I've never seen GLEE before, and have no intention of ever changing that. Maybe it's a good time. I'm not going to fault anyone for watching it, but you're going to have a tough time convincing me that it's worth watching outside of not having anything better to do. But the following quote from show's creator Ryan Murphy (who also gave the world the show NIP/TUCK, that proved to the world how easy it is to keep a show on the air coasting on shock value alone) in Hollywood Reporter (via
Vulture) this morning caught my eye...
"Fuck you, Kings of Leon. They’re self-centered assholes, and they missed the big picture. They missed that a 7-year-old kid can see someone close to their age singing a Kings of Leon song, which will maybe make them want to join a glee club or pick up a musical instrument. It’s like, OK, hate on arts education. You can make fun of Glee all you want, but at its heart, what we really do is turn kids on to music.”
GLEE is the face of music education? I mean,
THE PRACTICE really made me want to be a lawyer for about ten minutes, but I'd hardly credit David E Kelly with saving the legal system. What a shockingly bloated sense of self Ryan Murphy has. Maybe he does inspire kids to join choir, I don't keep tabs on today's youth (because they're kinda boring). But in terms of reality, all GLEE contributes to society as a whole is a shit-load of mediocre cover songs bought by people that have too much disposable income who are bored with AMERICAN IDOL. It reminds me of a quote from Tom Waits talking about musicians who allow their songs to be used in commericals...
"I hate it when I hear songs that I already have a connection with, used in a way that's humiliating. I mean, in the old days, if somebody was doing a commercial, you used to say, 'Oh, gee, too bad, he probably needs the money'" But now, it's like hocking cigarettes and underwear with rock 'n' roll. I guess that's our big export. It's like how a good butcher uses every part of the cow. I don't like hearing those Beatles songs in the commercials. It almost renders them useless. Maybe not for everyone else, but when I hear it I just think, 'Oh, God, another one bites the dust.'"
(via THE ONION)
And if you think GLEE is going to launch monumental careers of it's young talent, just ask the
kids from FAME how their shit's been going.
