Glee

OK. I thought Glee on Fox last night was great. I'll admit to having a huge weakness for both plucky high-school-underdogs and musical theater, but I thought the show was funny, the music was great, and the kids talented ...particularly the unbalanced girl with two dads.

I'm looking forward to Jane Lynch stepping into a more malicious role as she tries to bring the glee club down, and the interplay between the quarterback and the team that needs him but hates that he's slumming with the losers.

Anyone else enjoy the show? I was out on YouTube almost immediately to find a copy of their version of Don't Stop Believin'.

Yeah, the stereotypes were there, but didn't bother me much. We're still in pilot episode territory, and I think there's a lot of potential there. The semi-mohawked football jock seemed like he could have more of a role than the dickish foil to quarterback-boy in the future, and we didn't see much of the supporting glee clubbers at all. I think they're starting out as stereotypes because they didn't have the time to fully flesh every one of the characters in the 40+ minutes available. Here's hoping that we get more depth to the characters in the series than was shown initially, but what was there in the pilot was great for me.

Maybe I'm just worn out from all of the serious TV over the past couple of years, and am in the perfect place to enjoy something with a lot of, to quote the show, *joy* in the mix. This show really hit the spot for me.

Seconded. That's the kind of stuff that I'm keeping my fingers crossed for. Interesting, vibrant musical numbers. Well, that and good stories. But I have to admit, I'd forgive lackluster stories if we get two songs like that every episode.

The wife has officially predicted that the cheerleaders will be joining the club so there will be a huge production like their competition. Then all they'll need is some skinny ties and suspenders.

I'm also looking forward to more Jane Lynch. She's not to be trifled with.

I'm going to "pshaw" this idea, even though it has been a while since I've seen Election. While the tone and style may have similarities, one of the main characters being driven and apparently amoral does not make it "Election: The Series".

Tracy Flick was driven by different demons, I think. She wanted power and control, where I think what drives Rachel in Glee is a desire to be praised and accepted for something she has worked long and hard at to do well.

I wonder if Rachel's calculating Flick-esque move of eliminating Mr. Ryerson was more of a one-off to quickly illustrate her obsession rather than set her up as Tracy Flick Mark 2. I think she'll be pushy, aggressive, and obsessive about things in the future, and not above hurting people to get ahead, but I'd be surprised if that is as far as they take her characterization. She seems to be a character that knows if New Directions does well, she'll do well, and be at the center of things. Don't get me wrong, I see great heaping handfuls of conflict in the future battles for center stage, but I think we'll see some internal conflict as well...where she must decide between taking the back seat and giving in to her desire to be center stage at all cost.

Plus, Tracy (if I'm remembering correctly) is very well-liked...which shoots some largeish holes the comparison right there. I think it's possible for two characters to be relentless and cutthroat in entirely different ways.

Yeah, I see what you're getting at. I think I'm just bristling at the constant over-generalization equating Rachel to Tracy in other stuff that I've read, as I think they're entirely different animals. Every high school movie has a doofy but well-meaning jock, an overachiever, a put-upon teacher with a heart of gold...and the whole cast of the Breakfast Club. It's hard for me to fault the creators for using those stereotypes as a starting point. I'm going to have to try and watch Election this weekend to have more ammunition for arguing my point!

If they don't grow from here and become more interesting characters, then I'll be more down with calling it "Election meets High School Musical" or some of the other lazy shorthand comparisons that are being handed down from reviewers eager to categorize it.

Speaking of categorizing...has there been any series since Fame to focus on performing the way Glee promises to? There probably has been, but I can't think of any at the moment.

Anyway, here's hoping that both songs and stories are well represented.

Hear hear. That's what I've been trying to say...

He does have an expanded part in the longer version of the pilot, which should be playing this fall. It's also out there on the interwebs in a less-than-kosher way if you're into that kind of illicit behavior that is frowned upon by the powers that be here at Chud. I'm not advocating...I'm just sayin'.

Dang! I don't know what you were expecting, but we're not talking about a tightly-scripted drama here, we're talking about a show that is essentially a framework for setting up musical numbers. And for what it is, I thought that it set things up pretty well, and the characters were enjoyable if not earth-shatteringly original.

I can see where you think that the story is lacking, but again it is the first setup show about largeish group of characters where they have to cram in two musical numbers, introduce the antagonists, and get and audience to like the show. There's a lot of shorthand at work here, and it may be that the show never comes into its own, but I've got higher hopes. Granted that may be because I'm projecting my own choral geekiness onto it, but that was *bound* to happen with me. I'm hoping all the haters are wrong about this show, and that they don't rely heavily on stereotypes, etc.

Incidentally, the longer version is actually a little better, as it flows a little more smoothly. It seems like they kind of hacked a version together for broadcast, and cut some corners. There is more Stephen Tobolowsky, another musical number, etc.

Without question, she is the non-musical highlight of the show. She's a national treasure as far as I'm concerned. The feigned offense she takes at the drop of a hat in particular cracks me up.

I thought this episode was a little more uneven than the first, but the music was really fun again. I especially dug Gold Digger, and Rachel's song at the end. The choreography for the Salt & Pepa number was hysterical.

I also find it very nice that they're not shying away from that slightly surreal "musical-world", where everyone can sing and dance flawlessly, the lighting is always perfect. The show would be much harder to pull off without that quality. I'm pretty sure I saw both mohawk-guy from the football team strumming a guitar, and the hapless Sheets-n-Things clerk from the pilot flexing his dance moves in the upcoming scenes. A musical in a weekly format is exactly what I want out of the show, and it looks like that's what we're going to get.

Personally, I'm hoping that the throwaway line about "what's a luftballoon?" presages a rousing version of the Nena classic.

Yeah, the lip-syncing is definitely not the glee clubbers strongest suit. Maybe it will get better. But as I've said before, I'm willing to put up with a *lot* of little problems in this show as long as they bring the big guns with vocals and music. I don't think they hit the same peaks as the pilot as far as general quality of songs in this episode, but Take a Bow was excellent.

And I'm seriously crushing on Lea Michele as well.

I wonder how long we'll have to wait to get spotlight songs from the supporting crew. We've had a fairly generous helping of Mercedes, but nothing but supporting work from the other three. Hopefully they'll find a place for all of them to get a shot.

I was pleasantly surprised by the abilities of the supporting characters this week. Ken and mohawk-guy held their own pretty well in the Acafellas. It looked to me like the Sheets-n-Things guy was dubbed, but it looks as if everyone on the show is going to sing at some point...which makes me worried that Jayma mays is going to jump from adorable to completely irresistable.

My only criticism is that this seemed like kind of a "filler" episode to give the boys a chance to do a little 4-part harmony. It sounded like Will spent a couple of months on the Acafellas, and the rest of the plot was kind of strung along to fit the bill. I'm still expecting great things from the show, but it would be nice if they would tighten things up a bit. Lots of great little moments, though...Sue and Emma's interaction at the car wash, Ken's "It makes my girlfriend crazy in her pants", Will's drunken mom, etc. I was a little taken aback by Quinn showing some backbone to Coach Sylvester. Where's the conflict going to come from now that we know that mohawk-guy (sorry...quick glance at IMDB reminds me that his name is Puck) and Quinn are both good singers and are performing with the glee gang?

Does anyone know the song that Vocal Adrenaline performed? And I've got to say that one of the cheerleaders (Brittany, the severe, silent blonde) is really growing on me...I couldn't take my eyes off of her in the car wash scene. I've always had a thing for disapproving ponytailed cheerleaders, I guess.

Many thanks! I have to watch it at home though...at work they want us to be *productive* and stuff.

I can see what you mean about the looseness. The character bits come at you fast and furious. Which is possibly necessary due to the number of characters, and the fact that they spend a large percentage of time the show giving us musical numbers. I suppose it adds a little to the surrealness of the show as well.

I liked Preggers a lot. A lot more characterization than in previous weeks, and I actually got a little choked up at Kurt coming out to his dad. I'm a sucker for blatant manipulation like that, but I thought it was really well done.

It was also a little refreshing to not have multiple vocal numbers. Tina's West Side Story song, and Rachel's Celine number seemed to fit right in where they needed to go, with Tina's being less over-produced.

The football stuff slayed me.