I'm not (too) embarrassed to say it: I'm excited about Fox's new show, Glee. It's like High School Musical, but with a modicum of self-awareness. Plus the songs are good. I mean, Glee has Journey! Right there in the pilot!
No, but seriously, I don't get the hubub over High School Musical; it brings nothing new to the table. High School dramady has a long and venerable tradition, and HSM picks out one theme from that tradition and gives an overly-earnest and yawn-worthy treatment of it. Boo.
Glee, on the other hand, doesn't seem nearly as constrained as HSM. It covers the same theme--finding your place in High School--but it does it with some distance and some twists. The underdog female lead, for whom we're no doubt supposed to root, is kinda crazy, and not in a good way. The high school quarterback who just wants to sing comes off as more hapless than heroic.
High school dramady has seen better days. My generation (that is: kids who are now in college or recent graduates of college) have had pretty shitty movies. We've seen American Pie and all of its 400 sequels. We've seen John Tucker Must Die and a host of like-minded crapfests. Television has really been he refuge of decent HS dramady; though it's almost always been canceled to soon (Freaks and Geeks? Veronica Mars?)
But there's hope. Nick and Norah's Infinate Playlist was silly, but not altogether terrible (No Clueless, but no 10 Things I Hate About You, either), Juno, hipster backlash aside, wasn't bad either. And, let's not forget Superbad--a gem in a dung heap if ever there was.
Glee, like all good HS dramady manages to take on the themes of its genre while maintaining distance from them--recognize its place in its tradition while having a little fun.
It's on tonight. But, for those of you (college students, I'm looking at you) without TV's you can see it up on Hulu here.
And now, for your pleasure, some enjoyable moments:
Rachel [the diva]: Mr. Schuester, do you have any idea how ridiculous it is to give the lead solo in "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat" to a boy in a wheelchair?
Artie [the boy in a wheelchair]: I think Mr. Shoe's using irony to enhance the performance.
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