Re: General Glee Discussion Thread--Part 1

[arina]

I don't know, Glee can suck many times, but everytime when I see video like this I realize how much I love every single one of the original kids!

[fantastica]

^ that's a very high quality fan-made video. Initially I thought it was Fox's own promotional piece. Anyway the original kids are the ones who made the show. They can never be replaced.

Chris' part is toward the end, just before Lea's.

[Emile]

blaine's lashing out on Sam in Sixteen is hte most WTF moment of htat episode

^This^, and the Cough Syrup scene in the recent episode. Like, seriously! What those supposed to mean?!
Are they try to give us "hint" of Blaine past that will find resolution/explanation in the "Big Brother" episode? Boh.

[fantastica]

I will give the writers credit if they actually address this angryBlaine issue in the next episode. Blaine fans have been speculating and writing fanfics in which Blaine was abused by his dad and even Kurt. don't know where these come from. I think it's quite pathetic.

[Emile]

I think it's quite confusing if it is so.

Even if I have my doubt of a Blaine explanatory episode, since the mash-up he'll be singing with his hot brother is probably another song with no relation to the SL. So another WTF.

[Glorfindel]

blaine's lashing out on Sam in Sixteen is hte most WTF moment of htat episode. (---). Blaine never acts like he hates Finn before then. Blaine never acts like he's gradually having this anger building up up to that point. I blame this "acting" part on the part of DC who, if replaced by a good actor w/ more insight into this character can still show his negative feelings to Finn even if hte script is mute on this. But no - all we got is blaine goofy w/ everybody all the other time. There's no window into his soul. There's no way you can feel who the hell he's thinking or feeling, even if he has no dialogue. Then suddenly, the dialogue of anger dropped from teh sky and took us completely out of our seats. bad writing+bad acting is bad character.

all actors should have a good grasp of their characters. If they are not sure they should talk to the showrunner to clarify. I know Chris definitely talked to RM about his character a lot in the begnning, and it really helped him nail down his character convincingly. He also decided to play them less flamboyant and more internal than the script originally wanted him to be. That's professionalism! and for a young man's first professional gig it's really impressive that's he's put so much attention and thoughts into this character, and make kurt so relateable and so life-like. lea and cory's characters are also distantly identifiable, even when their writings in S2 sucked big time. It seems that DC never had a good grasp of the blaine character except hte intial "mentor" part. I remember reading on Twop's acting thread that DC said in one of his interview that he didn't talk to RM about his character and he played it as it was written. Well, if all he does is reading hte script how can he have a better grasp of his character? there are more to acting than reading hte lines. there are silent moments/reaction shots where you can still tell a lot of stories, or at least give us a better idea as to who this blaine is.
(---) Sugar though having far less storylines (if any) sports far more personality, because her actress is a lot more competent.

So, a good actor is not just a good line-reader, but adds dimention to a character. A bad character can do a job superficially, but leave you puzzled or simply don't care.

^This.
All Darren had to do is sometimes look a bit taken aback by Finn, or on his guard, or even angry, in one of the many background moments. But he never did that. He 'acts' his lines, and then falls back to being oblivious, aka bland. Like he's only alive when talking (or singing).
That's what I like about Chris: Kurt always stays in character, he is the only one who has done that consequently: he knows who his enemies are and who are his friends. And even when the scene is not about him, he reacts to the dialogue and sometimes even looks at others that have nothing to do with the scene, but that way he connects the feelings of the scene to whatever he is going through. If that makes any sense.

Vanessa also makes Sugar very 3-dimensional: she always stay in character, stealing the scenes, like Kurt did in season 1. Although with here it sometimes rubs me the wrong way because she is more flamboyant about it, but maybe that's because her character is more flamboyant than Kurt was (and is). Anyway: she totally won me over, even when her character isn't always nice. But somehow you feel sympathy for her because she just wants to fit in, as a spoiled brat.
And you know all that just by her reaction shots: something background characters like Rory, Tina or Mike never accomplished in 3 seasons of Glee. And tbh: neither did most of the 2nd tier characters: Blaine of course, but also Puck, Mercedes, Sam, Brittany.
I'd say only Rachel, Finn, Santana, Artie, Quinn and Mr. Schue are in character most of the time, but not as consequent as Kurt.

[Jellyrolls]

= Actually if you look at the less capable actors on the show, most of them tend to have boring/bland/unidentifiable personalities. Tina is one. She was speach problems and then "goth" but neither of these characteristics did anything to her. so now she is back to playing the sweet and supportive girlfriend. Rory aside from his desire to get into a girl's pants by lying plus his Irish accent is also a who-cares kind of character. On the other hand, Sugar though having far less storylines (if any) sports far more personality, because her actress is a lot more competent.

So, a good actor is not just a good line-reader, but adds dimention to a character. A bad character can do a job superficially, but leave you puzzled or simply don't care.

Excellent points here, Kim. We really don't know much about Tina or Mercedes. One thing about Sugar, I think her being a non-singer on the show has a lot to do with the fact that her character has a lot more personality than some of the other less featured characters. If she was singing, it would cut down on her silly storylines.

[Jellyrolls]

I don't know, Glee can suck many times, but everytime when I see video like this I realize how much I love every single one of the original kids!

In some way the video makes me sad because it reminds me of how much the show has lost it's way. There really was something special about the original cast.

[fantastica]

All Darren had to do is sometimes look a bit taken aback by Finn, or on his guard, or even angry, in one of the many background moments. But he never did that. He 'acts' his lines, and then falls back to being oblivious, aka bland. Like he's only alive when talking (or singing).

True. I think when DC is not reading the lines, he falls back to the Darren Mode - he basically becomes himself - flirting w/ girls, goofing w/ everybody, always seem happy and upbeat, and doens't have much going on that's relatable to his storylines or any distinct part of his personality - thus the preceived blandness.

[Delight]

I'm not sure if people know of this blog page by a mother who has a son with Aspergers named Spencer (I find her accounts about how Chris Colfer/Kurt Hummel had helped to expand his world very touching).

http://dontturnitoff.wordpress.com/

She has quite an interesting take on the Cough Syrup scene in 'On My Way', which I'm posting below.
---------------------------------
Blaine Anderson is doing it wrong
In Uncategorized on March 9, 2012 at 2:20 pm

“You okay? You seemed upset. You know, Sebastian does things–”

“Forget about Sebastian! I’m not mad at you, I just don’t want to waste any more time on him. I want to focus on–”

YOU. US. DEALING WITH MY OWN CRAZY.

Those are all acceptable ways to finish that sentence. But no, Blaine goes with:

“Winning.”

At which point, Kurt has this to say:



Now, as we all know, sometimes Blaine has a bit of trouble reading Kurt’s expressions (opening to Misery, for instance, opening to Bills, Bills, Bills, the backseat of his car in The First Time…), so I wanted to break it down for him.

Blaine, this is your boyfriend. You may or may not know that last week was Valentine’s Day, and Kurt was under the impression that you were showering him with gifts and attention while recovering from your surgery; of course, those gifts, that attention (and a subsequent declaration of love) were from another guy. And your boyfriend had to turn that guy down, and it was awkward and sad, and now he’s avoiding the guy’s calls for a lot of really complex reasons. And — again — you may not know any of this is going on, because you’re clearly going through some issues of your own, and maybe Kurt didn’t want to burden you with this whole David Karofsky situation; I know I wouldn’t have known how to bring it up, what with your obvious angst and inexplicable growing rage. So maybe you don’t know that your boyfriend has some things on his plate right now, too, and that’s okay.

But then there’s this whole thing with Sebastian. How he has been openly hitting on you and belittling your boyfriend and you laugh it off as no big deal, you chat him up on the telephone, Warbler to Warbler, until suddenly you get an eyeful of Sebastian’s nastiness. And then, obviously, your feathers got ruffled. Totally understandable. I’d take it personally, too. I mean, he was actually trying to hit Kurt with that rock-salt-infused slushee, but I get why you feel betrayed. And angry. And like all the time you spent talking to and dancing with Sebastian was just utterly wasted, now. And I respect your honesty in telling this to your boyfriend. You’re very up front with your feelings.

And you’re right. Enough is enough. It’s time to focus on what really matters, the important things that are right in front of you. The important thing right in front of you in the sexy sweater, looking at you with a lot of concern and a little trepidation. That guy.

Or… winning. Beating Sebastian. So, not actually done wasting time on Sebastian. Got it.

But back to your boyfriend for just one second: do you see that face he just made? Do you notice how he’s crossed his arms protectively over his chest? Did you pick up on the way one side of his mouth pulled down in a little grimace , and how he clearly just stuffed all of his needs and disappointment a little deeper inside himself while you go on with your insufferable, self-centered crazy talk?

You’re lucky you rocked that song so hard, Blaine. If you had busted out some half-assed Katy Perry tune right there, you would be single as fuck.

Priorities: you’re doing it wrong.

[fantastica]

I'm not sure if people know of this blog page by a mother who has a son with Aspergers named Spencer (I find her accounts about how Chris Colfer/Kurt Hummel had helped to expand his world very touching).

http://dontturnitoff.wordpress.com/
...

Yes Delight it's a very interesting and insightful read. This is from a mother w/ Asperger's son which means she is awefully aware of reading people's mood/emotions/feelings (such as her son's) while his son is unable to fully express his own.

I do see Blaine being an attention whore/self-centered man who wants to be admired by others but doesn't seem to grasp other's nuanced feelings. They've touched that spot in many occasions but never really went further. For example when Kurt asked b to tear down Rachel's campagin posters whenever he sees them, blaine didn't even seem to heard what kurt said, and instead went to talk kurt into being more adventurous (TFT). Still not sure if the writers intend to flesh it out and turn it into storylines but I guess we will find out in a few weeks. If by ep15 w/ the big blaine centric episode they still fail to address his characters fully I think I would have to permanently replace Blaine w/ block of wood in my head canon.

[Emile]

Spoiler:

Why?

[fantastica]

^ I think this kinds of casting call is very common. just an extra w/ a certain physical characteristics. Not sure if he will have any name.

p.s. shouldn't this be in the spoiler thread?

[Emile]

^Uhm, I don't think is Kurt related so I posted here.
I thought that with the many fans wiiling to make an appearance, a casing call was for something. But maybe you're right, just a nobody!

[fantastica]

you can post any spoiler - kurt related or not, in the spoiler thread in the future. a lot of us don't bother w/ non-kurt related spoilers, but when news is slow, like now, sometimes we do.

[Emile]

Okay, good to know.

[Shinra17]

^ It's probably a nobody, the casting call was for a shooting on the same day. Even if it's glee, it's unlikely they would be so unprepared for a new significant role. Now, since they wanted someone with a specific appearance, you can always speculate on whitch character would get a SL that have something to do with hairs lol.

[fantastica]

^ I remember when Sebastian was casted they said "MAJOR RECURRING role" in the description. this one is neither recurring nor major. Even the guy who played Rick the Stick claimed that his role was also somehwat major recurring - he's got a name and even a couple of lines.

[Coolbeans3131]

The 10 TV Characters That Need to Go

8. Mr. Schue ('Glee')

Now that he's finally realized that he can't teach Spanish, perhaps he'll admit that he's also clueless about coaching a glee club. Club members don't know what they are singing until five minutes before they go onstage, they never rehearse the same number twice, they come and go and use their practice time to vent their own personal issues, and there seems to be an endless costume budget that is never addressed. Plus, we're weary of Mr. Schue's bickering with Sue, his personal relationships, and his dumb mash-ups and/or dancing with teenagers. When the other kids graduate, it's time for him to move along as well.

Very true, but ouch for Matt.

I really think it would have been much better to have the kids graduate and follow some or most of them to college. The whole competition thing has gotten very predictable. They seem to have barely put any effort into Regionals this year. (I mean the people in charge, not the actors.) I'm not looking forward to ND starting at the bottom again next year, and new kids being slushied and such. Yawn.

[tanita_mors]

They lost their way with Shue back in season 2. This guy was the male lead in season 1 and now his plot-lines are footnotes of an episode, or if he gets an A plot, we all either find it boring or offensive. He become completely marginalized, but the saddest thing is that most people couldn't care less. All his plot-lines revolve around Wemma. And if you don't ship Wemma or simply don't care, like me, it does him no favors.

[Glorfindel]

It's too bad that they ruined Mr. Schue, because I used to like him a lot, and I like Matt Morrison as an actor, singer and dancer (not sure if I would like him in RL).
I blame RIB for diverting every plothole and unfair treatment of the kids right back to Mr. Schue. They were too lazy to come up with better reasons and solutions to keep the storylines going, so they just dumped all the crap decisions unto Will.
Season 1 Will I really liked, but season 2 Will was a douche. I kinda hoped they would rehabilitate his character in season 3, with bootycamp, but it has gone downhill very fast since then.
That must be frustrating for Matt too. And they are wasting his beautiful singing voice.

They really don't know what they've got at Glee.

[Coolbeans3131]

We really need a E! True Hollywood Story behind the scenes look at this mess of a show. I know we'll get it someday. I can imagine Matt as being outspoken, and if anyone on Glee has a right to complain, it's him.

[tanita_mors]

Absolutely. Far to many things don't add up for the final result we have been getting. I can't even imagine all the shit that is going down behind the scenes with the producers, actors and Fox. It will be fascinating if we found out just 10 % of all those shenanigans.

[CCfan93]

if we ever do get a true behind the scenes story of glee i bet you that it would be jenna and matt complaining the most.

[Shinra17]

MM missed something about his character. Every character on glee has a bit of craziness and switches forth and back between a caricatural/hilarious self and a more serious one. It's also the case for all the adults : Sue and all her eccentricities, Emma and her pamphlets & OCD, Figgins and his strange ideas to save money, even Burt and his flame-thrower or Carol and her flirt with the gardener, the only one who is always acting realistically is MM, even when the dialogue or the situation obviously call for a comedic approach.
There were many situations where he should have been funny and he came out as a total douche. Imagine kurt, instead of being completely oblivious to sport rules and concept, performed his single ladies routine while showing he perfectly understands what football is, that is basically MM playing Shuester imo.
The thing is his character wasn't written as eccentric as the others in the beginning of the serie and the little comic things like the trick he used to enroll Finn in the glee club can also be acted seriously. But when it comes to writing songs for the next-day competition or talking about Emma in a middle of an argument with Sue and Figgins about school budget, it is just wrong to play it realistically. For me, he is not fit to play in a comedy and he is the main reason for Shuester being so boring.

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