TV Review: Glee

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Fox showcased its critical darling Glee last night after American Idol, creating what may be the first mass audience preview of one of its fall shows. To be fair, pilot episodes don’t mean a series will be either good or bad. I remember being over the moon for Aaron Sorkin’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip at the end of episode one. And I remember wondering if I’d ever watch True Blood a second time after the weak first hour. I quickly cooled on Studio 60 and have had a thirst for True Blood as the show evolved.

Here’s hoping Glee, a undeniably uneven hour of television, is a True Blood and not a Studio 60.

Halfway through the preview episode, my roomie said that he thought a brunette cheerleader was hotter than the head cheerleader, a blond. My response: “It wouldn’t be cliché if the lead cheerleader was brunette.” Like all of creator Ryan Murphy’s other work (Nip/Tuck, the film Running With Scissors), Glee, at least in this first episode, wasn’t so much a revelation as it was a rehashing of old clichés with Murphy’s flash-over-substance spin.

The show follows high school Spanish teacher and former Glee club all star Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) as he takes over glee club when the previous instructor is canned for an inappropriate relationship with a student. He wants to show this motley crew of high school nobodies that they too can find glory in their club of glee. But they suck, and the school is focused on funding the Cheerios, a championship-winning cheer squad.

Schuester, however, believes in inspiring kids to reach their fullest potential, a trait his wife doesn’t appreciate when all she wants is to be able to shop at Pottery Barn. When a mysophobic colleague (and potential love interest?) suggest he recruits one of the popular kids to be in the club, Schuester convinces (through less than ethical methods) the school’s star quarterback to sing his heart out with kids in the sub-basement of the high school hierarchy.

Sure, the show sounds a lot like the bubblegum musical High School Musical, but it has much more in common with Election, both in its style of humor and manner of storytelling. The humor never rises to the leave of that Alexander Payne comedy, instead relying on one-dimensional caricatures to provide most of the humor.

While I expect the caricatures to turn into actual characters as the show progresses, I hope at least one stays just the way she is. Jane Lynch, who plays the drill sergeant Cheerios drill sergeant… err… coach, has the potential to be the show’s breakout star. Lynch has long been an unsung hero of American comedy and to see her perform here makes me expect great things for the show. My guess is she’s going to have the show’s best comedic moments (if they hire the writers to support her).

Beyond the dull attempts at sharp comedy, the show’s saving grace is the music, something that we could use more of as we get deeper into the series. Murphy’s style is surface level characters and biting satire, which is perfect for the musical genre. Just check out this clip of the glee kids singing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.”

Yeah, Murphy. More of that and you’ll have us hooked.