I started watching “Glee” when Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel made their first appearances on the show. When my dad first explained the concept of “Glee” to me, I said, “That sounds stupid.” But of course I watched it for my two favorite witches.
Now, I have eaten my own words. I fell in love with the show, the characters, and the music.
Say what you will about “Glee.” As an English major, sometimes the story-lines, characterization, and writing make me cringe. As a teacher and future parent, the way they handled certain topics was inappropriate and made me shake my head.
But as a fan, the show changed me.
Whether you watched the show or not, whether you liked the show or not, the show was important in the history of television. For the first time, a primetime TV show combined the drama of high schoolers with music in every episode. Artists from all genres allowed their music to be covered by a glorified “Kidz Bop” show.
No one can deny that the talent on the show is out of this world. Especially since the show was laid on the shoulders of a bunch of unknowns. Who knew any of them before “Glee”? I sure didn’t (Well, except for the people who were on Broadway).
No one can deny that this show battled serious and important topics. They may have made some poor decisions about how to tackle these issues, choosing to joke about them rather than discuss them seriously. However, they brought attention to so many issues and made a somewhat positive impact on our world (maybe making some people angry in the process).
No one can deny that the the show used music to bring the generations together. The younger viewers are listening to music that is probably twice their age, while the older viewers are jamming to Katy and Gaga and Bieber. In a unique way, the music from the past five decades has been brought together by this one band of misfits.
And finally, no one can deny that the future generations will hear about this show and they will say, “That sounds cool!” or “That sounds stupid!” And the one thing everyone can agree on is that the New Directions reminded us all – “Don’t stop believing!”
