Re: Glee season 6 discussion and spoiler thread--Part 2

[Jellyrolls]

They just started Episode 6.10 and 13 are scheduled;  Either Chord is mistaken (most likely) or the character Sam has only two more episodes he's in.

Or, perhaps he is considering the last two hour episode as one episode?

[fantastica]

It's a wrap for 2014. They will shoot 2 more episodes next year.

[Buenos]

They just started Episode 6.10 and 13 are scheduled;  Either Chord is mistaken (most likely) or the character Sam has only two more episodes he's in.

Or, perhaps he is considering the last two hour episode as one episode?

Could be, because Episodes 6.01/6.02 air back to back the first Friday Glee is back on, and Episodes 6.12/6.13 air on the last Friday. 
So they air 13 episodes in 11 weeks, so he could view those last two episodes as one.

[Buenos]

" Let it Go"

http://www.people.com/article/glee-lea-michele-sings-let-it-go-frozen

[Ranwing]

It's such a note for note copy of the original that I'm bored by it. Lea sounds fine, but it's just a copy of Idina's performance and I don't see anything new or unique about Lea's rendition. It's just derivative, and I blame that as much on the musical direction as Lea herself (not to slam Lea, but she's not bring anything new to the party).

I have a feeling that this is going to be the tone of season six... derivative copying of better works (and better storylines from their own show).

[Buenos]

"Let it go" in it's short life has had sooo many covers that I'm practically numb to that song.

Lea to me sounds fine, but there is nothing new or fresh to the arrangement it's  just "Let it Go" version# 5,325....  

I don't think it helps either that the lyrics don't match Rachel's story at all, her journey in Season 6 certainly doesn't seem to be of someone repressed or hiding who they are , of having to "let it go".   Instead Rachel  impulsively did let go (of her Broadway dreams)  and is now paying the consequences.    So on top of that we have a random song given to Rachel just because, I just  wish they would have picked a better number for her big solo for the season premiere.

[Ranwing]

It's at best a serviceable rendition, but it becomes background noise because there is nothing unique about Lea's performance except that it's a fairly decent copy of Idina's performance.

As for the appropriateness of this song for Rachel's storyline... wrote about it on tumblr.

I’ve already spoken about Glee’s poor choice to not only cover Let it Go (which is going on to be the most overplayed song of the year), but to have Rachel sing it. Yes, we all know that Lea is supposed to be a once in a generation voice, but hearing Lea’s version next to Idina’s just shows that Lea cannot hold a candle to Idina’s talent. And staging it exactly the way Idina’s Academy Awards performance was staged, down to the lighting and costume, just emphasizes their not at all subtle effort to draw a comparison and connection to Idina (and failing).

And I’ve spoken of how in the context for the storyline and character that the song is a very poor fit for where Rachel is at this point in her life. To reiterate, the song is performed in Frozen by Elsa, who has spent her entire life in a self-imposed prison because of her powers. Because if she lost control, she could cause great harm. But when she loses that control, she not only puts the lives to those that she loves in danger, but her entire kingdom. She flees to the wilderness where she can’t cause anymore harm and embraces her powers. It’s part song of defiance (because she’s casting off the rules that have held her in check) and part self-pep talk because she’s trying to make the best out of a totally sucky situation that she’s in through no fault of her own.

Rachel is in Lima as a failure not because she was held back by unfair rules or circumstances beyond her control, but because of her refusal to control her own ego and ambitions. Nothing was ever good enough for her. No prize was ever great enough to satisfy her. And far from being bound by rules, she was practically immunized against failure and consequences. Send a talented potential rival to a crack house to get her out of the way? She gets to keep her position as lead for ND. Flop her audition and pesters the dean for an undeserved second chance with the only rational being that she wants it so badly? Gets admitted anyway. Quits her starring role because another offer comes along? Rachel has always done what Rachel wanted and this is the first time that she has been allowed to fail at something and actually have the consequences stick (to some degree).

And the show isn’t trying to shift the meaning of the song in some small way by use of context and arrangement so that it fits the storyline it’s being performed in. They’ve done it before very successfully - I Want to Hold Your Hand was transformed from a sweet pop song about a boy loving a girl to the plaintive expression of love between a child and his father. As If We Never Said Goodbye was changed from the delusions of an aged screen actress to a triumphant homecoming for Kurt. But with the arrangement identical to the original and copying Idina’s performance at the Oscars, there is no shift in the song’s meaning and it’s just reduced to a self-indulgent song of affirmation for La Berry. It gets reduced to being yet another “look how so very special I am” song, complete with her Special Snowflake dress.

There are other characters that the song would be a much better match for (if Glee insisted on the idiocy of trying to grab what little publicity someone in the cast singing the song would garner). It would certainly fit Kurt, since he’s been slammed for five seasons for arbitrary rules and expectations that somehow only seem to apply to him. It would work for Mercedes, who is finally getting the successes that she was denied in high school. Or even Santana. But no… it’s going to go to Rachel because Ryan Murphy can’t let go (no pun intended) of his delusion that Rachel is supposed to be Idina’s clone (or Barbra’s direct heir).

And the worst part is, she doesn’t sing it anywhere nearly as well as Idina does. Now granted, we only heard a small clip in the promo, but what I did hear was a pale, lackluster imitation (again, right down to the arrangement) of Idina’s version (the one she won an Oscar for). I don’t know what is happening with Lea’s voice, but she is not showing nearly the complexity and range that she had when Glee first started. Her technique has been getting sloppy and to me… it’s coming across like her performance style is becoming lazy and not nearly as technically interesting as it had been previously. Her voice is still powerful, but she’s substituting power for real emotion and connection to the material.

Glee has a long history of miss-matching songs to storylines. We had the monstrosity that was Girls Just Want to Have Fun (used to console Santana when she was forcibly outed by Finn) and the painfully self-indulgent Hopelessly Devoted to You (performed by Mr. Self-Involved Anderson because Kurt dumped his hobbit ass for cheating on him). This is just another case of a song not fitting and Rachel/Lea given the big episode closing solo because…
http://ranwing.tumblr.com/post/105350819425/seriously-glee-let-it-go

[Ranwing]

[Glorfindel]

^Lol, truth.

It's such a note for note copy of the original that I'm bored by it. Lea sounds fine, but it's just a copy of Idina's performance and I don't see anything new or unique about Lea's rendition. It's just derivative, and I blame that as much on the musical direction as Lea herself (not to slam Lea, but she's not bring anything new to the party).

Ha, when I played it for the first time on my laptop my oldest daughter thought it was Idina singing. Only after I told her it was Lea (about halfway through the song) and Lea then did one of her trademark 'scoops' (heavy sigh upwards) on "Here I am..." did my daughter recognize Lea.

It's not a bad rendition, but it's not Rachel singing: it really is a 1:1 imitation of Idina, and that cannot be a coincidence. Now I can understand RIB wanting a direct copy, but I'm disappointed Lea gave the song absolutely nothing new or different.

On top of that the Glee arrangement sounds very bland and monotone.

I have a feeling that this is going to be the tone of season six... derivative copying of better works (and better storylines from their own show).

Yup, they're not even trying to be original anymore, so all they've got left is making exact copies of original songs in the hope to get some iTunes sales.

[Glorfindel]

Sneak peek on ET:  link.

It's just more of Matt, Lea and Darren, talking about how Rachel is back in Lima to 'save' the glee club, and how Blaine is such a support for her. It's literally mostly Blainchel.

I guess noone remembered who Chris Colfer was when they made the promos with the actors that came out so far (they still haven't shown Chris' wishes for Kurt this season).  


Oh, in this sneak peek you can also hear some of 'Suddenly Seymour' (duet Rachel and Blaine) and it is absolutely horrible. Lea can do the belting, but she's not doing anything with the song. And Darren is just..... screeching.

Do they really expect to get ratings higher than 0.5 with posting these totally uninteresting and bland promos, focused on only 2 characters? 

[Kurt addict]

Have you heard the preview of suddenly Seymour? I'll tell you now unless you want earache give it a miss!

[lilypaperclips]

Have you heard the preview of suddenly Seymour? I'll tell you now unless you want earache give it a miss!

Agreed, Darren and Lea's voices did not seem to blend but I am not an expert on that.

I got kind of mad too because it seems, in the BTS scene I saw on tumblr, like they want to push Blaine and Rachel as bffs now. I mean it makes sense, they are practically the same person but still...it made me mad.

On a side note, it's probably just me, but is the first episode of season 6 a sort of pitch to have Darren and Lea in their own show (as love interests).

[ColferInspired]

ET exclusive and it is all Lea and Darren.  

Lea is to be expected, but showing Suddenly Seymour and Let It Go won't bring in viewers.

They should have done it with others in the cast. Because these two won't do it; viewers want to see less of them, especially Blaine.

[Glorfindel]

Have you heard the preview of suddenly Seymour? I'll tell you now unless you want earache give it a miss!

The warning that Darren sang part of it live while filming (and is of course 'humbly' bragging about it in the video) should be enough to make an immediate U-turn away from that song.

[ColferInspired]

Now I am so so disappointed we won't get Chris/Kurt to sing this.  

Now that would have been a memorable performance.

This would have been a performance that would have been talked about.

What a wasted opportunity.

Idina's version I heard alot when I was out shopping and always had me near tears as it is so perfect and so emotional and so beautiful.

I am sure Chris could have done the same. And Lea if they did not do a copy of Idina's.

[valkeakuulas]

BTS team hasn't changed their tactics I see. No Kurt in promos, but wait for the posters. Which most people might run into.

I would never watch a show if it only had these three as leads, not only do I hate Will, but Rachel and Blaine together make me itch. Is anyone else in the two hour starter besides these three?

[Jellyrolls]

Glee will never learn that Darren should not be singing Broadway songs with Lea. Darren does not have a Broadway voice, and Lea definitely does. Every time they sing a Broadway song together, it's like Darren won some random contest to sing a song with a Broadway veteran.

I have to say the past season or two, Lea has really gotten a lot more dramatic with her songs. It wasn't as bad in the first few season as it has been the last couple.

[Ranwing]

Can someone please explain to me why out of all the singers on this show only Darren is afforded the "honor" of singing live? Because I have yet to find any of his live performances at all compelling emotionally or even passable to listen to. I just don't see any point to this conceit.

Totally agree that Darren should not be given Broadway songs in general to sing. His range as a singer is so limited. He's passable on pop and I can enjoy (or at least not tune out) when he does standards, but show tunes or anything with deep emotion are out of his comfort zone. And pairing up with someone who normally excels at show tunes (when she's not amping them up to 11) just shows his shortcomings even more profoundly.

[Jellyrolls]

Darren probably gets that opportunity because he is more of a live performer than anyone else in the cast (just look at all of the performances he does over the course of the year). I agree with you that his live performances (Teenage Dream, Against All Odds, and now this) have been pretty bad. He's trying to put emotion into them, but it just doesn't work, and you can notice how limited his voice is when it's not overproduced like they do on Glee. His voice can be pleasant when he is in his range, but when they take him out of his range, it's just dreadful.

[Buenos]

Considering that Kevin was in a  boy band, and Matt, Lea and Jenna are all seasoned Broadway veterans, as well as the fact that Amber has quite a lot of experience singing in live gigs, (she even did an early prerun  Cotton Club/Musical on BW that became "After Midnight",   one would think Glee would accomodate them for live singing, but oh well.

Glee , among other stuff, has no idea how to market themselves this year.  These early spoilers are showing alot of Warbler stuff, despite the fact that it seems they are gone pretty much after the first episode.  They also present so much HS stuff that the GA who look in has to wonder " I thought they all graduated from HS a couple of years ago."  It's all already been spoiled that Naya and Heather (Brittanna) are  gone by Episode 8 so they aren't even actually going to have all the old gang back for an extended period of time, so what's the point of dragging everyone to HS if it's just to saddle Rachel with Sam,  who so help me, has to be the most rudderless and superfluous character on the show.  So they are telegraphing its the same tired MO that got them to the rating hellhole they ended up in S5.    

9 PM death slot on Fridays with only 11 weeks for airing  indicates clearly that FOX has written Glee off completely, which is saying a lot considering how abysmal across the boards FOX ratings have been.

The sad thing it's not even a triumphal lap run.  "Parks and Recreation" is in its last season also, and while it's always struggled iwth  ratings they've kept some critical respectability and acclaim.   Even something like "Parenthood" which is coming to an end  is keeping it's dignity intact.  Ditto shows like "Sons of Anarchy".   Glee's WTF SL's for this season are just so tired rehashes (let's save Glee club against nefarious Sue for the 6th year in a row!)  that it's coming and going in a blink,  with most of the GA surprised it's still airing; even the most die hard Glee fans are admitting that its' time to close the chapter on Glee with these last 13 episodes (and one shudders to think how "ambitious" Ryan would have gotten if they had given him a full 22 episodes to muck around with this season)  which is such a shame for a TV show that had alot of  cultural zeitgeist buzz when if first aired.

Ryan is obviously now having his "big" guest stars clamoring for ":American Horror Story" and Glee is going to peter out without so much as big bang but a whimper.

It will be a small triumph if Glee keeps its ratings over 1.0 or even above the .6 ratings it got for it's Season 5 finales.  Repeats of Hells Kitchen and Master Chef Jr. get at least .4/.5 in the ratings on Friday's  so if Glee drops below that I wouldn't be surprised if FOX yanks them from the schedule.

One consolation for me is that Matt, Chris and Kevin already have gigs lined up as soon as production wraps up which mitigates somewhat how apparently undeserved their individual SL's are going to be this year on the show.

[Kurt addict]

If Ryan had got 22 episodes it would have been another 18 episodes of the toddler running around as nightbird or something unmentionable with Sam

[Glorfindel]

Darren probably gets that opportunity because he is more of a live performer than anyone else in the cast (just look at all of the performances he does over the course of the year).

So is Amber, who regularly has gigs. Same with Matt, who just last weekend had his 2 concerts sold out.

But I agree that Darren puts himself mainly in the market as a live singer, preferrable with himself behind the piano, and Glee/RIB are clearly deliberately trying to give him some extra promotion by having Blaine do the same on several occasions in the show.
It would be similar to giving Artie (if RIB would actually care about Artie, that is) a few quizmaster/show hosting gigs, as this is something Kevin does a lot and maybe wants to make a career of.

I think it's actually a combination of promoting Darren's career (and lol: he's going to need all the pushing from Glee he can get) and Ryan stealing from his actors real lives again.

 I agree with you that his live performances (Teenage Dream, Against All Odds, and now this) have been pretty bad.  He's trying to put emotion into them, but it just doesn't work, and you can notice how limited his voice is when it's not overproduced like they do on Glee.  His voice can be pleasant when he is in his range, but when they take him out of his range, it's just dreadful.

Problem is with Darren that when he sings live he's all emotion and trying to connect with his audience (which is why his fans love him so much), and he usually also plays an instrument (piano, guitar) at the same time. But he's therefore so busy with trying to be this big emotional show-off performer that he forgets to actually sing and use the little of vocal techniques he has acquired for his already limited natural voice.
On Glee he also has to add (emotional) ~acting to this mix, which allows even less brain capacity to be left over for his actual singing. And yet RIB still think it's a good idea to have him sing live.

Btw: Lea has sung live on Glee at least 4 times too, so did some of the others (even Chris, e.g. when he was practicing his high F in 'Wheels' and when he started to sing 'New York New York' on the stairs), and let's not forget 'Ride With Me', so it's not like Darren has something extraordinary to humble-brag about.

[bayth]

Btw: Lea has sung live on Glee at least 4 times too, so did some of the others (even Chris, e.g. when he was practicing his high F in 'Wheels' and when he started to sing 'New York New York' on the stairs), and let's not forget 'Ride With Me', so it's not like Darren has something extraordinary to humble-brag about.

Chris also sang 'Mr. Cellophane' live.

[Buenos]

I think Chris as Kurt sang live ..." I can sing high...and I can sing low...." While making tea.  

Matt Morrison just had a great 2 night run at the Lincoln Center with Kelli O'Hara and has a lot of live concert venue experience.  Amber just finished up her second XMAS special at the Rey theatre in L.A.

In fact, Matt is going to start rehearsals in "Finding Neverland" during his last Glee run (probably in his trailer LOL) and I would love to see him live again.

Amber in particular, if you look at her youtube and other videos, does fantastic singing live.  She really has an amazing voice.
Not sure if Mark Sallling every sang live as Puck in a couple of throwaway verses in one of the early season episodes.

Chris hilariously said in an interview that he doesn't do Karokee with  his friends anymore because the professional singers make it into a mini concert;  someone like Amber will start belting like at a  professional gig "natural woman"  and Chris IIRC is all "WTF...???" 

[Glorfindel]

Chris also sang 'Mr. Cellophane' live.

Yup, forgot about that for a moment.
And of course, Lea, Amber and Jenna also sang their characters' auditions in the Pilot live.

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