A fake baby, a ruthless cheerleading coach, a pregnant teenager, a dancing football team, and a guest appearance by Josh Groban are not what you would typically expect to see on a show about a high school’s declining and insignificant after school a cappella singing group, the glee club.
This is exactly the kind of delectable drama that draws over 7.5 million viewers to their TV sets on Wednesday nights at nine, anxious to spend the next hour immersed in the lives of McKinley High’s students on Fox’s new show, Glee.
The show focuses on a lovable Spanish teacher, Will Schuester (played by actor Matthew Morrison), whose mission is to revive McKinley High’s less-than-popular glee club, giving hope and inspiration to its outcast members. This storyline could easily make the show seem like a reproduction of High School Musical, but the comedic twists and dramatic turns in the plot are what give this show its appeal.
Ever since the first episode, it has been clear to viewers that McKinley’s guidance counselor, Emma Pillsbury, is secretly in love with Will. But to make matters more interesting, Will cannot confront his own feelings towards Emma because his irrational wife Terri is pretending to be pregnant in a desperate attempt to keep Will from leaving her.
And just when viewers were expecting Terri to come clean with her secret, she discovered that McKinley’s head cheerleader, Quinn, is actually pregnant with a real baby- one that she does not intend to keep. You can see where this is going.
At the same time, sadistic cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester has made it her own mission to stop Will from lifting the glee club out from obscurity. She plans on forcing a couple of her cheerleaders to sign up for Glee Club and spy to keep Sue informed.
As the show progresses, the cheerleaders begin to question their loyalty to Sue, causing her to start to take matters into her own hands.
If all of that drama still isn’t enough to stimulate your senses, here is something that will make your ears happy: Glee lives up to its title, incorporating the students’ performances of contemporary songs, and even dance routines, into each episode.
Glee possesses something that is missing from most new television shows today: originality. The show is about more than just high school students who sing. Glee captures teenage struggles with pregnancy, sexual orientation, fitting in, and self-acceptance, without being offensive or vulgar.
It takes viewers into the life of a hopeful and resilient teacher who may soon find himself tangled in a web of lies, fabricated by his own wife. And Glee is able to accomplish all of this while still delivering clever lines, creating comedic situations, and of course, singing.
Besides, any show that featured an entire high school football team dancing to Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” in the middle of a play is definitely worth watching again.
Nicki Hatzidimitriou can be reached for comment at [email protected].