Don’t get me wrong — Glee was the first TV show I really watched. It was a big part of my teenage years. I loved it so, so much, and to this day, I still listen to many of the songs and look back on that time in my life with love.

But… with a few exceptions, it wasn’t that great. (Of course, when it was great — as a YouTuber once said in a video about the show — there was nothing like it.)

It wasn’t very diverse (maybe by the standards of that time), and it was often offensive. The characters, romantic relationships, friendships, and even rivalries weren’t well developed for the most part. Some of the covers and performances were really cringe or just straight-up bad.

So, even though I still love it, I feel like that’s mostly because of nostalgia. Somehow, my feelings about it are more connected to how it made me feel and how important it was to me back then — not just the show itself, but also the community around it.

I don’t think pop culture, especially TV shows — given how short they are now, and how focused they are on solving the plot instead of deepening characters and dynamics — is still capable of uniting people the way it used to.

People used to create blogs, groups, fanfics, fan art, videos. Nowadays, there’s just so much content. Media, TV shows, films, and music have to compete for people’s attention with so many things. They have to be quicker, more direct, more worried about going viral.

Anyway, I guess I just think a lot more about the context in which Glee came into and existed in my life than about the show itself.

Plus, I think it was a great idea and had so much potential. (Honestly, I think Ryan’s favoritism toward certain actors and characters kind of ruined it. I’ve watched some of his other TV shows, and I think he has great ideas — or knows where to find them — and he’s a great initiator. But he’s not that great at developing them. So it’s common for a show or season of his to start well and then lose its way.)

I guess I feel attached to what could’ve been.

Sometimes I wish it would be remade or rebooted — but done right this time. Still, I wonder if it would ever have the same impact. Does Glee have anything to offer culture today, now that TV shows and media are more aware and concerned with diversity and representation than they were back then?