Glee - Page 3

As far as I know, all the actors are working to their own voices.  At least a few of them (Lee Michele and Kevin McHale) were singers before the show (Broadway and a boy band, respectively).  There was a touch of auto-tune on the closing number in "Showmance," but I'm not altogether convinced it wasn't on purpose, to add to the modern pop/R&B feel.

I'm not sure I've ever experienced such a sharp drop off from the second episode to the third episode. The musical numbers were still fantastic, but the script was far more pedestrian than the first two hours. The storyline between Mercedes and the gay boy was afterschool special bad. The Acafellas storyline was the only one that really held up for me. The fact that the script came from the showrunner is really worrying.

I did love the cheerleader's parting remark to Sue Sylvester, though; she's going to be a lot more interesting than last week made her out to be.

I like this show but I can't help but think it is like a medicore movie with a great ending, one that makes you think when you've left the theater that you've just seen the "best movie ever"!
The first ep had "Don't Stop Believing" and the second had the great Rhianna song that tied the storyline together and almost brought you to tears and then this week, they had what, an Acapella band made up of teachers?
This can get good, or it can get old real quick...

Interesting.  If you look at home many minutes were devoted to the storyline between Mercedes and Kurt, it couldn't have been more than 5 minutes (not including the musical number).  The rest of the episode was the Acafellas stuff, which I thought was awesome, and the choreography story, which I also thought was great.  Between the bit about the shop teacher losing his thumbs (and chugging cough syrup), to Josh Grobin hitting on the mom, I thought the writing was still firing on all cylinders.  Once again, there were a few lines (hard wood?) that had me rolling.

I agree with Adam that this episode was not as strong as the first two and it is a bit surprising that it was penned by the showrunner. It was all over the map with the influx of new characters. But, I wonder how much of this episode was actually driven by network notes and that's why Ryan Murphy took on the task of writing it. I'm guessing some of these characters will stick around as regulars, otherwise, that was a whole lot of introduction for no really good reason. I thought Acafellas was fun for the most part, but for Will to abandon New Directions so quickly to follow a different dream, seemed totally out of character. Jane Lynch continues to delight and Victor Garber was a nice surprise. In the end, I think just too many people were thrown into the mix all at once, and as a result, the story suffered. Hopefully now that we've gotten over the hump of these new character introductions, the main story lines will return to form.

Lots of valid points are being made, but it is STILL a hell of a lot more entertaining than 99% of the other shows on network TV.  Did anyone notice an increase in commercial breaks this week?  It seemed like more than the first two episodes.

Let's hope Sue doesn't get her fog machine.

Just about everything Jane Lynch says on the show has been gold so far.

I find it weird that Victor Garber is now playing a character going back to college to become a lawyer when he last 2 main TV roles have been lawyers (Eli Stone, and Justice).

That's what everyone was saying last year about "Pushing Daisies."  Unfortunately, it didn't save that show.

As much as I enjoyed Pushing Daisies, I think Glee has a better shot at survival even if it only remains a modest ratings hit, because as the current EW points out... 

The premise of Pushing Daisies was too off-putting for the general audience in the long run, it'd make for a better script treatment as a movie, but a weekly dose of morbidness didn't help its long-term viability on TV.

Glee is far more accessible to the general audience with its musical numbers, and the high school backdrop to create drama and tension amongst the characters.

I love Jane Lynch, but I doubt I'll stick with Glee much longer.  Too much singing and dancing, too many commercials.

What did you think the show would have copious amounts of?  Also, 42-minute programs *all* have the same amount of time set aside for commercials.  In the rare instances shows bleed over by a few monutes (extended episodes), that additional time is for the episode proper, not adverstisements.  I've never understood the "too many commercials" complaint...

I skip through the commercials, so I don't notice things like that when I'm watching, but I was cutting out the commercials for HD archiving and I didn't notice it then.  There seemed to be the same amounts of program segments.  Maybe the first act was longer than usual so a couple of the later acts were shortened making it seem like the commercial breaks were right on top of each other in the seond half.  That's all I got.

I though that the jokes were sharper this episode, but the big letdown for me was the lack of Lea Michele (I rewatched Take a Bow more times than I can remember, including three times today already... no, four -- four times, as I am listening to it right now, and my wife wants to kill me because I hum and sing that song all the time and it's getting stuck in her head now).  Rachel didn't even sing in a group number this week, and while some may tire of a song to close out every episode, I missed it when it wasn't there.

The Vocal Adrenaline numbers aren't really all that impressive to me.  Dancers lips-synching to vocal tracks recorded by other singers plus the implausiblity of the performers singing and dancing like that at the same time retards some of my enjoyment.  Lauren from SYTYCD was in the front row for the Rehab and Mercy numbers, and AFAIK, she's a dancer, not a singer.

Coach Tanaka cracks me up.  I'm pretty sure all of these actors are singing their own numbers, but are they all musical theater guys as well?

Yeah, I agree Josh, Joe's complaint about too much singing and dancing is weird.  Joe, whatever you do, don't rent Moulin Rouge!

It's not the believability that impresses me, rather the actual performances themselves.  Sure, they are lip-syncing, but between the singing, the dancing, the lighting, and the camera movements/edits, the musical numbers in Glee are better than 95% of those seen on the big-screen.  Also, the performances aren't completely impossible, just over-the-top.  I sang in my high school's choir (which was actually quite good--the Jazz Choir sang at Carnegie Hall a few times, and our CDs actually sold to people other than relatives ), and outside of the tumbling and swing dancing, a lot of the choreo isn't terribly out of the realm of possibility.

Of course, that all being said, I'm quite sure all of the Vocal Adrenaline numbers are *supposed* to be ridiculous like that.

I'd expect it to have the occasional performance by the actual Glee club (maybe one per episode, or one every other ep), but stick to dramatic scenes most of the time. I have to agree with Joe a bit that there seem to be too many random musical numbers that seem unrelated to the titular glee club.  Plus, the whole Acafellas thing was actually kind of creepy, IMO.

Interesting.  Going into the pilot, I assumed it would be about 50% musical numbers, 50% drama, with many of the performances being "random."

Did the pilot contain any purely musical numbers (that is, songs that weren't glee club performances)? When I saw the pilot, I was expecting a straight dramedy with the musical numbers coming from the in story performances. The second and third episodes were much closer to a traditional musical, where you have to accept the musical set pieces as artistic, emotional expressions of non-musical events.

I forgot to mention this:

At the beginning of "I Bust Your Windows", Mercedes throws a rock clean through the car windshield, leaving a gaping hole in the middle.

They been using safety glass in windshields since 1927.  It is impossible to create such a hole in a windshield.

Just being anal.  Still love the show!
 

Wow. This went downhill fast. Acafellas was terrible.  The songs,and their choreography, uninspired.  And the storylines - good god - insipid.

Another hour cleared off my viewing schedule. 

It looks like Fox is already giving Glee a full season pickup (22 episodes). So, they must see something they really like in its performance so far...

I don't mean this in any cruel way, but do you see a strange parallel to what you just wrote, and the negative comments posted by other members in the various LOST season threads?  I can quote numerous posts where you literally rolled your eyes (via the smiley, of course) at such comments, and then proceeded to question people who would so-easily dismiss a show/overly-critique it/et cetera.

I just find it odd that you, who so vehemenantly defended LOST (rightly so), making comments to the tune of "the show has a larger story to tell, give it time," (not a direct quote), would then easily drop a show like Glee only three episodes in, as well as complain about BSG's ending/final eps being poor (as well as saying there was no "plan" on behalf of the Moore and crew).

What a show!

I'd heard a little about Glee and thought it would cut from the cloth of "The Office" -- a comedy style I don't enjoy. But I caught the pilot rerun by accident, couldn't even watch it start to stop, but was mezmerized. This is that show, there's maybe on per year at best, that gives me chills and fills me with the wonder of modern entertainment. The lynchpin, of course, was "Don't Stop Believin'". As an 80s-kid it was heartstopping.

Completely baffled by the show's "season", I stumbled on its start while on vacation and caught most of the 2nd episode in a hotel. Back home, finally, it's on the Tivo, I've watched all the missing bits on Hulu, and saw Episode 3 proper.

I really enjoy the show. I love how it uses music; it's a style that's done infrequently (most notable to me, Scrubs) weaving in-context music with the action around it. And Glee does it not as a one-off gag, but as its structure.

I'm now one of the multitude that bought "Don't Stop Believin'" from iTunes and look forward to the next episode.

If you're a die-hard fan, head over to Great Clips;  they are sponsoring a contest/tie-in with Glee and have free character magnets as give-aways!

I have all the songs that have become available on itunes from the show. LOVE IT! My favorites so far are Gold digger and Don't Stop Believin. I wish On My Own was available.

I just checked. On My Own is available. I think it was only available as a free video clip from the show, but not it looks like it is a straight up song.

Awesome! I am going there now to get it. Thanks!

Just in case: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=327470488&s=143441

I hope they put up Acafellas music too! I am really enjoying this show.

Wow, I'm humbled you carried those thoughts all this time to begin with.    You can rest assured I took no cruelty from your post.  In fact, I am somewhat flattered.

I stand by my stance on all the shows you have listed.  Lost deserved defending because the writing was always there and an overarching story arc was always in play.  BSG lost its way from 3.5 to 4.5 and the hurried rush to a dissatisfying finale, in my opinion again of course, is the proof I submit to back up my viewpoint.

Glee has all the story telling depth of a potato chip and does not need or require any in-depth analysis.  I may check it out from time to time if I hear about a great song/dance routine but the story lines, as they currently exist, hold no interest.