Glee may be over, but the show’s popularity hasn’t waned since the series finale. Over the course of six seasons, the show about a group of musical misfits and unrelenting underdogs changed television's landscape and created legions of loyal fans all over the world in the process.

That being said, Glee is far from perfect. While the show’s musical numbers will echo through pop-culture for years - and maybe even decades - to come, there are a lot of things that happened on Glee that either don’t make sense or are undeniably inaccurate. For a show that takes pride in its storytelling and rich albeit realistic characters, it has quite a large number of red flags that have made fans scratch their heads.

Glee was and still is one of the most popular shows in TV history, and it had some pretty captivating arcs and characters. However, there were also several problems that would, could, and should have been fixed but were, for whatever reason, ignored by all the showrunners, writers, and even fans.

Here are the 20 Things Wrong With Glee Everyone Chooses To Ignore.

20. Principal Figgins' had No Control Over The School

Principal Figgins grimaces against a window in Glee

You’ve probably noticed by now that William McKinley High School is a highly dysfunctional institution. Not only does the school employ a coach who seems like an evil James Bond villain, but the school’s head, Principal Figgins, has nearly no control over anything that happens in his school’s hallways.

Think about the number of times that Principal Figgins has given out an order, stopped New Directions from doing something, or even barred them from using certain songs... only to have his ruling completely dismissed by everyone else.

The worst part is that there are absolutely no ramifications for any of the parties involved, even though they've ignored his authority time and time again. Is it a bad school or an inept principal? You decide.

19. Mr. Schuester's Drama

Schue gives a funny face to the camera

Will Schuester may be seen as a role model and father figure to most of the characters on the show, but he’s a pretty lousy teacher if you really think about it. Over the course of six seasons, Will’s ability to coach these kids has remained questionable and oftentimes careless at best.

He’s regularly thrown into high school drama when he least expects it, even though a person of his age (let alone a teacher) shouldn't be that heavily involved with teenage drama. Also, to make matters worse, his own personal issues constantly creep up and influence his decisions and ability to coach the Glee club. His students also often get wrapped up in his personal drama as well.

18. Graduates awkwardly hung around their old school

For a show that opens to the beat of “Don’t Stop Believin’”, a lot of the leading characters don’t seem to want to actually leave their small town and take "the midnight train going anywhere.

Except for Quinn Fabray, who left McKinsey Highschool and never looked back, almost every single one of the leading members who graduated from William McKinley High School awkwardly lingered around their old turf and either coached the new Glee club kids or felt nostalgic about… something that happened to them less than a year ago. What happened to going out there and achieving your dreams? We guess the showrunners didn't want to see Glee without them. Ironically, when it came to stealing the spotlight, no one did it better than the ex-members of Glee who never left.

17. Continuity never mattered

Now don't get us wrong, Glee has some amazing writers and directors who have put out interesting content for mainstream television. Some story arcs were genuinely fantastic. However, how many times were you invested in a storyline or a specific character trait, only to have it completely tapered off before coming to any real resolution? This happens a lot on Glee.

For instance, wasn’t Marley Rose poised to be the new lead at some point? It seemed like she was about to take Rachel’s place. Marley came from a low-income family and was billed as a true underdog. However, she was relegated to a supporting role as the show went on. By the time we got to the next season, her low-income background was all but erased.

16. Ryder Lynn broke his promise to quit Glee

Speaking of continuity, remember when Ryder Lynn said he’d quit the Glee club for good? Well guess what - he didn't. A lot of the new Glee members weren’t as popular with audiences, which is likely why producers kept bringing previous characters back in illogical ways to support the new cast.

However, for better or worse, Ryder Lynn seemed to be one of the new characters who became popular with viewers.

After a complicated storyline in which Ryder is catfished by Unique, Ryder promises to leave New Directions in a dramatic fashion. Fast forward to post-winter break, and Ryder is still around. The fact that he wanted to dump the Glee club was never mentioned again after that.

15. Parents were never seen supporting their children

Burt and Carole standing saide by side in Glee.

Some of the stuff that happened on Glee should have involved parents, but it simply never did. Teenage pregnancies, serious catfishing debacles, relationships that became way too complex, and disciplinary problems are just a few things that should have involved parents. However, it seemed like everyone at McKinley High School just fended for themselves, even in the worst of times.

You'd think that the school would notify a student's parents when they were going through a big problem that the entire school knows about. However, you hardly ever see anyone’s parents on the show. Because of the constant clashes between school authority and Will Schuester / the New Directions, it felt like the parents of these students didn't care enough to become involved.

14. Every character was either rich or poor

ryd

It seems like the showrunners of Glee had a pretty hard time deciding whether McKinley High School was a rich, well-funded school or a poor, struggling one that was strapped for cash. The same applied to many characters on the show. A lot of the kids in Glee club mention coming from poor families, only to display the exact opposite a few episodes later.

Similarly, McKinley was billed as an average-at-best school early on, but it seemed to always put on expensive, elaborate shows with epic stages, special effects and pyrotechnics, over the top costumes, and overall,  a high production value. 

13. The timeline

It still helps to sync the show’s time to the real-world's timline to keep things more realistic. However, it seems like time and space in Glee are quite different from time and space in the real world.

New Directions performed Katy Perry’s “Roar” shortly after Spring Formal, which means that it was spring when the song first came out. However, Katy Perry only released “Roar” in August 2013. This means that either the show’s version of Katy Perry released the song at a different time or the timelines weren’t in sync. Though many fans ignore this issue, it simply doesn't add up.

12. Glee Club members never went to class

Blaine singing You Should Be Dancing while at class in Glee

Glee club is only a small club at McKinley High School. However, the club takes up a lot of its members time. Normally, students aren't allowed to spend more of their school day practicing dance choreography and covering history’s all-time greatest hits just because there’s a competition coming up.

Yes, we know Sectionals are huge and being able to nail those dance numbers was extremely important to each Glee member, but no average school should allow it students to skip class 90% of the time.

Not only did Will Schuester willingly let his students miss class to practise their dance and singing routines, but no one else seemed to care that a group of teenagers rarely attended class for six years. 

11. Puck and Merdedes' relationship 

Let's face it, like most soap operas on mainstream television, Glee relied on romance and relationships between characters to keep audiences glued from one season to the next. Sometimes, when you have an ensemble cast and one too many leading characters, some of them may get thrown into the same, random storyline. 

This was exactly what happened in the case of Mercedes and Noah Puckerman (aka Puck), both of whom, for whatever reason, had a “fling” at one point in order to give them something to do. The storyline didn’t go anywhere. In fact, it ended as abruptly as it started. However, it probably should never have started in the first place.

10. Terri Schuester's backstory

Glee has always had trouble dealing with Terri Schuester. She's a complex antagonist with plenty of baggage and a contorted view of the world. These traits made her relationship with Will one of the most interesting elements on the show. However, what seemed to be a compelling look at how a couple that married very young learned how to deal with life quickly turned into a nightmare for Will Schuester.

In the beginning, Terri was painted as a sweetheart who got along perfectly with Will in highschool. However, in later seasons, her backstory was completely altered when Will revealed that it was always difficult to deal with someone with a drinking problem. It seems like the show was too afraid to create a complex character, so they removed all of Terri Schuester's positive traits.

9. The outcasts were very fashionable 

At its core, Glee is a show about the underdogs for the underdogs. A lot of the characters on Glee were based on tropes from '80s and '90s teen shows like Freaks and Geeks and from John Hughes movies. The series represented the outcasts and misfits in every school, and it showed us how loud and proud they could be.  For the most part, Glee succeeded at doing just that.

What stood out, however, was the fact that most of these supposed underdogs didn't quite look the part.

Every member of the Glee club had incredible style and was attractive by society's standards. In fact, it seemed like the only ones who don’t think that the members of New Directions were “good enough” were themselves.

8. Sue Sylvester was abusive

Sue at the teacher's lounge giving someone side eye in Glee.

Half the things that Sue Sylvester did to students was borderline abusive, and the rest of it was probably illegal. If Sue Sylvester were ever a coach in the real world, she would soon be facing time for all of her crimes.

It’s insane how much abuse the crazy coach got away with. After all, she consistently picked on specific students and bullied them on a daily basis.

Instead, no one seemed to care enough to do anything about it. We guess that calling the cops five episodes into the first season would have been a bit anticlimactic. However, instead, Sue Sylvester was allowed run amok for six seasons. She was even given somewhat of the victory in the end as well.

7. Sugar Motta's bad singing

Sugar auditions for the New Directions

Remember when Sugar Motta couldn’t sing? Well we do, but it seems like the writers and showrunners might have needed their collective memories jogged because they quickly forgot about the fact that Sugar Motta, a new addition to the Glee cast who debuted in the third season, came in with one defining trait: she wasn’t very good on the mic.

Along with a long list of character traits that were removed from Glee either because they didn't serve a purpose or because writers didn't want to keep writing those traits in, Sugar Motta's bad singing was completely dropped from the show. Couple that with her mean-spirited attitude, and suddenly Sugar Motta became everyone's least favorite character. 

6. Kurt and Blaine's toxic relationship

Many fans of Glee seemed defiant about one thing: Blaine and Kurt needed to stick together. It was the show's ultimate romantic relationship and instantly became a fan-favorite. This isn't uncommon in shows like this either - audiences typically love to see tough romances work out in the end.

However, the only problem is that Blaine was obviously a toxic person and Kurt was stuck in a bad relationship. Throughout the show, Blaine was highly suspicious and controlling of Kurt. Blaine was even unfaithful to Kurt and assumed that he would be forgiven. He also blamed Kurt for his own weight gain.

5. Artie's mechanical legs

For the longest time, showrunners wanted to give actor Kevin McHale, who is an accomplished dancer in his own right, a chance to display some of his moves on the show - and in a Glee Christmas special a few years ago, they finally got the opportunity. Artie was gifted a pair of mechanical legs that were made by a company called ReWalk. Because of this, he finally had the chance to perform a dance number for the legions of Glee fans worldwide.

However, the mechanical legs broke the very next day, and Artie was once again bound to his wheelchair.

It seems odd that ReWalk provided Artie with such questionable legs and didn’t provide any warranty. It may have been a one-off Christmas special, but on Glee, it seems like miracles only last a day.

4. New Directions's popularity

Glee is built on the premise that its leading cast members, at least the ones who made up New Directions, were not the most popular group of students at school. However, throughout the show, it never really seems like any of the Glee members are exceeding unpopular, but they still seemed to really believe that they were outcasts who didn’t belong with their peers.

Despite this, they always seemed to have a pretty lively crowd at every one of their major performances, no matter what stage they got to, and their school always went to cheer them on - sometimes with a standing ovation. Apart from being slushied by the jocks, what made New Directions assume that they were unpopular underdogs? It seems like they were one of the most popular groups in school and everyone loved them. 

3. There were never enough sign-ups, but no shortage of dancers

At the start of every season, we’re made to believe that the Glee club was struggling to get new members to sign up. This was one of the running plots on every season - the ongoing struggle of getting people to believe in music and the arts and lend their hidden talents to the club. Seeing as they were very popular at school, it's unclear why this was ever an issue.

However, no matter how insignificant their sign up rate was each and every year, they always seemed to have an endless supply of backup dancers during their performances. These talented characters would never be seen during meetings or rehearsals, though. Where did they come from?

2. Finn and Puck's irreparable friendship

It became more apparent with each season that Glee’s showrunners weren’t comfortable attaching any permanently negative traits to their leading characters. The love triangle between Puck, Finn, and Quinn should have destroyed those relationships for good, but even after Quinn was unfaithful to Finn with Puck and became pregnant with Puck’s baby, Finn seemed to become good friends with the two again.

This is by far the most unrealistic storyline in the entire series. No heated rivalry with that much baggage just ends so quickly, especially when it comes to love and friendship. Though some sour friendships can be saved, others that are far too toxic to salvage. 

1. The Episode 2 reboot

Glee started out as something completely different when it first pitched its premise to audiences and cable networks. The first episode of any series is extremely important, as it dictates whether the show will continue or not.

Will Schuester, with his newfound drive and passion for the school’s reformed Glee club, discovered that his wife, Terri, was pregnant. It was the perfect cliffhanger. However, it was swiftly flipped in the following episode when it was revealed that Terri asw actually faking her pregnancy. It was an easy way out for all of the characters involved. What could have been an exploration of Will’s inner conflict quickly became an easy decision for him.

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Are there any other big problems in Glee that everyone chooses to ignore? Let us know in the comments!