Labeled as a “special premiere” airing after tonight’s finale of “American Idol” on Fox, “Glee” is a smart and funny chronicle of a high school singing club made up of misfits and outcasts ““ which is just as American as any rags-to-riches-rise-to-fame story offered by Ryan Seacrest and company. Created by Ryan Murphy, the creator of cable hit “Nip/Tuck” and the prematurely canceled WB gem “Popular,” the show is a snarky exploration of the cruel and oppressive environment of the American high school and how talent, creativity and individuality are not exactly highly valued traits at that age. But, hey, college comes soon, right?
The musical comedy is set in McKinley High School, an average school in an average suburb in Ohio that isn’t exactly “Fame.” Here, and like most other schools, the jocks and cheerleaders ““ nicknamed “Cheerios” ““ reign at the top of the adolescence hierarchy.
The Cheerios are led by their coach Sue, played by the underappreciated Jane Lynch. Constantly wearing a track suit, she lives off whey protein shakes and berates her cheerleaders ““ she calls them “performers” ““ with a bullhorn.
While Sue and the Cheerios rule the school, Will Schuester, a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Spanish instructor who looks like he came fresh off a Teach for America commercial, jumps at the chance to advise Glee Club when the former teacher is fired.
He enthusiastically takes on his new role with the goal of leading the club to the national competition, renaming the club “New Directions!” but he can only attract the bullied, disabled or awkward students to join.
“They feel invisible, that’s why every one of them has a MySpace page,” he tells the skeptical principal.
Among his ragtag group of students is Rachel Berry, who channels her inner Tracy Flick as an overachieving sophomore who is a little too determined to succeed and is constantly mocked by her classmates. To be fair, she dedicates her free time to uploading videos of herself singing to ““ what else ““ her MySpace page, a genius moment of synergy by News Corporation (which owns both Fox and MySpace) in hopes of being famous.
“Being anonymous is worse than being poor,” she laments to herself in a voice-over.
While Rachel struggles to pursue her Idol-esque dreams, she needs the help of both Will and a male lead who can match her.
The lead is found in Finn, who is like Zac Efron, but much, much less girly. He is the school’s dreamy star quarterback on the football team who dates the head Cheerio and sits on top of the high school food chain.
Though he is talented, Finn must risk being ostracized by his peers for participating in an activity he is actually passionate about.
The show is presented through the perspectives of the various characters, who share narrating the episode through their respective points of view. It’s a rather strange storytelling method but fits the show’s dark humor well.
The writing is superb, neatly tying the points up and full of witty one-liners to quote around friends the day after.
The cast of characters is eccentric and quirky, helping to set the show apart from the standard high school comedy fare.
Unfortunately, there’s no new territory being explored in the show. Watching the pilot is a lot like listening to a Girl Talk song, both literally and figuratively. Cover versions of songs by Aretha Franklin, John Denver, Amy Winehouse and improbably, Journey, are fun and delightful to watch, especially when performed by Broadway trained actors.
Rachel is played by Lea Michele from “Spring Awakening,” and Will is played by Matthew Morrison, who has starred in productions of “Hairspray” and “Footloose.”
But the plot of the first episode is basically “High School Musical” remixed with “Election,” sampling “Daria” and interpolating “Freaks and Geeks.” If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.
The show earns no points for originality, but “Glee” is an accurate and funny look at high school, effectively evoking memories of an all too familiar time when insecurity and self-doubt battle it out with the desire to fit in and pass pre-Calculus.
Lynch’s performance is one of the highlights of the show, which makes up for the boring pseudo romance subplot between the semi-happily married Will and Emma, the school counselor who appears to show symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder and has freakishly round eyes. Seriously, they are really round.
““ Edward Truong
E-mail Truong at etruong@media.ucla.edu.