Glee

What I really liked about "Glee" in its first two seasons was that the characters and their situations were so easy to relate to, especially for someone like me (and many others, naturally) who went to a conservative, small-town school and never seemed to fit in. Despite the odd ridiculous moment or some bland covers of already bland songs, "Glee" became a true guilty pleasure, and I put the emphasis more on pleasure than on guilty. However, the whole premise of it involving a group of pupils at a high school would mean that it was never meant to last that long, and I do think it should have stopped once the main characters had left the school. Now the ridiculousness has become more and more pronounced, and I've stopped paying attention to the series. Sorry.

OK...so the plot line of the new Fox TV series "Glee" leaves a lot to be desired. In many instances, plot points from earlier episodes are ignored entirely in later episodes (like the mandate that all songs be about God or balloons after the club put on a sexed-up routine to "Push It" at a pep rally) and the story seems to be based more on recurring themes than a cohesive plot line. But who cares?! The real magic of the show lies in its two strong points: the characters and the music.

The characters are hilarious, and obviously a masterful fusion of great acting and clever writing. They are over the top, extreme, and purposefully cliché. Whenever any of the characters gets a section of internal dialogue in the show, it usually leaves me breathless with laughter.

The music is brilliant. Kudos to Fox for their continued clever use of iTunes that they started with American Idol. The cast covers songs from all genres and are unerringly original and 100% fun. I'm seriously impressed with all members of the cast. (Especially as it becomes apparent that ALL of the cast can sing, as Emma revealed in last week's episode). It makes me wish fervently that there had been a glee club in my high school.

So the plot is lacking...I really can't bring myself to care.

None of the characters seem to have any sort of consistency. They keep changing their personalities to suit the episode plot. Same with the story line. There is no overall coherence to what it happening. Every episode pushes and pulls the plot to suit that particular episode. The characters aren't likable. What motivated them is as yet not understood, neither can the audience understand how they call connect together. Besides dedicated fans to the actors, I doubt if anyone likes the show. The songs are just smoke and mirrors to cover up a weak script, story and characters. The way they keep adding new characters and new plot twists and obstacles seem a desperate way to keep the drama alive. The casting seem totally senseless, Lea Michelle most certainly does not come off as a wanna be diva or stuck up goody two shoes. All she portrays is a very annoying girl of below average IQ. Brittany seems to stupid to be true (considering the show is trying to keep it 'realist'). Sue's character seems to have holes in it than a sieve and Miss Pillsbury is another awful caricature! And Chris Colfer is so squinty and whiny at times its painful to watch!

I can just picture the creator, Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck) tossing ideas around with producers or writers or what-have-you and just saying "Let's do something happy." If this is the goal, "Glee" delivers.

With the combination of dreary times and warm weather "Glee" is just what the doctor ordered! Was the plot amazing? Not according to what we're used to. Shows these days seem to continually descend in to a deeper and deeper spiral of darkness. Don't get me wrong, I love it! Prickly characters are called "love-to-hate" for good reason, but there's a reason there is more than one category on the food pyramid. "Glee" is the perfect answer to a well- rounded entertainment diet.

At the very least "Glee" has set itself up to be a showcase for amazing talent including Lea Michele who rightfully earned a name for herself on Broadway with the hit "Spring Awakening" as Rachel Berry and newcomer Cory Monteith as Finn Hudson who may not be as talented as Michele, but was perfectly cast for the part. He does exactly what he's supposed to do which is to keep up with and support Michele who will send chills down your spine.

"Glee" seems like a familiar tale "The football player wants to sing and the unpopular girl also wants to sing!" but when was the last time we really saw this? Okay... disregard "High School Musical." This isn't "HSM." This is "HSM" done right--with real talent--and not actually a musical. The songs are all time-tested and well loved familiar tunes, i.e. Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" and the show isn't designed around the songs or for the songs like a musical... you'll know what I mean when you see it!

*Synopsis* A bright eyed and optimistic teacher, Will Schuester (played by Matthew Morrison) decides to revamp the Glee club. He dreams of making it something truly great around which the school can come together. From where we, the audience stand, he came into a glee club already filled with tremendous talent including Rachel Berry who dreams of fame and carving a niche for herself, but what was missing was a strong male lead. To do this Will (nefariously) recruits the star football player who finds himself right at home. *End Synopsis*

There may be moments in the pilot where the not-instant-fan may consider "I'll bet this moment was meant to make me laugh out loud... but I'm not," but I say to you that is not what this show is about. It's about the average... the conceivable, but if you and the people around you just wanted to sing and were good at it too. Most importantly it's a showcase just meant to keep you smiling.

Even if characters were to, in the course of time in the sometimes unpredictable television world, jump into bed with each other or perform a murder, I take comfort in the feeling this show will not be about that. It will be about happy entertainment with an "I wish I could buy the world a Coke" attitude.

Because this show does not have the (ironically) familiar twists, dips, flips, turns and drama other shows offer, I feel the logical grade to assign this show would have to be a B- for being somewhat "undeveloped" by modern standards. (Nobody has been abused to speak of yet.) However, despite the undeniable likelihood this show will never be listed in my top five, even for the year, I can pretty much guarantee it will be the show which I most look forward to watching out of any other. For this reason, "Glee" gets an A+ in my heart and I hope to form a "Glee" club of my own taking place Tuesday nights on my living room couch.

Glee is certainly a welcome summer booster shot of summer fun.

Glee is a great drama/comedy show to binge. Seasons 1-3 were really fun to watch and kept me interested, but 4-6 really went downhill. It was still a fun watch, just not the same quality and character development. Still worth a watch for the first 3 seasons and the great music!