TV Round-Up: “Glee”, “Huge”, "Drop Dead Diva"

Glee's season finale aired last night and I have to say, I loved every minute of it. I loved every performance and was particularly touched by the last two songs from students to teacher and the one from Shuester to his students (I particularly like this version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow by Israel "IZ" KamakawiwoÊ»ole ever since I first heard it during an episode of Cold Case). Undoubtably, this season has had it's ups (Idina Menzel) and downs and I haven’t always been pleased with the song choices or the cast’s rendition of them (ex. “One” - hated it!) But last night I was not at all disappointed. I’m a child of the 80s so having the New Directions group perform a Journey mash-up was the way to go to hook me. Frankly, pretty much any pop/rock/easy listening songs that came out in the late 70s through the 80s is A-okay with me. But Journey is definitely one of my favorites. I didn’t mind the set performed by Vocal Adrenaline either (I can see how they could have won). And although I didn’t like Jesse’s voice too much the first time that I heard him sing, I ‘m taking a second look after last night. Santana is another one who has been steadily growing on me. To me, Rachel’s voice tends to get whiny at times and Mercedes is the diva with the big voice but characters like Santana, Puck, and Tina continue to draw me in with their rich unique sounds. I really liked that everyone got a chance to showcase their voices in the finale and I look forward to seeing what's in store for next season.

While watching Glee, I happened to look up long enough between commercials to notice that ABC Family is premiering a new show, Huge. Gee, I wonder what this one is all about? And who else but Nikki Blonsky would star in it. I seem to recall a lifetime movie that was based on a similar premise-accepting yourself for who you are beneath the surface and so on -and you know who was the star there as well. But I’m not complaining. I happen to like these type of shows, where you know that everything will be okay in the end, and I actually think that Nikki is a good choice to play the lead. Will it be a good show? I don’t know but I’m hoping.

I haven’t gotten around to watching the complete premiere episode of Lifetime’s Drop Dead Diva as yet but what I saw during the first ten minutes is causing me to pause. Seriously! An impromptu song-and-dance number featuring Paula Abdul? Is that how they really want to start the season off? I’ve heard Jane sing in past episodes and why not, old girl has a good voice. But seeing it in this episode, the whole dream sequence in the food court strikes me as just a tad…cheesy. Here’s hoping the rest of the episode is better than the first ten minutes.

Glee - OK

So, Glee (season 2) premiered on Fox last night and it was just okay for me. A little pitch problem (Randy Jackson voice). Okay, just kidding but it really wasn’t as good as I remembered it being from last season. As a general rule, I will watch almost anything that involves some singing (a la Broadway) but with last season’s success I’ve come to expect a bit more from Glee. So why wasn’t I thrilled? I can’t quite put my finger on it. I do remember thinking that the ‘New Directions dude’ did not blow me away with his singing (after that lead-in about his legendary status) but I did like the harmony between his and Rachel’s voice (or maybe I just love duets). Also, Rachel was a bit much with the drama queen bit. And, the whole feeling of betrayal on the part of the choir when Rachel finally got a boyfriend, well, a bit of an overreaction no? Although, it is pretty plain to see that things will not end well for Ms. Drama Queen in that regard- a good enough reason to keep watching. I liked the idea of building a theme around a single word, hello (kinda clever if you think about the fact that it’s the first episode after a long break), and I loved the cameo by Idina Menzel (I still think that she is Rachel’s doppleganger) and I can’t wait to hear her bust one out! So my verdict, Glee got off to an okay start with some potentially interesting story lines and room for improvement. I’ll keep watching.

I Really Wanted to LOVE Glee

I’ve been humming the melody to “Don’t Stop Believing” ever since I saw the teaser for the new Fox Series, Glee, a few weeks ago. It looked like it would have several of the things I like: comedy, quirky characters, and lots of singing. Not since the premier of Ugly Betty had I been this excited about a new show. But alas, Glee doesn’t deliver on what it promised in the teaser and I think the root of the problem lies in it being too much.

There were definitely some things I liked about Glee:
1. There is that one girl who adds a gold start every time she signs her name (center) who reminds me a bit of Idina Menzel from Wicked and Rent (Taye Diggs' wife). I definitely see some diva quality in this character.
2. Some of the minor characters—cheerleading coach, football coach, principal—were interesting, if one-note, and I see entertainment potentional in them.
3. The musical selections were agreeable (who doesn’t love vintage Journey?) and the closing performance was nice and heart-warming (the kids can actually sing and have great harmony.)

I just don’t know if these few things are enough to entice me to invest an entire season of TV-watching time. Plus, there were things that I didn’t like:
1. The incessant humming throughout multiple scenes was beyond annoying. As much as the show would like to have the feel of theater, it’s just not there.
2. Aside from the Idina clone, the main characters as a whole are unexciting. Factor in the other dry, overly-neurotic, one dimensional characters and the lights dim a little more.
3. I’m not opposed to having multiple viewpoints featuring first-person narratives. I’ve experimented with the method myself and see the benefits of it providing insight into the psyche of several characters in an ensemble cast such as this but it doesn’t seem to be effective here. Or rather, I’m not feeling it! Character development might be better accomplished through dialogue between characters rather than through monologues.
4. Finally, Glee tries too hard to be entertaining and in my opinion, it fails.

Now, I’m not going so far as to write the show off completely. There are several shows that didn’t impress me out the gate but later grew on me. In fact, even if I don’t watch an entire episode, I’m amenable to tuning in for at least the last few minutes. If my predictions are correct, they’ll have a performance every week and that at least is worth seeing.