What’s wrong with Glee? That’s got to be the question on the minds of Fox executives after viewing the latest ratings on this show, which used to be one of the hottest properties on television.

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TV By the Numbers reports that Glee only had a 2.4 share among adult viewers, or a total of 5.9 million viewers. That’s a new series low. Why is this show, which got a stunning 19 Emmy nominations in its first glorious season, struggling so hard to keep its audience now? Does Glee have a future?

There are a lot of possible theories as to why the show is currently in decline, but these are the ones that seem to be most plausible.

1. It’s competing with ratings juggernaut NCIS. More people are recording Glee and watching it later; the ratings inevitably go up to respectable levels when DVR ratings are factored in.

2. People are becoming tired of badly written, preachy storylines that feel more like sermons than comedy. The writing for this week’s domestic violence story was so heavy-handed, Sue even made fun of that very preachiness in her first lecture to the girls.

3. There are too many characters. It’s hard to invest in the personal stories of over 30 characters, many of which are very woodenly played by Glee Project winners who are much better singers than actors. Unfortunately, plans to graduate over half the cast would seem to indicate they are about to prune strong cast members like Lea Michele and Chris Colfer rather than the weaker, newer people from The Glee Project.

4. The narratives often do not make much sense, or they contradict what has happened before. This season, the writers ignored Kurt’s National Cheerleading Championship and several other canon accomplishments in order to convince us that his resume was entirely blank. They allowed him to fail repeatedly in efforts to beef up that resume with an unsuccessful Class President campaign and a humiliating audition for the school musical.

Then they had him get a rare, coveted NYADA audition on the strength of the resume that they repeatedly told us was empty. This week, he managed to impress the NYADA dean because he “took a risk” on a song from a fairly mainstream, Tony-winning musical, while Rachel failed spectacularly on a song she’s been singing her entire life.

5. Many of the characters are either completely used up, or unrecognizable from their first season. Will was depicted as Teacher of the Year in the first season; now he’s such a bad Spanish teacher, he had to take night classes to learn the language. Sue has mellowed so much she’s the person leading the lectures on violence against women. This woman once wanted to shoot Brittney out of a cannon. Sue has lost her meanness mojo, and she’s not nearly as entertaining.

6. Glee has forgotten how to be funny. It used to be a very subversive satire; it has become a PSA factory.

Can this show be saved? It’s hard to tell. Maybe the novelty has worn off, or maybe the writers need to pay more attention to establishing internal logic and continuity within the storylines. Maybe they need to stop casting it with people who won a reality show. Maybe they need to slow down the weekly Blaine solos and let somebody else sing for a change.

One thing is clear – with the majority of the student cast members now playing characters who have graduated, change is coming for Glee. The decisions they make as they decide how to incorporate the lives of the graduated seniors with the world of a McKinley High School show choir are likely to make or break Glee for good in season 4. My own suggestion: I think they need to cut bait on Lima entirely and base the entire thing in New York featuring their four most effective cast members – Monteith, Michele, Rivera, and Colfer. Call it Glee: The College Years. At least the cast won’t be quite so big.

Check out my detailed recaps of Glee and other television shows at my blog.