Guilty Pleasures: Glee

OK, I admit it.  I’m a sucker for musicals.  You don’t even know.  I think it must be in my gay genes or something, but I’m not particularly proud of it.  I’m not really ashamed of it either, though.  Musicals are odd things really.  I mean, musicals aren’t very realistic when someone bursts into song about how much they love the person they’re talking to or about the weather.  But there’s a certain suspension of disbelief that we lend musicals.  We just go with it and I wonder if being in a culture that raises children on Disney musicals has something to do with that.

Glee, the new show about high school show choir on Fox, airs Wednesday nights at 9 p.m.  and looks to be pretty fabulous so far.  The pilot aired last May to a pretty sizeable audience and as one of the first new shows to start airing this fall, I imagine Glee will gather a pretty quick following.

Not only does the show have great music in it, it’s also one of those musicals that makes sense because the characters are supposed to be singing.  It’s show choir!  It’s also got a quirky, awkward feel to it and it definitely speaks to everyone who went through high school.  The star quarterback doubles as one of the stars of show choir, which probably wouldn’t have happened when I was in school — the “Old” in my name is pretty apt — but who knows with kids these days.

Glee stars Matthew Morrison as Will Schuester, the Spanish teacher who also oversees show choir.  Morrison hasn’t really had a leading role in anything yet, but he’s endearing and easy on the eyes.  The show also stars Jane Lynch of “Best in Show” and “Role Models” as the high school’s Spirit Squad coach who is sort of Schuester’s nemesis.  Lynch is always hilarious in anything she does and it’s good to see her get another chance to shine on screen.

So Glee has a lot of things going for it: good actors, great music, a theme that everyone can relate to.  We’ll see where it goes, but you should check it out if you haven’t seen the pilot yet.