Glee schmeee

So, Glee came back, like, three weeks ago. Now, I know this isn’t exactly timely. But, nothing I do with this blog is timely, apparently. For example, you might have noticed that I started the blog months ago and have yet to make another post. But of course, you didn’t notice. Because you aren’t reading the blog. Anyway, to continue with this theme of the blog, I’m going to discuss Glee’s return.

Now the return of this show is important because of the show itself, which is fun and entertaining. I don’t think it’s the second coming of television as many of my contemporaries do, but the program’s campy and funny and it’s got some sick beats. So I’m watching. But the greater importance of its return is in the show’s programming. The pilot debuted late last year, around May. It immediately caused buzz and I remember saying when I watched it, “This is going to be big.” Because I know the heartbeat of the American masses. But the pilot was just a sneak peek, and the show really began, with weekly episodes, last fall. The show ran a healthy 13 episodes, then had a big blow-out fall finale and went on hiatus for 5 months.

I was discussing Glee’s return with some of my friends, casual television viewers, and they commented how excited they were for the second season. No, I corrected them, it’s not a new season, it’s just the second half of the first. They were confused. But the show was off the air for so long? And didn’t it already come out on DVD? Seems like a new season to me. And these are significant insights. Yes, the long hiatus and DVD release did imply a new season. However, this wasn’t the truth.

The idea of a mid-season hiatus and an early DVD release aren’t new. All TV shows take hiatuses, this is the nature of stretching 22 episodes for nine months. But my friends were correct in thinking that Glee’s hiatus had been particularly long. This is a pattern that has long been followed by cable programs (Psych, Greek, etc. divide their season in two, with a lengthy break in between). Cable series have also come out on DVD in volumes (Battlestar Galactica which was released in segmented seasons). But this was a new approach for a network show to take.

Is this a step in the right direction? Yes, television needs to become less dichotomized. Why must there be a certain season for television to exist? It flourishes in the school year calendar and then disappears in the summer. There has been a movement away from this format with cable television, and it’s been a welcome change. So, yes. It’s good that Glee is questioning the traditional format of television. Like I said, it’s dead and rebirthing, ya know?

But it worries me that the television season, as a narrative structure, is losing all meaning. Whether a show has massively long seasons (like the O.C.) or teeny ones (like the UK Office), there is always that same continuity and that same pattern of an overall story being told. Because that’s what’s most fascinating about television: it is a medium that must work on many different levels. The individual episode has to tell a complete story, which is part of the larger story of the season, which is just a small segment of the overall series as a whole. This is the most fascinating aspect of television, which I believe makes it the most dynamic form of storytelling. But as the notion of the season is fragmented, do we risk losing this continuity of narrative?

AP