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.