The dude from Glee died yesterday.

I was a Day 1 Gleek. I bailed early in the third season; there became increasingly more "special episodes" dealing with Serious Teen Issues. Glee is great as a musical comedy about losers trying to get through high school. Quit taking yourself so serious, Glee. You might not get Slushees thrown in your face as much.

Poor Finn... The show never quite knew what do to with him after the first season. The new writers (who came aboard after season 2) never followed through with the show's (good) plan to completely pass the torch to the younger underclassman (in their mid-twenties). Saved by the Bell: The College Years made it one year. Saved by the Bell: The New Class lasted for eight, with only Mr. Belding and and Screech sticking around. (Even the original Saved by the Bell lasted about half as long.)

Like the other male lead, Mr. Shu, Finn is the blandest of boring characters; I blame this (mostly) on poor writing. (plus they kept adding new male cast members, like Darren Criss, who perform circles around pretty much anybody.) By comparison, this made Finn all the more uninteresting, and it made his performances seem milquetoast, at best.

If you watch Cory Monteith while he's singing, it's easy to see his skill and feel the emotion he's putting out there. His chemistry with Lea Michele was undeniable. He had comedy chops. He was stoic but vulnerable; he had a masculine physicality coupled with a soft, lovely voice. And the dude played drums and sang! At the same time!

I would have liked to have seen Mr. Monteith tell that cruddy show to fuck off, and try something different. He was a poor man's Channing Tatum. And right now, that's a fucking good business to be in.

Oh well, shit. I didn't know the guy, and I already gleefully ditched Glee. But fuck, we're all human. The guy clearly had problems dealing with drugs (I can relate) and fame (not so much). It makes me a little sad that he'll never get another shot to steal a lovable lunkhead role away from Taylor Kitsch. He could have been the new protege or a rival stripper in Magic Mike II. Who knows, he might have surprised us all by playing Edison in Lightbulb: The Movie.

You will be missed, sir.