Characters & Plot
Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) is a 30-something Spanish teacher at a small town high school. Former popular kid and former Glee Club star, he is a little far away from his glory days. He is married to his high school girlfriend/former cheerleader Terri (Jessalyn Gilsig), who is self-absorbed & materialistic. They want a baby and she is damned if she will make any sacrifices.
Will wants something more out of his life and he wants his students to have more soul. So he decides to take over the Glee Club, despite the stingy headmaster (Iqbal Theba)’s budget cuts. Unfortunately the club attracts all the social “losers” and not any of the popular students.
The First Glee Members
Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) is an ambitious girl intent on becoming a star. Unfortunately, she is considered scum at her school’s social ladder, often mocked by the cheerleader and the football team. Her singing gets her in, although she is still hated by a lot of people.
Mercedes (Amber Riley) seems to have the voice and the figure to become the next Queen Latifah, only she is not happy sharing the spotlight with Rachel.
Kurt (Chris Colfer) is thrown into the garbage bin everyday at school since he is well too much into fashion, beauty and is gay in every stereotypical way.
Artie (Kevin McHale) is subject to ridicule because he is in a wheelchair. But he can sing and play the guitar, so he does belong to the glee.
Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) is also a misfit, concerned with girl power and all that.
The Anti- Glee, Coach Sue Sylvester and Popular Kids
Cheerleaders and football players are the popular kids and they despise the glee club. This serves Sue (Jane Lynch)’s purpose since she is used to being the star teacher-coach of the school. Her office is full of trophies, her requests demand the school budget and she is more than ego-centric and narcissistic.
Will realizes that the Glee club won’t stand a chance if he can’t get at least one popular kid in, so he tricks the quarterback Finn (Cory Monteith) into joining the club. This annoys his cheerleader girlfriend Quinn (Dianna Agron), especially when Finn starts enjoying the club and Rachel’s company a lot more than he expected. So when the glee members find a way to lure other kids in, Sue decides to use her cheerleaders as spies, to destroy Glee from the inside.
The OCD –freak Emma, Other Teachers & Adventures
Emma (Jayma Mays) is the young guidance counselor with the hugest crush on Will. Will also seems to be developing feelings for her, much to the discontent of the football coach Ken Tanaka (Patrick Gallagher), who wants Emma to himself. Then there is the recently fired Sandy (Stephen Tobolowsky) who got fired for being a little too friendly towards his male students…
Episodes, Genres, Awards
Glee is a weird and refreshing mixture of comedy, drama and musical. It is not entirely a musical but we get a lot of singing and dancing during performances, rehearsals and occasional reactions where the characters need to express themselves as if they are already a star shooting their videos…
The cast is pretty cool and most of them can sing and dance. Jane Lynch’s perfectly annoying Sue earned her an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2010. The show won 2 more Emmys in 2010.
The show also won Golden Globe for Best Comedy/Musical Series in 2010. Matthew Morrison was nominated for Best Actor in 2010 and he is nominated again this year. Lea Michele (for her character Rachel) and Chris Colfer (for Kurt) are also nominated for the 2011 Golden Globes.
Verdict
Glee is rated 8.5 on IMDB. I started watching due to the Glee addiction of one of my close friends. I think it that it is a bit overrated. I’ll hand it to the creators- it is original and fun, sometimes realistic and often bordering on satire. The soundtrack entertains me more when more rock is involved as opposed to the current popular stuff.
But I do have a limit when it comes to musical and satirical comedies. I mean I love Grease and Hairspray as movies, but I didn’t watch Grease 2 and I really wouldn’t be interested in watching Hairspray 2, 3 and whatever, had there been series.
And I am more into rock operas, so my favorite musical tends to be Rent. And Glee’s storyline takes its originality from its format and not necessarily the characters or events. And when Matthew Morrison acts like Justin Timberlake, it does get on my nerves.
So yes, Glee is fun. But I recommend slow doses and a tolerance for today’s music as well as developing a soft spot for musicals. I am not Glee’s biggest fan but so far I watched 6 episodes. I will let you know if the show grows on me more. But if I am not a major fan by the end of season 1, I am quitting. And it would help if the episodes were a little shorter…
Call me spoiled, but I just got too much used to getting mixed genres from my shows and a good mixture of comedy/drama doesn’t really cut it for me anymore. After all, my crime shows give me thriller, mystery, crime, good jokes, a great soundtrack, drama and romance all in one. Watch out for my next review on Bones- which tends to be one of those addictive and highly entertaining crime shows.
Fun Notes:
If you want to watch Stephen Tobolowsky in a totally different- I mean straight and serious- role, you can watch him as a crooked FBI agent in 1990’s Bird on a Wire. Granted, Bird on a Wire is a romantic/comedy/adventure starring Mel Gibson & Goldi Hawn but Tobolowsky’s role is serious.
Alias’s incredibly poker-faced, double-agent Jack Bristow , a.k.a Victor Garber, makes an appearance in the episode Acafellas, 3rd episode of Season 1. He plays Will’s father.I only wish he guest-starred more often.
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