Hopefully Gleeful

There were a few things about this week’s premiere of the new show Glee that didn’t thrill me. The premise still seems to lend itself far more readily to a movie than a full-length TV show, and I’m having a hard time imagining how the triumph of a high school Glee Club spins itself out into a full-length, densely plotted season of television. On soap opera high school shows like Gossip Girl, there’s a predetermined story in the will-they-won’t-they of the lead characters, but the surrounding story is far more open to surprise twists, unexpected hook-ups, and intrigue. On episodic high school shows from days of yore (I’m looking at you, Boy Meets World), something bad would happen, it would resolve, and then the whole thing would start over.

My concern about a show like Glee is that everything seems predetermined. It’s not just that the main characters will eventually get together and be happy, and thus require a new conflict to stew about, it’s that every aspect of the premise has its inevitable satisfactory end already built in. The Glee Club director will figure out his marriage is unhappy, break up with his wife, and then get together with the guidance counselor. The wife will then get together with the gym teacher, who is clearly more aware of his role as a provider (which is obviously what she wants). And of course, the Glee Club will eventually triumph over the Cheerios, going on to win Nationals and although they may not attain school-wide popularity, they’ll learn to love themselves in spite of their quirks. The end.

Glee Club vs. Cheerleaders - the epic struggle continues

Which is not to say that the show has to be that way. I loved the pilot, thought the second episode was strong, and will certainly keep watching, if for no other reason than I am a giant sucker for enthusiastically choreographed song-and-dance numbers.* Plus, Jane Lynch is hilarious. But I would love nothing more than to discover that they have a different place to take me than the ending we can all see coming a mile away. At the moment, the only plotline that looks like it will develop outside the pilot premise is the faked-pregnancy plot, which after the success of Baby Mama and the disastrous Lindsay Lohan debacle Labor Pains, I hope we can all agree is no longer funny or interesting. One step in the right direction would be to further develop the other members of the Glee Club, so that the group was more than just two main characters and a handful of stereotypes. Were I writing this show, I might also consider the inclusion of a third club to break up the good vs. evil, cheerleaders vs. glee club dynamic, because that polarity doesn’t easily lead to complicated, thoughtful plot scenarios.

Glee Club director, guidance counselor, (brilliant, hilarious) cheerleading coach

In spite of my trepidations, though – I like Glee. I like its odd mixture of snark and sincerity, I like that it doesn’t look or sound like anything else on television right now, and at the end of the day, I will always like a talented, heartfelt performance of 80s power ballads. I can only hope that as the show goes on, I’ll be able to like it without the nagging sense that I’m enjoying it despite my better critical judgment.

*Strangely, this weakness only exists in the context of fictional stories, and does not translate over into any of the many singing or dancing reality show extravaganzas. Take your American Idols and So You Think You Can Dances, and leave me my Rogers and Hammerstein musical any day of the week.