Glee Review

If you watched Kris Allen  and Adam Lambert duke it out on  American Idol on May 19, 2009, then stayed tuned to Fox you might have caught the pilot episode of the next great television comedy-drama, Glee.   If you didn't, well, here's what you missed.

The problem with a lot of "dramedys" is they either get too cutesy or too serious, or they have characters that make you say, "who cares?", or they just plain try too hard.  Glee is guilty of none of those.  Created by  Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan and set in a fictional high school (William McKinley High) in Lima, Ohio, Glee focuses on the glee club, usually considered beneath the lowest rung of the high school social ladder.

The show opens with the cheer-leading squad, coached by Sue Sylvester (the always wonderful to watch Jane Lynch) who admonishes her "Cheerios" at the end of their routine with, "You think this is hard?  Try being water-boarded! That's hard!".  Which is one of the great things about this show.  The humor leans a little to the dark side.

Next we meet Will Shuester, Spanish teacher and dreamer, married five years to Jill.  Saying she's demanding is like saying Rush Limbaugh "leans a little right".  She wants Will to quit teaching and join an accounting firm so they can have more money to support the family they are trying to start and her addiction to Pottery Barn.  All Will wants to do is lead the Glee Club to its former glory.  And he gets his chance.

Too bad for him, Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) favors the "Cheerios" because they've been featured on ESPN.  He follows the money and there's not enough to support the cheerleaders AND glee club.  So, Will has to agree to pay the school $60 a month to keep the thing going.

Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays) is the school guidance counselor and resident germaphobe.  She also has a crush on Will.  So, germs paralyze her with fear and she wants a married man.  Oh, and the football coach wants her.

Then there are the students who sign up for glee club.  Rachel  Berry (Lea Michele) is uber talented and insanely driven.  As a result, she's abused by the "popular" kids in-spite of being pretty dang hot.  Finn Hudson (Cory Montieth) is the school's star quarterback with the obligatory cheerleader girl friend.  Girlfriend sends mixed signals however.  In the middle of making out she says, "Let's pray".  Oh, and Finn winds up in glee club as the result of being framed and blackmailed by Will.  He too, is uber talented, but doesn't really understand that.  He and Rachel are, early on, dubbed the stars of the club.

Also on board are Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) as a gay soprano, Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale) the paraplegic electric guitar player and Mercedes Jones (Amber Riley) as the Beyonce diva wanna-be.

Will tries to take this eclectic group of supposed "tone-deaf acne factories" and mold them into an ensemble able to compete for the state title and relevance.  To do so he will have to fight Figgins (who doesn't care), Sylvester (who is just evil) and the popular kids, you know the cheerleaders and jocks.

In an attempt to inspire them, Will takes the club on a field trip to see last years regional champions the Carmel High Choir, Vocal Adrenelene.  Massive failure, as, what appears to be a group of professionals perform an inspired song choice, I think, Amy Winehouse's Rehab.

Soon Will finds out his wife is pregnant, Finn gets found out by his jock buddies and both face hard choices.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Glee features a likable, enthusiastic cast of teens and adults.  Some of the characters are stereotypical but then, after 50+ years of television, there is no such thing as a true original anymore.  Like acerbic wit?  Got it.   Like feel good moments?  Got 'em.  Like quirky, likable and relatable characters?  Got 'em.   The show is well written and the humor, well it's often biting, something lacking in a lot of comedies on today's TV.  What really drives this show though is the musical numbers and what the show may lack at times in originality is more than made up for there.  These kids are really good singers and their performances are electric.

There's an excellent mix of songs, from You're The One that I Want, to Respect, to Where is the Love from Oliver!, to I Kissed a Girl, to On My Own from Les Miserables. And, if after the finale of Journey's Don't Stop Believing, you aren't smiling AND Believin', you are one cold, hard SOB.  Glee returns in September.  I can't wait.  GRADE:A+   (If you haven't see it, you can watch the pilot at Hulu.com)