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.

Break-Up Songs

I have been listening to a lot of break-up songs lately. I guess I like the drama of it all. The complacency of something steady can be nice but there is just something about those words that speak of rollercoaster emotions and love gone bad that keeps drawing me back to listen once again. Songs like “Epiphany” and “Blame It On Me” by Chrisette Michele, LeToya Luckett’s “Not Anymore”, Maxwell’s “Pretty Wings”, good old Carl Thomas' "Emotional", and the old standard from Gladys Knight and the Pips, “Neither One Of Us.” I could come up with an extensive list but I'll stop here. It probably would make more sense for me to ‘feel’ these songs so deeply if I were actually contemplating a break-up. But I’m not, not at all. In fact, I don’t have anything going on that is serious enough to even warrant a break-up. Maybe this is just what good music is all about: songs that make you think and feel even if you’re not currently experiencing the same things.