Glee: A Joyful Noise

Glee:

"Pilot"

Glee, a new show that is on FOX's fall schedule, debuted its pilot episode this spring to give everyone a sneak peak. After seeing many raves from critics, I decided to give the show a look. I thought the pilot was pretty good, though I'm not sure that I was as infatuated as many of the critics seemed to be. The show does display a good deal of promise, and I'll definitely watch future episodes.

Ok, I'll admit it, the real reason I watched Glee was to see Charlie from Kyle XY acting like a half-decent person. Boy, is he cute when he's not cheating on Amanda with girls who put out...

The aspect of Glee that I liked best was its witty banter (examples of which are coming up in the highlight list). The aspect I liked least about Glee was its harping on the importance of living your life passionately and following your dreams--a moral that was not-so-subtly reinforced with the big "Don't Stop Believing" production number. (As far as I'm concerned, bring on more irreverent selections like "Rehab" and fewer earnest ones like "Don't Stop Believing" and "You're the One that I Want.") The didactic nature of it all was getting kinda old.

My suggestion for future episodes would be that they make sure that the other members of the glee club are featured more in the musical numbers. The more Finn/Rachel duets we watch, the more Glee starts looking like High School Musical. And that's not quite the goal the show should be aiming for.

Highlights and my observations:

• Aww, they threw the kid with the jacket from the newest Marc Jacobs collection in the trash. That's not cool.
• Hey, look, it's Elle's dad from Heroes. He's so much better in this. (Big shocker there.)
• Will's wife won't let him have $60 a month? Who is she, Kate Gosselin? (Sorry, couldn't help that one.)
• I love this "Mr. Cellophane" kid (Kurt).
• They do have kids with some serious pipes at this school. It shouldn't be too hard to revive glee club.
• Lol, about Rachel "not knowing" which of her two gay dads is her biological father.
• Oh, ok, they just have these five kids. The choreography's not quite there, but at least they sound good. Why does glee club even need choreo anyway?
• Rachel: "Mr. Schuester, do you have any idea how ridiculous it is to give the lead solo in 'Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat' to a boy in a wheelchair?"
• Principal Figgins: "What is it with you and this club? You've got only five kids, and one of them's a cripple!"
• Ohh, who is this lady playing Schuester's wife? She looks familiar. Ok, I looked it up and she was on Heroes (playing Claire' biological mother), so that would explain the animosity that I instantly felt towards her.
• Mrs. Schuester: "But, Will, I'm on my feet four hours a day, three times a week here!"
• Sandy: "It wasn't easy though, being dismissed--and for what I was accused of! My long distance girlfriend in Cleveland nearly broke up with me. ...Oh, God, don't you love a good monkey?"
• Lol, drug-dealing Sandy is taking a page out of Walter White's playbook.
• Sue (cheerleading coach): "High school is a caste system. Kids fall into certain slots. Your jocks, your popular kids: penthouse. The invisibles and the kids who play live action druids and trolls out in the forest: bottom floor."
  Will: "And where to the glee kids fall?"
  Sue: "Sub-basement."
• Ken (football coach): "I can't see any of my guys joining glee club. Last month, they held down one of their teammates and shaved off his eyebrows, just because he watches Grey's Anatomy."
• The football players signed up someone named "Butt Lunch" on the glee club sign-up sheet.
• Will: "You'll get kicked out of school. You'll lose your football scholarship."

  Finn: "Wait, I have a football scholarship? To where?"
• Aww, poor Finn. Framed and backmailed into joining the glee club.
• Why did Will marry this woman? I am at a complete loss.
• Ah, so he was the high school "golden boy" and she was head cheerleader. Even so, that is no explanation/excuse for marrying this psycho woman.
• Finn lying to his teammate, saying that his mom had prostate surgery.
• I love the other school's glee club singing "Rehab." They're not doing a great job of lip-syncing though.
• Whoa, Finn's one teammate (the one who looked up that chicks don't have prostates) looks like he's at least 30. Or 40...
• Um, is crazy wife really pregnant or is this just her way to get him to quit the teaching job?
• Kurt: "You nailed all my lawn furniture to my roof."
• Rachel didn't out do herself with this choreography. It frankly looks like there's no choreo going on at all.
• I think they're going to need to better utilize the four other members of this group if they're going to win Nationals.
• The previews for the episodes coming up in the fall made them look better than this pilot.

(photo: FOX.com)