3 out of 5

Director: songs

Written after season 2

I was in a constant state of retching when High School Musical was the gab o’ the week. So forgive me for brushing Glee aside as happy-dappy singalong nonsense when it first arrived. …But that doesn’t mean the show doesn’t stoop to stretching things out over a season… A vague grasp of Glee does, generally, give an accurate summation of the plot: a glee club at high school sings a smattering of songs for the American Idol crowd and this gets mixed with My So Called Life drama of the week storylines. Thankfully, Glee is saved by several things: 1. The performances aren’t empty. Whether these kids are seasoned performers or not, the writers/creators did a good job of creating full characters, matching actors to those characters, and then matching song styles to those characters. So when a song is sung, whether it directly relates to that week’s plot or not, it feels like the actor really means it when singing it. Which then leads to the writing: There are a lot of round edges here, and then some stuff thrown in to update it to modern crack-slinging american high schoolers, but the writing is smart. And funny, surprisingly funny. As a bonus we get a full story involving the teachers and staff, which helps to bring the environment alive. 3. Lastly, the show just feels good. It’s nice to have something wholesome to watch that doesn’t feel like ABC family and Glee does a good job of that. …Until the 2nd season. Which is what brings it down to three stars, unfortunately. 2nd season introduces less originality with songs, less plot-related reasons for songs (they just break out into ’em on occasion), less sensible presentation for songs (in Glee club they have millions of dollars to throw away on sets for one song, apparently), and more melodramatic tears between characters. In other words, season 2 became a regular TV show, just with songs. But do your doubting self a favor and at least stream season 1.