Jan
14
TV: About Last Night....Glee
We should always perhaps be sceptical when we are told that the latest US import to Irish screens is ‘a must see’ or ‘the hottest show on US TV’. We’ve been burnt that way before. Glee comes to us with both similar hype but also an impressive background. Piloted in the States in the summer of 2009, it has been nominated for four Golden Globes, including best comedy series. The premise is not an original one, a group of disaffected high school students come together under the inspirational leadership of one particular teacher and his Glee club, a song and dance project at odds with the general ethos of the student body.
It’s a storyline that we’ve seen a hundred times in kids and teenagers’ shows, yet Glee attempts to appeal to an adult audience while keeping that youthful energy. The miraculous thing is that it pretty much succeeds. On the surface, the show is very much in the High School Musical mould. There is a lot of singing and dancing, jocks beating up on nerds, the ineffectual headmaster and vacuous cheerleaders. Scratch a little deeper, however, and more subtle grown up themes appear. Teacher Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) has to balance the financial demands of his wife with his dedication to his students, quarter back and Glee Club member Finn leaves himself open to ridicule from his friends, student counsellor Emma Pillsbury hopelessly devoted to the unavailable Will and the talented Rachel bullied to the point of distraction. Even the supporting characters show a willingness to move outside the norm, including a paraplegic guitar player and an Asian American goth with a fake speech impediment.
The music – largely made up of well known hits – is fantastic, although something about the onscreen performances doesn’t quite work - losing a sense of reality with their perfect production and obvious lip syncing. However the sheer energy of the set pieces carries it through, as the cast rip into the likes of ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ and ‘Gold Digger’. We’re only in the early days here (and TV3’s decision to show the first episode alone before Christmas was an odd one) but the signs are that Glee could well develop into one of the quirkiest, most enjoyable hits of the year.
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