As bad as the finale was – and while the show has had episodes that were duller or more offensive, this one may have been the worst in terms of basic coherence – I think that series probably would have benefited from moving to New York much sooner. I might feel otherwise if I believed that Murphy et al. still had any worthwhile high school stories to tell, but seasons four and five (and to a lesser extent season three) provided ample evidence to the contrary. The NYC version of the show may have been a worse version of Smash (a show I never actually watched), but the McKinley parts of seasons 4-5 were a worse version of Glee seasons 1-3 only with less talented, more boring versions of the original cast. The NYC storylines certainly could have been better*, but an all-NYC season four and five would at least have spared us the tedious romantic saga of the pretty girl and the two hunky guys who liked her, the catfishing “mystery” that dragged on for months, and the school shooting that wasn’t.
If the show was going to stay at McKinley, the writers really should have started introducing good, younger characters during season three. They had the opportunity then to introduce several new supporting characters and see who worked out the best and should be promoted to the main cast in season four. Maybe that was what they were trying to do with Sugar, Irish, and Dreadlocks, but these characters weren’t very interesting and weren’t given much to do. The latter two probably couldn’t ever be given much to do, because they were played by performers who won The Glee Project by being good singers…not good actors.
*I still can’t figure out that “Rachel’s new boyfriend turns out to be a prostitute” storyline. Seriously, WTF.