Glee: A Show For Geeks Of All Ages

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Written by Javier DavidcloseAuthor: Javier E. David Name: Javier David
Email: darkskinthoroughbred@gmail.com
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About: See Authors Posts (7) on October 14, 2009

Six episodes deep into the growing phenomenon called “Glee,” more than a few critics (and even regular viewers) are scratching their heads over the enduring popularity of this quirky comedic drama.

By all rights, the show – premised on a fledgling group of high school misfits trying to qualify for a statewide singing competition – should be classified as a campy misfire that shouldn’t have survived its second airing. While funny and entertaining, Glee is hardly flawless. The story lines, set at fictional McKinley High School in Central Ohio, are often wafer-thin and character situations notable largely for their improbability.

Yet the show has an undeniable infectiousness and guilty pleasure quotient, and it’s not entirely hard to fathom why. Within all adults, there dwells an incurably geeky teen utterly lacking in athletic ability or Alpha male/girl brazenness. Some of us were shy or overweight, had bad eyesight or brittle bones. Our lack of popularity or social skills often forced us to seek new friends in band, choir, debate society or (as I will freely confess in my case) math club.

However, “Glee” speaks to the amiable loser in all of us. Viewers are treated to the likes of Rachel Berry, the talented yet arrogant and borderline neurotic diva wanna-be; Mercedes Jones, the ‘sassy black girl’ with a set of pipes that can blow the doors off the barn; Quinn Fabray, the mean-girl cheerleader; and her hapless boyfriend Finn Hundson, the football team captain who doubles as a Glee Club member. Watching them shuttle between auditions and sundry activities, it’s hard not to wonder whether either of these students ever attend classes.

The show’s most humorous moments stem from the conflict between instructor Will Schuester, who is struggling to prepare the Glee Club to compete at the statewide level, and Sue Sylvester, an androgynous, media-loving cheerleading instructor who schemes like she sleeps with Sun Tsu or Machiavelli tucked under her pillow at night. Mr. Schuester’s professional struggles are augmented by marital strife with wife Terri, and the mutual attraction between he and a lovelorn guidance counselor, Emma Pilsbury.

And “Glee” is clearly benefiting from burgeoning pop-culture import (not to mention shameless cross-marketing). Songs that have been featured on the show have exceeded 1 million downloads on iTunes; a soundtrack is scheduled for release on November 3rd.

“Fame” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083412/) it most certainly isn’t, but “Glee” is a rollicking pastiche of “American Idol” and “Beverly Hills 90210” (another FOX high school drama gone too soon). It engages its audience with its quirky sensibilities and surprisingly entertaining musical renditions of contemporary chart-toppers, even if it traffics in well-trodden high school stereotypes and romantic entanglements galore.

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