Armchair Showrunner Series: GLEE

The second installment of the Armchair Showrunner Series will take a stab at the one show that I'm probably the only fan of, and that's Glee. For those who have been keeping up, I re-watched and blogged about the first thirteen episodes because they're widely considered to be the best the show's ever done. During my mission, I wanted to shine a spotlight on the fact that those first hours were just as messy as the latter ones as a way to remind people that Glee's never been perfect but it was usually entertaining to watch. Whether I achieved my task is debatable, but it did give me some insights on where the show went wrong. Once again, I'm not trying to "fix" Glee, but there are somethings I'd like to see happen before the season's over.

Quick Pitch: Rachel wakes up and realizes that the last three years have all been a dream. New Directions has yet to be formed, she's not going to New York and everyone still hates her. Knowing what she does now, she goes about re-writing a new narrative.

OK, I don't even think Ryan Murphy's crazy enough to completely re-boot Glee, but it wouldn't hurt if it goes back to its roots. One of the reasons why the first thirteen episodes were relatively successful was because the show was still somewhat simple and coherent. Yes, there were some off-the-wall moments and characters who were larger than life, but for the most part the story revolved around three people: Will, Rachel and Finn. We'd get a Kurt episode or an Artie story here and there, but for the most part the show was grounded and focused on the leads. Then, everyone had to have their moment to shine and this was when things started to wobble. As much as I love Heather Morris, we didn't need "Britney/Brittany" (and we really don't need "Britney 2.0"). Chris Colfer was another breakout star, but his addition to the "main characters" only muddled things up as compared to when he was playing more of a supporting role. If Glee wants to be on top again, trimming down storylines and re-calibrating the spotlight on a handful of characters instead of giving everyone something to do would be a good first step.

Probably the easiest way to simplify things is to make the students the sole focus once and for all. Glee will always be the Rachel Berry Show, and Finn will always be in her orbit. I cannot deny that Kurt's a major player, as is Santana and to a lesser extent Blaine, so you have a core group of characters to build off of. What this means is the adults would have to be relegated to the background, but that wouldn't be the worst idea in the world because some of the show's weakest points were due to them. And let's face it, Will's become too unlikable  Sue's too grating and Emma's a shell of the former woman that she used to be, so spending less time with these people wouldn't be the end of the world.

Along with a cut back on characters and plot devices, Glee could also benefit from scaling back its music budget because it's easy to see that the quality took a dip when iTunes sales became a (not the) driving factor. Look, the music will always be a draw, and it some instances the only reason why people come back, but when an episode crams in 7 to 9 songs in a 45-minute period, you cannot focus on the important things like story. Some of Glee's best episodes limited the musical numbers in favor of character based moments, and it's not rocket science to see why these were better.

So, what it all comes down to is Glee needs to go back to basics. It needs to remember what it was trying to say, think of an effective and efficient way to return to its original voice and stop buying into its own hype. It's really that simple.

Armchair Showrunner Series: GRIMM

When I was a younger man, I wanted to be a real writer. Someone who would sell a screenplay to Hollywood and win an Oscar. Obviously, that never happened, but the creative juices still flow from time to time, and since I'm a TV junkie now, I've decided to take a shot at coming up with some story ideas that I'd like some of my favorite shows to implement in a series that I'm calling Armchair Showrunner.

Now, these write-ups are merely a way for me to share some thoughts that I've been having and are just for fun. They're in no way a suggestion that these shows need "fixing" per se, and I wouldn't be so bold to think I could fix any of them. That said, we've all come up with things that we'd like to see happen on our favorite shows, and these are mine.

The first show up is NBC's Grimm, which was a show that I expected very little from and was happily surprised by. Keep in mind that these are my opinions, and I haven't really researched any information on what's going to happen during this season. Any similarities are coincidental. OK, let's get started.

Quick Pitch: Nick finds out that the Grimm gene is part vampire, and some event triggers this side of him. He goes on a killing spree but soon finds his humanity. After being kicked off the police force, he moves into an old hotel and starts a private investigation company with Monroe, Rosalee, Hank and some random British guy.

So, that sounds an awful lot like Angel because that's pretty much what this show is (thanks to Whedon alum David Greenwalt) but without the luxury of being spun-off from a cult favorite. Over the years, I've found that supernatural/gothic procedurals can become stale when they stick too closely to a monster/fae/fairy tale creature-of-the-week set up (see Angel, Supernatural and others), but it's a gimmick that works. Right now, Grimm has that hook but it's further ham-strung by the fact that Nick's a cop. For his true Grimm-iness to shine, he needs to break free and start up his own version of Angel Investigations, the Scobby Gang or the Winchesters. While I don't expect, or even want, Grimm to become Angel: City of Roses, it could benefit from having a similar take on the whole sub-genre.

Also, Nick needs higher stakes. Up 'til now, his mission as a Grimm has been pretty tame, but that all changed when Juliette was put in danger. The damsel in distress is literally a tale as old as time, so I shouldn't be shocked that Grimm went there, but it too can run out of steam quickly. The only way for it to work is for Juliette to be in real peril and not just a victim of a memory loss potion. I'm sure we're in store for some serious stakes to be thrown at Nick, but the threat of loss needs to be real, and it needs to come to fruition. In short, Juliette has to die.

I felt that Juliette had worn out her welcome and played her role by the end of Season 1, and I was expecting her to be killed off. Instead, we got this whole insomnia storyline which feels a little cheap, but I'm hoping that it's the first step down a darker path. Having Nick lose it because of her death could be what triggers his departure from the Po-Po and his need to start up his own Wesen hunting agency. Will Juliette die sometime before the end of Season 2? Probably not, but it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility since Grimm's not afraid to go extremely... well, grim.

Really, I've been happy with what Grimm's given viewers over it's first season, and so far Season 2's been a step above its predecessor, so I don't think Greenwalt and his team need to worry about what I think (because they're totally reading this blog). I'm fairly confident that I'll continue to be happy with the show unless Rosalee somehow gets knocked up by Nick's long-lost son and it turns out to be some crazy goddess. I'd have to draw the line there.