I crawled into bed at 9 p.m. last night with my laptop and a box of tissues feeling pretty pathetic, but by 9:20 p.m. I had pretty much forgotten that I had a head cold and couldn’t breath properly because Glee (on FOX for those with TVs and Hulu for those who can’t stick to a normal schedule) is just that over-the-top awesome. After finally losing all hope that Gossip Girl would ever return to the ridiculous levels of word sparring that made me love it, I think I have a replacement, folks, and the jokes are even arts related! Also, hello a cappella transition music (did I just hear Mozart’s Requiem slide into a Journey classic?), not to mention the dancing footballers!
And yes, it’s corny and unrealistic, but possibly the show’s most ingenious hook is that it reminds us all of how we lip synced to pop tunes in our bedrooms to deal with the everyday dramas of high school while fantasizing that the whole school was our audience. In Glee‘s case, for better and worse, everyone really is watching.
I couldn’t believe that my fellow AJ bloggers weren’t already in on this high school musical, and indeed sounds like Chloe Veltman is also ready for her audition.
I’ve had more than one conversation about this show with other musicians whose distaste runs from mildly disliking it to outright hatred. Quite a few people seem genuinely worried that its level of camp and (honestly) pretty mean portrayal of high school could be bad PR for school music. They reason that the arts are already on thin ice, and showing music in the schools as an eight-person activity that polarizes the entire student body will give a very wrong impression.
What do you think — legitimate concern, or is it just the opposite (good PR for arts programs)? Or does everyone just need to lighten up?