is a new musical comedy on FOX that follows a band of misfits in a high school glee club as they struggle to win the acceptance of their peers, as well as a national performing arts competition. It also features drama but seems more favorable to the comedy side of things.
The show takes place at a fictional Ohio high school. All the characters are pretty stereotypical and do not do anything surprising. The way every character devoutly sticks to their pre-assigned role is almost off-putting; the characters come off as one dimensional and stiff. However, the cast is put together well and even though the characters are uninspired, the actors are talented enough to pull it off, but just barely.
It is painfully obvious which one is the “edgy rocker,” which is the “fashionista,” and so on. The cheerleaders always wear their midriff-bearing uniforms, even in class. These characters do nothing except personify their stereotypes. It’s all part of ’s post-modern way of poking fun at high school and at itself.
The colors are really bright and everything is just barely over the top. There are many -style flashbacks, so whenever something in the past is mentioned, expect a flashback. It is a cool little device that keeps the show from stagnating. Every scene transition features a capella music fitting for such a show, in that it’s more than a little ridiculous and heavy-handed.
Traditionally glee clubs are all-male clubs that sing songs called glees. A glee is one step above a drinking song and about as classy, but in harmony. In the case of , perfecting dance steps and worrying about costumes while singing top 40 hits definitely stretches the definition.
Each member of the glee club states several times that the group is lame and the members are losers. The members make it seem like if you are a loser then you belong in the glee club, and suddenly every loser has plenty of musical talent.
For not much reason, the whole school can apparently be gathered together for a performance by these self-proclaimed losers. Matching costumes come out of thin air, lights and sound work perfectly despite no technical rehearsal and no one makes mistakes. People would really only think they are losers if they could not deliver with their performances, but they do. For all their success, they have a lot of trouble finding new members.
Actress and comedian Jane Lynch as the head coach of the cheerleading squad is amazing and hilarious as usual. Her goal is to crush the glee club because it took part of her dry-cleaning budget. She sends in two cheerleaders to infiltrate and bring it down from the inside. They join the group of self-proclaimed misfits and they, like all students at this high school, have talent. While the rest of the show is over the top to get laughs, Lynch’s exaggerations are perfectly believable and still very funny.
Despite some shortfalls, has a lot of heart and is unlike any other show around. The characters just need to be a little more interesting. The story is involving, and there are some fun songs.
The show was created by Ryan Murphy (), so it is in good hands. has a lot of potential, but could easily fall into familiar ruts and run into the gutter.