Premiere Watch '09: Glee

Glee:

"Show-

mance"

Since I blogged about Glee's pilot last spring, I'm going to do my official "premiere watch" review on its second episode, which was fantastic. I'm just glad this show is finally on the air after seeing the incessant promo ads for it all summer during SYTYCD.

Highlights and my thoughts:

• Cheerleader (to Will and Emma): "Get a room!"
• Sue calling the glee club Will's "island of misfit toys."
• They should really not let kids (or teachers) carry cups full of liquid around this school.
• Kurt: "No, it's the song. It's really gay."
• I am having a really hard time believing that "Freak Out" was a "crowd-pleaser" in 1993. That was the age of Nirvana for goodness sake.
• Kurt: "You need to call me before you dress yourself. You look like a Technicolor zebra."
• Rachel is wearing a turtle neck sweater and a cardigan at the same time. I think Kurt needs to turn his saucy fashion-critiquing tongue on her next.
• I love the show choir version of "Gold Digger."
• Will's got some fairly impressive dance moves.
• The matching of the audio of them singing to the video of them "singing" needs some help.
• Rachel: "The girl who was throwing up before me left that."
• The guidance counselor's brochures include "My Mom's Bipolar and She Won't Stop Yelling" and "So You Like Throwing Up."
• Will: "Hold on a second, Sue!"
  Sue: "I resent being told to hold onto anything, William. I will not be treated like a second-class citizen because of my gender."
• Terri just keeps getting better and better. Like, seriously, how has Will been able to stand her for this long?
• OMG! Finn ran over a mail man.
• Ok, the celibacy club's activities are so beyond wrong. Should there not be a teacher advisor/chaperone at this meeting?
• Personally, I don't see how "Push It" is any less embarrassing than "Freak Out." This production is giving me flashbacks to the dance scene at the end of Little Miss Sunshine. And I really don't think that any high-schoolers would react to this in any other way than vicious laughter.
• The best part of the production number was when Kurt smacked Finn's butt and Finn's reaction.
• Sue: "My first thought was that your students should be put into foster care."
• Principal: "You need new outfits. I got several flashes of panty from your group today and I'm not talking about the girls!"
• Ken: "They can't fire me because I'm a minority so I'll always be able to provide for you..."
• Finn: "Well, when I first joined, I thought you were kind of insane. You talk more than you should and, to be honest with you, I looked under the bed to make sure you weren't hanging out under there."
• Finn: "The cups are like the airplane cups."
• I'm a bit surprised that we got to Finn and Rachel kissing so quickly. I thought that would get strung out for much longer. And I realize that Quinn's a nightmare, but if she is Finn's girlfriend, shouldn't he not be kissing other people? Between this and the Will and Emma flirtation, it's like the message of this show is "nice guys cheat too." How uplifting.
• Shouldn't the doctor/ultrasound technician be a little more sympathetic to a woman having a hysterical pregnancy? Maybe call for a psych consult or something?
• Quinn and her back-ups are good. And they've got much more of a flair for choreography than the current glee clubbers.
• Quinn: "There is something going on between Finn and that thing! You saw how it was undressing him with its eyes!"
• How dumb is Will? They wouldn't know if Terri's baby is a boy or a girl yet.
• At least Terri had the decency to give up on the house.
• Was there really a disco revival in 1993?
• I'm not sold on the musical numbers when they're not well-integrated into the show (like when Rachel "practices"--with back-up singers and spotlights--just so she can sing a song that reflects her inner emotions). I'm totally okay with characters singing songs that reflect their situations in life, as long as the singing itself makes a little more sense in the context of the episode (like when Will sang "Gold Digger" during practice). Rachel's "Take a Bow" and Will's "Leaving on a Jet Plane" (in the extended pilot) just felt too heavy-handed for my taste. It is especially pushing it too far to have Rachel belting the song out in the middle of the hallway when no one else can hear her. That's too "conventional musical" for me.

Songs: "Le Freak," "Gold Digger," "Push It," "I Say a Little Prayer," and "Take a Bow"

"Premiere" Rating: 8.0/10

(photo: fox.com/glee)