TV Review: Glee

I’m a sucker for musical numbers and tv shows set in high school, so it didn’t take a massive marketing campaign to make me watch Fox’s new show Glee. Plus, creator Ryan Murphy was also behind the delightfully campy high school satire Popular. In other words, my expectations were high.

What I liked:

• Most of the characters, even though some weren’t more than caricatures. Matthew Morrison as Will Schuester, the glee club director, played his character with the right amount of eagerness and trepidation and Lea Michele (Rachel) is the perfect overachieving high school diva. I can’t wait to see more of the always amusing Jane Lynch as the cheer coach and Jamie Mays as an OCD teacher.
• The musical numbers were fabulous. C’mon, “Rehab” and “Don’t Stop Believin’”? Pure gold. And from the previews, it looks like we’re gonna see “Gold Digger” and lots more. I also loved the interstitial music played between scenes and when introducing Rachel.
• That they weren’t afraid to be a bit edgy, especially with the big American Idol lead-in. Waterboarding, drug dealing, wheelchair jokes, etc.

What I didn’t like:

• The pacing seemed a bit awkward, especially at the beginning.
• Some of the characters are one-sided so far. Cory Monteith as Finn, the jock-turned-singer is really boring. I really just wanted him to go back to the football team for good. The glee club director’s wife seems like the typical neurotic, demanding sitcom wife. And don’t get me started on the other glee clubbers or the football team. But, since all pilots struggle with needing to introduce a lot of characters in little time, I’ll wait to see how all the characters and relationships play out.

Bottom line:
I’ll definitely give the show a shot when it returns in the fall. The preview clips were really compelling and at the least, we’ll get a few entertaining musical numbers each week.

May 20th, 2009  ♥  Reviews, Television  ♥  1 Comment »