The Sing Off: An Unfortunate Hit

I'll admit, I didn't start watching this show with the best attitude (i.e. I went into it knowing that I would hate it and wanting to hate it).

Well, the show definitely didn't change my mind. Now, dont' get me wrong, I didn't want to not like it because I thought the performances would be god awful, but because, and let's all be honest with ourselves, Nick Lachey was hosting and the commercials for it always had the hot girl saying, "You're like a real life Glee." They couldn't have tried harder to make it a real life glee even if they tried, and they clearly didn't try too hard with this show.
Also, Nick Lachey starts out by saying that this is the "toughest all vocal contest." Toughest... really?... have you seen American Idol? Maybe you missed that fad, but let's start checking what you're about to say before you make a complete ass out of yourself and the show. Do you really want to follow in the footsteps of Mario Lopez and be viewed as a gigantic tool? Oh, everyone already thought that about you? Well, I guess you found the perfect job then.

Unfortunately, Mr. Lachey isn't the worst thing about the show. The groups "all about us" video montages are the absolute worst part of the show.

Okay, yes, all reality shows have that cheesy portion of the program where they try to get the audience to relate to the contestants, and yes, usually it is over the top and a bit ridiculous, but this show crosses a line that isn't even visible to the other shows. I think it all stems from how unoriginal the show is. We have our singing show already in American Idol (which is just going to be sad this year with Steven Tyler, J.Lo, and Randy Jackson as the judges. [I still can't believe Randy Jackson is the only original judge left. How could you leave us with the most annoying judge in the history of shows, dawg?]). We already have our group singing show, Glee, which I realize isn't a reality competition, but, come on, they're obviously going to trump any of these vocal groups. Sure, a group from the show's previous season is now on Glee (for 2 songs, mind you) and they weren't even that featured since the new hottie gay steals the show. Anyway, I digress. Back to my main point that these montages are disgustingly disgusting.

I must say that my favorite/actually least favorite ones were the Berkeley group, the Yale group, and the group that was comprised of people from the season before that must now work through their own bull shit voices to create something new (OMG that's JUST like Glee! how exciting!).

First off, the Berkeley group (I don't care enough to remember the actual group name) and the Yale group seem to be in a competition of their own racing for the prize of "We're the douchiest a capella group." And honestly, Berkeley wins. Why? Because here is how they come off, "OMG we go to Berkeley, so we're like, REALLY well trained and more musically talented and uber trained and just way more skilled than anyone else!"  Congratulations, d-bags, on not having personalities, but I should commend you that you could make the entire female, and some of the male, population feel fresh.

Yale. Now, obviously when they said they were from Yale everyone watching instantly prepared themselves for a douche-a-thon. First off, they, of course, have to claim they "invented" a capella groups.  Then they quickly switch to them playing golf and wearing their tuxedos and eating at a fancy restaurant. Now, this may seem douche-ier than the previous group, however, I'm going to give them a little bit of credit and say that the show wanted to see this as a spin, whereas the Berkeley group just talked about how amazing and talented they were. Also, I'll admit, the guy who sang Grace Kelly by Mika, well, I'd put a ring on it. But still, wearing the suits on stage too, douchey.

A few of the other groups tried, just oh so hard, to make them look like a "real life glee" including a high school group full of students who would have never talked to each other had it not been for their love of singing! They had a prom king and queen, a nerd, a jock, and any other clique you can think of in their group. Essentially it came down to a line sort of like, "OMG I would never talk to any of these freaks if we weren't in the same group, so I'm like, a really good person for doing that and being so open to people's differences."

Then there was the all male group who sings AND does sports. WHOAH! You mean... guys can be athletic and have a soft side??! What a twist!

The other groups were boring ranging from, "My group needed another lead singer, so I brought my daughter in. How precious are we? Singing together brings us closer!" And then the daughter wasn't even the lead vocalist in the song they sang leading me to believe it was all a publicity stunt. Shocker! (and not the fun kind), and leading to a group based on being a born again Christian... All in all, I would have rather watched Nick Lachey just stand there saying nothing over listening to these groups rattle on about how they're unique.

Also, I don't think its really saying much for the show when it airs all its episodes within a three week span.

All in all, horrible show.

Fennopian

It's a Tie!

Whatever, I don't even care that I'm writing about Glee A-gain.

If you aren't watching this show, you need to catch up now. If you are watching this show, congratulations on being awesome.

So, what's the big deal with this episode? Well, they went to sectionals, bitches. I'm sure everyone was expecting this to be a big Rachel and Finn vocal episode since last year at sectionals they rocked it. Thank God (was this an appropriate use of the word God. Apparently I don't use it appropriately. Thank you, religious zealots.) they didn't use Finn at all, and re-created the Rachel/Kurt or Kurchel if I'm to follow Finn's speech from the episode previous. The whole episode was about the unsung stars of this show who have been getting more and more camera time taking away from the mundane and annoying story line of the boring love story between the two "stars" of the show.

Obviously, the episode was amazing with number like Time of My Life sung by Dianna Agron (Quinn) and Chord Overstreet (Sam). I have to say, Dianna Agron has some of the best minor facial expressions in this show. She has perfected giving just the perfect nuance of expression during performances. Transitioning right into Santana's song just made me so excited. I bleeping LOVE her voice. It is so raw and fantastically amazing to listen to. Plus, who doesn't love watching her in general? (Maybe I'm biased. She has said in an interview that she doesn't get much attention from the public except from the gays...)

Now, the big question on every person's mind is, "Are Kurt and that hottie dating?" Who knows. They haven't shown them hooking up or anything, but its not like Glee would really shy away from that. I don't think they're officially dating, nor do I think they will actually date. I think the Warblers are just a way for the show to expore Kurt's personality and his options in life: Does he stay an individual where he will be confronted with prejudice, or lose his individuality in an environment where he'll be accepted, but subdued. (Also, could that bird have been any more of an obvious metaphor for Kurt...) Obviously he's going to choose the former, so let's just have him do it sooner than later and get that wierd ugly chick out of the Glee club.

Aaaand in the end of the episode of course lots of drama happens in 3 minutes. The red-head and the dentist are married (left field), but she seems to regret it, Finn and Rachel are together no more because Rachel's a dumb bimbo and Finn has emotional problems. Don't care though. Just want more of Mercedes in the next semester of the show. That girl's voice is so underutilized it's sickening.

Remember when they used to have that other awkward dancer in the show but then he "transferred"? Yeah... me either.

Worst moments of the episode: The old people. What the hell was up with that? Did they think that was going to be a funny gimmick? Well, it was more just really awkward to watch, and really we all just wanted to watch the legit groups sing.

Aaaand the tie? Really? Great cop-out, Glee. I just hope this doesn't mean Kurt's going to be a different school the entire semester. That'll be super annoying.

Fennopian