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Without special effects or supernatural plots, 'Glee' is a great TV show
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One of the best shows on television this fall is “Glee”, and it is good primarily because it doesn’t try to be anything other than a simple slice of American teenage life.
The premise is pretty simple. All the nerdy, uncool kids are part of the Glee Club and they are constantly at the mercy of the cool kids, who are usually cheerleaders or jocks. In this high school, however, the teachers are involved and help convince the cool kids that they are more like the uncool kids than they realize. Almost all the kids come together in the Glee Club, where they can sing and perform and get to experience each other on a different level. Yes, there is a lot of fantasy about how well the world could get along if we could just sing together. And the drama is there and often it’s over-the-top, especially when it involves the image-conscious coaches of the cheerleading and football squads. Still, “Glee” is more than just a cute show.
Perhaps what I like most about it is that there are no special effects or super-natural plot twists that force you to go into a world for which you really do need protection (or drugs). Watch almost any show on television these days and you will inevitably see the work of someone who has the latest in visual imaging technology and a production budget that spends more on special effects than it did on good writing. TV shows for kids are even more susceptible to quick titillation and bad writing, which makes “Glee” the perfect television show for the whole family, even if it is still a bit unrealistic at times.
I’m not sure democratic societies will ever truly merge the cool with the uncool and do it in a way that will bring peace to the world. In one episode, the football coach threatens his players with choosing between football or the glee club, and many of the players take the high road and stick with the glee club. Given today’s hyper-competitive environment, I really don’t see many athletes with a hope of a football scholarship abandoning the team just so they can sing songs with their classmates. Then again, in today’s hyper-competitive world, most kids would be encouraged to do both sports and singing to the max and just get two hours less sleep a night.
“Glee” excels where shows like “Fame” fail, mostly because the glee club contains real kids who just want to get through life and enjoy it as much as possible. If you are a parent who is truly concerned about what your children watch, “Glee” is one of your best – and safest – bets. And if you are an adult who just wants something a little corny, a little heartwarming and definitely not high-brow, “Glee” is a great fit. Few of us were either totally in the cool crowd or total nerds. Most were somewhere in between, so we can all pretty much relate to both. This show allows you to see things from both sides – and from some perspectives you may not have thought about lately.
Enjoy “Glee”. I get nervous when a show like this starts gaining in popularity, because someone with a big computer-graphics machine and no friends with a command of the English Language will feel compelled to shoot it down. I am encouraged by the continued success of similar shows, like “Ugly Betty”, but you can’t help but wonder how long the networks will keep such quality shows on the air. Usually, quality shows are bombs in the ratings.
Might this truly be Revenge of the Nerds?
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