Fox Network's one-hour musical dramedy Glee, set in the fictional William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio, has been touted by its producers as being in a genre of its own.
It's a good thing. Who would want another musical mess that brings many loony twists, but sadly not much glee, to its viewers? This overhyped production is uninspired, confusing and with a simple plot to boot.
The students who belong to the school's singing group or 'glee club' are weird, unattractive misfits. Supposedly, they're the losers. The winners are the jocks and the cheerleaders, called 'Cheerios': they're taller, blonder, permanently bronzed - due to a tanning booth located somewhere in the school - and constantly smooching in the hallways.
Will the talented but geeky members of the glee club ever attain winner status? Or, rather, can you bear to watch enough episodes to find out?
In the second show of its premiere season, the Glee group embraces a 'go-after-your-dreams' theme. However, the upbeat message is overridden by the show's attempt to be darker than the run-of-the mill high school drama.
Mr. Schuester, the young and attractive but creatively frustrated Spanish teacher who founded the Glee club, is temporarily kicked out when star Rachel doesn't think he can develop a winning choreography routine for an inter-school competition.
He goes on to create an acappella singing group with some of the other teachers, including the shop class instructor who, by-the-by, has sliced both thumbs off while woodworking and is so addicted to cough syrup that he will he's entered rehab before the episode is over.
The Glee club hires a renowned choreographer who viciously insults each member's appearance - pretty Rachel needs a nose job and one young man is "too tall" - only to be given the boot. He missed the point: the Glee members realise they're weird, but they're so hugely talented and they don’t need him.
Music should be the redeeming feature of Glee but it's not, because the viewer never gets a satisfying taste of the cast members' musical talents. Although it runs for a full hour, this week's episode had only one number that really showcased their singing stuff. It was a song by African-American Glee member Mercedes, about smashing in her boyfriend's car windows when he tells her he's in love with someone else. That was the most gleeful moment there was.
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