More Sad Glee
I was just writing this comment in my comments board, but it got long enough that I thought it deserved its own post. So, in response to the last one, my sister said:
# Mandy Says:
May 20th, 2009 at 5:10 pm eDude you’re on crack because I freakin’ LOVED IT. Every minute of it. In fact, we’re probably going to start a Crate Glee club and it already has 4 members. We’re already practicing for regionals and have been working on our jazz hands all day. You need to put away your bitter ideals and learn to enjoy TV that doesn’t involve reality or Brett Michaels. Snap.
To which her husband replied:
Mark Says:
May 20th, 2009 at 6:24 pm eWow you must hate your sister. And by that I mean you must hate me, because she won’t stop bitching about you bitching about Glee.
It’s her new favorite show and she won’t stop talking about it until September I’m sure.
Thanks a lot, man.
To which I say:
Woof. I knew I’d have a battle on my hands there. Like I said, everyone else in the entire world seems to love it, including lots of people whose opinions I respect. I reeeeaaallllly didn’t. And anytime I have that reaction to something that lots of people love, I want to understand how my experience is so entirely different than theirs.
Here are some other things I feel that way about: Juno (duh). Napoleon Dynamite. Moulin Rouge. There Will Be Blood. Rachel Getting Married.Radiohead (post The Bends). Firefly. That’s all I can think of off-hand. These are all things that are loved by almost everyone I know that I just do not get. I won’t even say those things are bad things. It must be me, because they are pretty much all universally beloved. I willingly accept the blame for having a missing gene in my taste compartment.
But what is that gene? What is the similarity between all of those things? Clearly, I am opening myself up to criticism here.
Popularity: 11% [?]
May 21st, 2009 at 6:34 am
Napolean Dynamit and There Will Be Blood were terrible.
Juno was meh, not really bad but not nearly as good as people said.
Moulin Rouge and Firefly are amongst the greatest things ever. I shall return later to see if I can elucidate why…
May 21st, 2009 at 7:34 am
The Wire
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Every Radiohead Song Ever
U2
L.A. Confidential
Every M. Night Shyamalan movie
Fucking Lost (Everything J.J. Abrams has ever done really)
The Squid and the Whale
All post-Rushmore Wes Anderson movies
Six Feet Under
Mad Men
May 21st, 2009 at 8:23 am
I’m with you on Napolean Dynamite and Juno. They were awful. And why is 99% of the planet on Bono’s jock?! I freaking hate that guy.
May 21st, 2009 at 10:33 am
I don’t care. I loved Napoleon Dynamite.
John are you saying you hate Six Feet Under?
I’m glad to hear this report, Jeff, because I was loathe to add another show to my line up. Too bad it sucked.
May 21st, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I don’t care. I loved Napoleon Dynamite…I’m glad to hear this report, Jeff, because I was loathe to add another show to my line up.
I think you’ve just proven that you shouldn’t follow Jeff’s advice.
May 21st, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Also Moulin Rouge was adorable.
May 21st, 2009 at 12:57 pm
And you’re a Firefly fanatic. You and me, baby, we just disagree.
I love that the other other John is an even more controversial hater than me. For the most part, his list could be titled “Things Dinsmore Loves 4eva.”
May 21st, 2009 at 12:58 pm
This is such a varied list that it’s pretty tough to draw any conclusions. You’ve got commercially popular fluff, critically-acclaimed commercial duds, and everything in between. The only real conclusion I can draw is, “Some people like some things and other people like other things.”
Instead, I’ll use this time to bitch about people who claim to dislike Slumdog Millionaire. I fucking hate those people. IT WAS AWESOME YOU LIKED IT JUST ADMIT IT, GODDAMMIT!!!
May 21st, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Oooooh, we’re a fucked up family that runs a funeral home. That’s some deep dark shit dood. Oh, also that reminds me that American Beauty was a steaming turd covered in Betty Crocker frosting.
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:01 am
This John… I don’t like the cut of his jib.
May 25th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
In my humble opinion, you don’t like most of those things because you were not the first to like them. The love for them was beat into your head by others and you chose to rebel against the man.
If you would have seen Glee 1 year ago,you would have loved it as much as a little show called Yo Gabba Gabba which you were first to praise. I’m just sayin’.
Also, my husband failed to mention that even he shed a little tear at the final musical number, even though he claims it was just allergies.
May 25th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
She’s lying, there were no tears shed. And I didn’t really think Glee was all it was cracked up to be, but for a first episode, I thought it showed promise.
I do think she’s on to something though with the power of finder’s keepers. I find myself hating on stuff just because there’s too much critical acclaim, then later down the road it’s like, “Oh man, why wasn’t I into this earlier”. I think Glee will be your major regret in life.
Or those nachos you had for dinner.
May 26th, 2009 at 7:51 am
But I discover everything first. Because I obsessively read entertainment magazines and blogs and websites and what not and I know what’s coming up. I’m not bragging. It’s a sick compulsion. The information is there for everyone to read, but I’m just one of those guys who reads it. I’ve been anxiously waiting for Glee for 2 months. I saw Napoleon Dynamite in previews because I’d read about it at Sundance. Previews! I saw Radiohead open for Belly! You can’t surprise me!
But here are things that other people told me about that I love to death: Flight of the Conchords. (MANDY, feather in your cap.) Arrested Development (it took me 2 years.) 30 Rock. 6 Feet Under. Battlestar. Everything John McCloskey hates. So why do I love those things and not Glee?
There are things that I hate upon first viewing but I turn around on after a few views. Magnolia was one of those. Short Cuts. Maybe Glee will be one of those. I’m watching it again because I am committed to having an open mind about things that other people love. Who among us can say the same?
May 26th, 2009 at 10:10 am
I like ice cream, puppies and 30 Rock, just like any other good American. Still, the fact that lots of people like something does not mean to me that it is intrinsically bad, nor does it mean that it’s good.
One issue that I think Jeff has gotten into with his exacting criticisms of Juno and Glee, is that just because a show or film is novel or tonally different than the zeitgeist, does not mean that it is good. In a sea of reality shows like Rock of Love or I Love New York or Who Wants to be a Big Fucking Whore, A show like Glee comes across as brilliant, deep and uplifting. But it’s just different. Maybe it’ll get good, maybe it won’t. But the fact is our collective cultural taste has been distorted by a never ending diet of crap.
I mean Jesus, Friends. We are a nation that produced and then celebrated Friends for 10 long years. God. Now I’m depressed.