Glee
At first blush, this creation of producer Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck, Popular) appears to be a lampoon of Disney's High School Musical movies and Fox's own American Idol. But don't be fooled: Glee, while showily earnest, shares more in common with Desperate Housewives and Two and a Half Men.
Spanish teacher Will Schuester longs to return William McKinley High School's down-and-out glee club back to its former glory. But the show choir takes a back seat to … well, just about everything else at school, especially the competitive cheerleading squad. ("Cheerios," they're called.) Schuester does everything he can—and I do mean everything—to bolster the club's meager ranks and finally ends up landing the football team's star quarterback, Finn, who has a penchant for '80s ballads and singing in the shower. The resulting choir—from the perfectionist diva, Rachel, to the wheelchair-bound nerd, Artie, to the openly gay Kurt—are an odd looking gaggle of misfits, to be sure.
Newsweek's Ramin Setodeh has called it "TV's gayest product since Richard Simmons." But, like Murphy told the Los Angeles Times, it's "tapping into the cultural phenomenon that anybody can be a star overnight on MySpace or YouTube. There are all these different ways that you can be celebrated quickly and instantly now for your talent or lack thereof, and the show also deals with that."
Glee comedically spoofs those dreams of instant fame while earnestly encouraging viewers to seek out their passions in life. It embraces the outcasts and tells them they are, indeed, special.
Then, as The New York Times points out, Glee gregariously undercuts those nuggets of goodness, "rounding out the choir with generically good-looking ringers imported from the football team and cheerleading squad, leaving the impression that a show choir—even a cast on a television series about a show choir—can't sustain itself without an injection of cool kids."
Worse, the series wallows in sexuality and sacrilege, and it stumbles—often—with crass gags and sleazy stereotypes.
Episode Reviews
"The First Time"
Two couples—the heterosexual Rachel and Finn and the homosexual Kurt and Blaine—struggle with whether to go "all the way." Rachel asks for input from her gal pals, two of whom advise her to wait. "[You're] talking about losing something you can never get back," Quinn tells her. But Tina says, "Losing my virginity was a great experience for me. Because I lost it with someone I love."
That conversation sums up the squishy morality endemic to Glee. It's stressed that sex is beautiful and virginity should never be squandered, but the idea of waiting until marriage is never mentioned. Thus, the time to have sex is when you're in love and the moment "feels" right. Ultimately, both couples have sex, and we're led to believe they feel quite happy about it.
The onscreen encounters themselves are relatively discreet: We see Rachel wearing a shift underneath the covers and watch as Blaine and Kurt rub noses and giggle. We see the couples hold hands. But in other scenes both couples kiss passionately and talk about sex. Kurt and Blaine make out in a car. Masturbation is mentioned, as are condoms. When another boy makes passes at Blaine, the three sneak into a gay bar (with fake IDs) on "Drag Queen Wednesday." We see men dressed up as female celebrities.
Blaine gets drunk. Swear words include "p‑‑‑," "h‑‑‑" and "a‑‑."
"Grilled Cheesus"
Finn's cheese sandwich comes off the heat with an image of Christ burned onto it. He promptly calls it a "grilled cheesus" and prays to his "cheesy lord" several times. When all of his prayers are answered—including getting to "second base" with his girlfriend—Finn thinks he has a direct line to God. His euphoria doesn't last long, though. School counselor Emma tells him God doesn't work through sandwiches, and he quickly feels abandoned and doubtful, launching into a passionate rendition of R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion." Then he eats the sandwich.
Sue, meanwhile, protests spiritual songs being sung on public school property. Emma says they're using them to comfort Kurt, whose father is comatose after a heart attack. Sue says, "Asking someone to believe in a fantasy, however comforting, isn't a moral thing to do. It's cruel." Emma thinks Sue is being arrogant, to which Sue retorts, "It's as arrogant as telling someone how to believe in God, and if they don't accept it, no matter how openhearted or honest their dissent, they're going to hell. Well, that doesn't sound very Christian, does it?" Emma is silenced.
Kurt says God is "like Santa Claus for adults" and calls Him an "evil dwarf" and a "great spaghetti monster in the sky." He has a few choice words for Christians, too. The episode wraps with Kurt telling his unconscious dad that he doesn't believe in God, but he sure believes in him. Cue Joan Osborne's "What if God Was One of Us."
"The Power of Madonna"
Sue Sylvester's obsession with Madonna motivates her to pay homage to the singer in the form of new Madonna-themed routines for her Cheerios and blasting Madonna tunes 24/7 on the school PA. An inspired Mr. Schuester thinks the girl-power anthems could do the "disrespectful … misogynistic" guys in his group some good, too.
Madonna's cultural (read: sensual) significance also carries over into the secondary storylines as three of the school's virginal characters—Rachel, Finn and Ms. Pillsbury—all decide to "do the dirty deed" with their chosen partners. A montage of their caressing preparations plays out to "Like a Virgin." (It's implied by a "morning after" shot that Finn goes through with it.)
So the episode plays fast and loose with the idea of respect and taking "control" of your own body. And it ends up saying a few good things about not automatically jumping into the sack. Sentiments range from "Because I'm truly not ready to do this, I'd be betraying myself," to "The way to get a man to follow you forever—take his virginity" and "Mercedes is black. I'm gay. We make culture."
"Hell-O"
The McKinley glee club may have won sectionals, but it's business as usual back at school. Sue is reinstated after she blackmails the principal by drugging his wine during dinner and getting him in bed, then threatening to tell his wife and his church congregation. Schuester, newly separated from his wife, discovers that his new girlfriend is a virgin. And Finn goes on a date with two cheerleaders.
The girls offer to make out with each other for the pleasure of their shared "date," and viewers hear veiled sexual references to whipped cream and going braless. A gay choir member tells others he feels "like Lady Gaga." Still married, we see Schuester lustily make out with two other women (at separate times). Rachel kisses a rival singer. Dolphins are deemed "gay sharks."
We hear several curses both spoken and sung, including "d‑‑n," "h‑‑‑" (about 20 times) and misuses of God's name. Girls lie about the quality of food at a restaurant to get more of it. Backstabbing seems a way of life for these high schoolers; one girl says Rachel's sweaters make her look "so home school." Sue slams Sarah Palin for being dumb.
"Preggers"
Glee's getting bolder, braver … and sleazier as the season slides sideways. "Preggers" focuses primarily on the glee club's swishy tenor, Kurt. Gay stereotypes stack up as he gets caught dancing in a slinky unitard, deceives his dad about having a macho athletic motive and ends up trying out for the football team to cover his lie. Subplots find cheerleader Quinn convincing quarterback Finn that she's carrying his baby after a make out session in a hot tub—while wearing swimsuits. (We see their "premature" scene from above water level.)
On the musical front, Rachel sings a short but stunning cover of a Celine Dion song, and the entire football team comically dances and sings to Beyoncé. Those musical highlights and a tender expression of unconditional love between Kurt and his dad continue to make the show appealing in some respects. But Glee's soap opera storylines unblushingly push social and sexual hot buttons.
"Pilot"
Schuester decides to take over the glee club when its former leader is fired over allegations of inappropriately touching a student. His recruiting tactics involve begging, pleading, cajoling … and planting marijuana in a kid's locker. Next stop? Blackmail. And while his wife almost convinces him to give up the club to find a better job for their allegedly growing family, he eventually decides to stick with the glee kids.
Finn, meanwhile, realizes that in spite of pressure from fellow football players, he can't turn his back on his love for music. And he sticks up for Artie even when it could cost him his social status. The message here is to break from the crowd, stand up to the naysayers and follow your passions.
But this pilot episode also veers into ugly territory: We see quite a bit of Finn while he's singing in the shower. And his hypocritical, celibacy-touting girlfriend pauses (briefly) during a heavy make out session to pray beneath a picture of Jesus. "Giggles" come from teachers using and selling illegal drugs, androgyny, homosexuality and pedophilia. Rachel talks about how cool it is to have two dads.