Glee: Open Yourself to Joy
FOX pilot delivers on promise of Glee, thanks in part to The Swingle Singers. And, nobody bursts into song (hooray).
Jenna Ushkowitz, Chris Colfer, Kevin McHale, Amber Riley, and Lea Michele in the pilot to the new FOX musical series 'Glee' -
FOX
Even with all the problems the much-hyped Glee pilot for FOX had, if you "open yourself up to joy" even a little bit, it's hard not to walk away smiling from this introduction. First and foremost, there's lots and lots of music, and more importantly, there's nobody bursting into song -- a fear I'm sure plenty of the musical-phobic had coming in. (Scroll below for full episode.) Ryan Murphy had lost a bit of goodwill of late with where he's taken Nip/Tuck, so my fears were double going in, and many of the plot problems that he conveniently ignores in other projects are present here (the character Mercedes seems the most egregious so far -- "Hell to the Naw!"). Series "heroine" Rachel (Lea Michele of Spring Awakening fame) serves as a sort of voice for Murphy, and her monologues try a bit too hard, perhaps, to make his point for him, like this line: "Nowadays being anonymous is worse than being poor. Fame is the most important thing in our culture now." And even if you didn't see her as Tracy Flick from Election, the soundtrack pushes you back in that direction, cleverly using "Flight of the Bumblebee" repeatedly with her on screen to remind you of that famously bee-laden film.
Elsewhere, the character Finn (Cory Monteith) provides a non-theater background to the mix, giving those of us not enamored with musicals a character to identify with -- allowing us to still stand in the back with arms crossed (and nod with approval). Murphy, for his part, seems conscious of us slackers in the back and pulls a bit of glee from us by having Rachel exclaim at one point, "There is nothing ironic about show choir!" UPDATE: Music from the series debuted on iTunes today at #2. Nothing ironic about that. Favorite line comes from the football coach: "Last time they held down one of their teammates and shaved off his eyebrows because he watched Grey's Anatomy." Playlist: Glee - Pilot (Ep 1.01) drake lelane
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