There is a possibility of a star, program or movie being so widely overrated that in time it actually becomes quite underrated. This is the case with Glee. Glee began as a fun concept show where high school outcasts could sing their hearts out to popular tunes while dealing with their teenage angst. The show has been highly criticized for many years. This show may not be deserving of such poor reviews.
Although the show has won over most of the American audience, a large group of people will despise the show. They claim that the kids are untalented, the show uses auto-tune and the covers ruin great songs. People do not realize just what goes on during the creation of just one episode of the show. The cast and crew rush production to meet studio standards and often have to sacrifice for the due dates.
The cast is given their songs and only a few weeks (sometimes shorter) to perfect their tunes. These songs that have just been given to the cast must then be recorded in the studio, all the sounds must be leveled out and the music synced up with the vocals. This process should take longer than a week or two. Most musicians and bands spend months in studio to complete a track of around ten songs. The cast of Glee must have around five songs ready and done in mere weeks.
Aside from the process of recording, perfecting a song vocally is difficult. The show has taken heat for use of auto-tune but often times it my be totally necessary. Lea Michele is a Broadway darling. Her vocals are amazing when given time to perfect. In my own experience, perfecting a solo song for a production has taken me months to do. These actors are expected to be perfect in weeks. When parts of the song are not perfect and studio time is running low, auto-tune is introduced to fix the issues.
All the while, the actors are working to perfect the show’s choreography. Not only must these actors spend painfully long hours working on their vocals but their visuals must be spot on as well. Some of the actors are amazing dancers. Even for professionally trained dancers, the time given is insanely short.
On top of all of these other stresses, the actors must also learn their lines and ques. While the acting in the show has been heavily criticized, I find that the actors do extremely well with what they’ve been given. The scripts and continuity often suffers, as often mentioned “tongue in cheek” wise by Jane Lynch on the show. Despite the errors in plot, the actors typically do rather well.
While some may criticize the show until after it airs its final season soon, the show is not as deserving of these harsh accusations as you might believe. The cast of the show may actually be some of the hardest workers on television. Despite the critique, the show has never failed to amuse my fiance and I. As huge “Gleeks”, we do not listen to the critics. We enjoy the show without paying these critics any mind.
