Glee (1 Viewer)

[Stan]

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?

 

[Josh Dial]

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.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

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.

 

[mylan]

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...

 

[Josh Dial]

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt

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.

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.

 

[pitchman]

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.

 

[EricSchulz]

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.

 

[Garrett Adams]

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

 

[Patrick Sun]

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).

 

[Malcolm R]

Originally Posted by EricSchulz

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.

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

 

[pitchman]

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...

Few TV shows have such natural moneymaking tie-ins: Glee producers have amassed 70 to 80 songs in this first batch of 13 episodes, which means fans can expect at least one new iTunes download available the morning after each episode, as well as two soundtracks this season. (The first, Glee: The Music, Volume 1, hits stores Nov.3) And if the show really takes off, don't be surprised to see Glee: The Live Tour.

Originally Posted by Malcolm R




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

 

[Patrick Sun]

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.

 

[Joe Bernardi]

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

 

[Josh Dial]

Originally Posted by Joe Bernardi

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...

 

[Hanson]

Originally Posted by EricSchulz

Did anyone notice an increase in commercial breaks this week? It seemed like more than the first two episodes.

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!

 

[Josh Dial]

Originally Posted by Hanson Yoo
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.

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.

 

[Malcolm R]

Originally Posted by Josh Dial

What did you think the show would have copious amounts of?

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.

 

[Josh Dial]

Originally Posted by Malcolm R




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.

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

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

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.

 

[Hanson]

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!