I totally understand that people don't like it. I get that to a lot of people, it's completely not appealing. I was definitely one of the haters who had never really seen an episode. Out of curiosity, I looked up their covers to see what it was like and I could not believe that people actually watched it.
Then I found a ladyfriend who I consider to be intelligent who absolutely loves the show, and I promised that I would at least check it out... it didn't take long before I was hooked. Sure, the plots aren't that great, every three seconds there's a cliche, it's pretty over-the-top sometimes, and the songs are ridiculously over-produced. Despite all of that, I really enjoy it. It doesn't take itself too seriously, I usually find it pretty funny, and within the context of the show, I think the songs are usually pretty fun along with the dance-numbers. I can also find a lot to appreciate about the way it attempts to handle certain issues, despite being pretty cheesy. But I'm a cheesy guy, I like cheese.