to Broadway...other than Grease...which i hated by the way!...the new kids though have great voices, but now i watch it more on Hulu Plus so i can skip parts of the show if i am not interested...

[CurtainPullDowner]

There!

Ya happy now?

[TheatreKid3]

I was actually very impressed with tonight's episode. Glad they are shaking things up. I'm looking forward to the rest of this season.