Glee - Page 2

Re: Glee

Last night I finally watched my recording. Like most others here I thought it was a delight. While I don't watch the usual teen shows usually found on CW and Disney, etc. I would classify Glee as just a good general TV, similar to other teen weighted shows like Veronica Mars and the first two seasons of KyleXY.

BTW, I'm 71.

Bumping this thread to remind everyone that the series starts this Wednesday, after the new season of So You Think You Can Dance.  As an aside, the director's cut of the pilot aired last week, and I thought it improved over the already-excellent episode.  The cuts were a little less jarring, and the whole thing went along just a tad smoother.

Can't wait for the season.

Also, the version that aired last week is available on DVD at Walmart, along with a mail-in coupon for a free "Glee" T-Shirt and a sneak peek of this week's episode, for $5.

The director's cut of the pilot is up on Hulu.

When I heard about this "offer", I thought, "what a total ripoff!"  I mean, a non-HD version of something they already aired on TV plus a sneak peek at a show that airs in two weeks?  It's just an intelligence insulting money-grab, right?  And yet, the Glee-bags at survivorsucks were on this like white on rice.  I must realize that not everyone has HD.  In fact, I have to get used to the fact that I'm currently one of the few people that turns their nose up at SD-DVD.  I really do -- I make a sniffing sound while I do it.

And BTW, that's not the original director's cut that was floating around the web when it debuted (that one has a couple of more musical numbers).

Hanson,
When I saw your post I thought: "American Idol Season 9!"  What are you going to do with no Paula?

"Yes we cane"!

LOL!

I love Jane Lynch.

Finally a new episode tonight!

Probably the best second episode of a show I've ever seen. There have been lots of great pilots over the years, but few of them have the budgets or the creative energy to sustain the style and quality into the series proper. If there was any drop off from the terrific pilot in terms of acting, singing, editing, etc. I sure didn't notice it. If this show survives, Jane Lynch's Sue Sylvester is going to go down as one of the all time great TV characters. The humor of this show walks a tightrope between satire and outright farce, and it does it remarkably well. Future episodes are going to have to really take a nosedive to lose this set of eyeballs.

I really enjoyed the second episode of Glee.  The show managed to not just capture the essence of the terriffic pilot, but to build upon it.  Everything from the camera angles, to the lightning, production, and performance of the musical numbers, was perfect.  I also liked how the comedy was verging on the dark side, at times--this show definitely isn't targetting the High School Musical crowd (something made abundantly clear during the excellent "Push It" number).

While it's not, in my opinion, the best second episode of a show ever (I would give that to BSG's "33," or "Water," depending on how you choose to number your episodes), it's up there.  I'll be tuning in for the long haul, and suggesting it to my friends, as well.

Very good program.
I love Jane Lynch, who I was most familiar with from the Christopher Guest movies (A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration, Best in Show, etc.)

I wish his wife weren't such a shrew. But I love Jayma Mays.

The wife has got to go. She is a caracture.  Loved the episode though.
Edited by Mikel_Cooperman - 10/2/09 at 11:07pm

They are all kind of caricatures, but she is written so much broader than the others she doesn't quite fit.

I think she fit better in the pilot where everyone except the main character had a sort of nasty streak to them. That being said, you aren't supposed to like her. She exists because him being married to her says all sorts of things about the person he is. How he reacts to her exposes some of his crucial shortcomings in a way that isn't expressed when he's going up against Sue Sylvester.

One of my favorite moments was in the second episode was the wife's reaction to her own lie about the baby. The combination of shock at her own audacity and dawning realization of how screwed she'd just left herself was absolutely priceless. Jessalyn Gilsig has arguably the toughest job on the show, and she makes the most of her shallow, deeply unlikable character. My guess is that she lasts the season.

One of my favorite exchanges in the second ep:

"Rachel, were you trying to throw up?"

"I tried, but I guess I just don't have a gag reflex."

"One day when you're older, that'll turn out to be a gift."

The wife has to be unlikeable.  Otherwise, the flirting between Will and Emma would be disdained.  You're supposed to be rooting for them to get together.

I am absolutely head over heels over Lea Michele.  The highlight of the show for me is hearing her singing -- needless the say, her performance of Take A Bow blew me away.  She turned my insides into jelly, and had I been standing during the performance, my knees would have buckled and I would have fallen to the floor.

The two quibbles I had with the episode were 1) the lip-synching was terrible, for both the Gold Digger number and Push It.  In the former, I didn't realize until part-way through that Will was rapping (I thought it was Finn at first).  And not only was the lip-synching bad for Push It, but that song is about as corny and old-fashioned as anything KC and the Sunshine Band released.  The rousing cheer it received afterwards seemed contrived as a result -- like the "hot band" in any random movie that in reality sings godawful songs.

The kissing scene between Finn and Rachel was surprising to me because a) it propelled that love triangle plot much further and sooner than I expected, and b) it made the hairs on my neck stand on end.

I guffawed at everything Jane Lynch did and said.  I loved her passive-agressive fake outrage at the most innocuous things.

I get that, but I think it can be dialed down a touch. The bathtub scene was the worst (or best) example.

I agree with the other posts that you need the wife character just so you can root for the two in terms of set up and plot structure, but while she's definitely unlikeable she's not all out evil. She's self-centered and self-absorbed, but she does love her husband.

Plus she wasn't faking the pregnancy, at least to begin with. As the doctor explained she wanted to be with child so badly that she had a 'hysterical pregnacy,' where her body simulated the physical signs and symptoms. It was both funny and sad when she found out the truth; to paraphrase "did it drop out?!" 

And at the end, although she was shocked and disappoinrted herself, she was going to tell Will the truth, that's why she had the fancy dinner all set up. But when she heard how much he wanted to a have a family, and saw how hard he was working to make her selfish dreams come true, she then lied about the pregancy, but also sacrificed her crafts room so that he wouldn't have to continue killing himself on that second job. That's the first sacrifice her character has had to make and goes a long way (at least for me) to make her more human and feeling, and as we've seen how obsessive she is over her crafts in just the two episodes, this is quite a big deal for her character, that's just how guilty she feels! While my brother saw this set up coming a mile away way back in the premiere ep (fake pregnancy so the other two can eventually get together guilt free- no sticky abandoning the family issues), I feel the creators and especially Jessalyn Gilsig have done a great job keeping such a detestable character effectively part of the show. If anything, Gilsig is too effective and that's why so many can't stand her!    

Funny, I took the fancy dinner a totally different way. I thought she was trying to seduce him so she would actually get pregnant to hide the fact she wasn't. And her compromise was just a manipulation along those lines, to soften him up. But you made some good points and I'll have to watch it again without my prejudices. :)

I thought the dinner was a "softening of the blow" myself. You could tell in her face she wanted to tell the truth.

I am positive that was the intent of the scene.  You could see the shock on her face when she blurted out the lie -- like, "did I just say that?"

Love this show! I really hope they are able to keep this show above water, because it has some wonderfully talented actors and I enjoy the musical numbers and yes, the evil fake pregrancy sheet folder of a wife!

No matter what you may think of her character, Jessalyn Gilsig can act. The fact that forum members have formed such polarizing opinions of her on-screen persona is a testament to that. I think Waylander (Rick) has it exactly right in his post. The bottom line is that she loves her husband and wants to be with him. She's not scheming behind his back to set herself up to be rid of him. Rather, he is her end-game. She just wants everything else her greedy little self-absorbed brain can come up with to go along with him. I actually like her understated comedic timing a lot. After her turns on shows like Boston Public and Friday Night Lights it's great to see her in this funny (albeit shrew-like) role.

I'm still waiting for her to call her hubby "a-hole" on "Glee".

Fun show to watch. The coach is hilarious. Would love to see the wife dumped, but as mentioned above is does fit in with the Will/Emma flirting storyline.

Lip-synching was a little off in places, but the vocals were much better than the pilot. Maybe just more rehearsal time or a little computer tweaking, but musically they seem to have lost that slightly amateur quality they had in the pilot. Are all the actors doing their own singing or are some of them lip synching to better "voice" talent?