Last Tuesday Fox premiered a new series, Glee. Set in an Ohio high school where the jocks and the cheerleaders rule the school, Glee tells the story of a Spanish teacher who dreams of restoring the school’s glee club to the glory it had when he was a student. At the outset this sounds like it could make for some pretty good television. I’ve always been a fan of the musical comedy and despite the work of Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Dollhouse) popular series in this genre have always been hard to find. Unfortunately for Glee, this series might not be one I’ll continue watching.
My biggest issue with the series is the character’s talent. Simply put, it’s completely unrealistic. Where on Earth is a school with at least 9 (so far) Broadway class singers? There has been absolutely no time devoted to the development of the kid’s talent. Where are the rejects, the painful auditions? If there’s supposed to ANY question of their ability to win at nationals, talent has nothing to do with it. It looks like the directer wanted to create yet another show about high school, but with musical numbers, not a show about high school musicians. [Edited: The cast does do the vocals.]
Given that, it looks like all the development that’s going to take place in this show is going to be about the prima donna’s learning to shut it, the jock getting over what other people think of him and the husband realizing his marriage is doomed. If you want a musical comedy about the music, go watch The Sister Act.
The show does have some things going for it. Jane Lynch plays the positively evil cheerleading coach. She’s fun to watch whether she’s winning or losing. Also, the forbidden love between Will and Emma is much more interesting than the spiraling failure that is his marriage. The writer’s are probably going to drag it on for at least the rest of the season, but I say he should divorce her before he really does get her pregnant.
Will I keep watching? I’ve proven to myself time and again that I can’t stop watching a show even if it’s terrible, and Hulu makes it so easy. I’ll give it a few more episodes before my final verdict, but it’s not looking good.
Quick note Reilly; I think the actors actually do sing their parts. Lea Michelle, who plays the “prima donna” was on Broadway in Spring Awakening, I’m pretty sure I read an interview with the jock about how he found singing difficult, but really enjoyed it.
I do agree about the marriage though. It really stinks.
I stand corrected. Thanks for doing the research I obviously didn’t.
The following comments are based on having only seen the pilot. Figured I’d say them here than in a blog post later tonight =)
Pros:
- It’s a fun concept, and it’s kind of about music
- The pacing is quick with amusing cutaways, sort of like ‘Scrubs’ or ‘Arrested Development’.
- The show doesn’t take itself seriously.
- The actors sing their own music.
Cons:
- The show doesn’t really bring anything fresh to the table. Besides the two shows mentioned above, its vanity reminds me of ‘Gossip Girls’, and we’ve seen most of these superficial conflicts before in shows and movies (e.g. High School Musical, American Pie).
- The main characters’ acting is stiff, dry, and at times painful. I feel as if they act how high school students would act onstage in a production, not in real life (but it’s unintentional, not clever).
- Most of the cast doesn’t evoke sympathy, so there’s nobody to cheer on as they confront their problems.
- In fact, most of them aren’t just annoying – they’re downright aggravating.
My overall sentiments about the show echo my thoughts about Will and Terri’s doomed marriage. Of course, you’re *supposed* to secretly want him to end up with Emma, but why have him *married* to such a vain person in the first place? Using the cookie cutter romantic comedy formula, they should at most be dating so it doesn’t seem like such a moral conflict to wish them apart (High school sweethearts? Seriously?).
Instead, what you have is Will, a sufficiently likeable protagonist that you can’t really feel sorry for, pursuing wayward goals that look good on paper but seem too exaggerated and unrealistic in execution. Just like the show.
…I’m going to give it my usual two-episode watch before I make any decisions, but I seriously can’t see how this will keep my attention. There are better shows that have debuted recently.
Like ‘Leverage’.
“Over the hour of broadcast, the Glee pilot drew an average of 10 million viewers. It began with 12.518 million, dropping after the first half hour from first place to third, retaining only 8.917 million viewers…”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glee_(TV_series)#U.S._ratings