Thursday, September 24, 2009

In which I repeatedly digress; or, Another new addiction.

Once again, I need to confess.

But let me back up a little bit.

I like the TV show 24. I used to watch it regularly before it jumped about seventeen sharks at once during season five or so. (If anyone missed that moment, I have two words for you: Vampire Jack.) I still will watch it occasionally, though, because Shallow Man evidently has a higher shark tolerance than I do.

I also have a fond weakness for Joss Whedon.

These two facts together meant that I was watching Fox on a regular basis back in January. And, as with every other January in memory, Fox started running promos for its fall lineup. Yes. Commercials IN JANUARY for shows that wouldn't air until September at the earliest. (In past years, September has rolled around and they've announced the series premiere for a show and I would stop, confused, because I was SURE it had been on the air forever. Which it had been. Or at least 30-second snippets of it.) Which bothers me, because I am usually of the opinion that overhype, even of a good thing, can ruin what's being hyped.

And if the hype-age continues and escalates non-stop all summer (when I'm also watching Fox regularly for amazing dance goodness), it makes me even more annoyed.

And also very conflicted if it's something that looks like something I'll like. Because my contrary streak wants to purposely not watch it just because it's been shoved down my throat for NINE months. I don't think advertising campaigns for a TV show should last the same amount of time as the gestational period of a human. But maybe that's just me.

But I really, really, really like singing and dancing and musicals. So I decided, when the series premiere finally came around, to give it a chance. Just once. Just to see.

I am, of course, talking about Glee.

Leaving aside the fact that the pilot aired I think three times before the official series premiere. Never mind that I'd had people asking me all summer if I'd seen Glee yet. Don't pay any attention to the endless commercials that have been running all year.

Once I saw it, I loved it. I forgave everything. Because it's fun and smart and sassy and full of singing and dancing and oh my goodness Matthew Morrison. Yes, that Matthew Morrison. The Matthew Morrison who, as Lt. Cable in the most recent Broadway revival of South Pacific hit one of the most gloriously beautiful high notes I've ever heard in my life in "Younger than Springtime." If I believed in putting up music players in my blog sidebar (which I don't, because they always make my browser crash; if you have one on your blog and I still read your blog it means I really love you) then I would have my blog sing that note to you pretty much non-stop. (Okay, not non-stop. I'd throw in most of the rest of the SP soundtrack and Donna Murphy singing "One Hundred Easy Ways" in Wonderful Town. But with plenty of High Note thrown in.)

Well, with all that, how could I not love it? I can't unreservedly recommend it, as it veers into very PG-13 territory from time to time, and the way they portray the not-pregnant wife is beyond the point of unbelievability (no person in that situation would naturally react like that). But for the most part it is, as far as I can tell in my admittedly limited experience, the best show on TV right now with the possible exception of So You Think You Can Dance which did I mention I'm going to see in concert in less than two months and YIPPEE for that? (Yeah, I don't watch too many TV shows. I'm more of a movie girl, or a discover-the-amazing-TV-show-AFTER-it's-been-canceled-or-is-just-about-to-be-canceled-so-I-guess-I'll-just-watch-TV-on-DVD kind of girl. See, e.g., Arrested Development, Firefly, Gilmore Girls, Pushing Daisies which also by the way does anyone have the DVD for PD so I can see more than the one partial-episode I've seen?)

But it still hadn't moved to "addiction" phase. Until last night's episode, which featured this sequence:



And there you have it, folks.

My name is Elliespen and I am addicted to Glee.


P.S. If you've missed out completely on this show so far because, say, you've been living under a rock for the past nine months or possibly just because you have higher television standards than I and never even flip past Fox, you can catch up on all the episodes so far on hulu.

10 comments:

Motion DeSmiths said...

So when is it actually on?

Motion DeSmiths said...

As for Pushing Daisies: The entire first season can be found here: http://www.thewb.com/shows/pushing-daisies/

but I have no idea where the 2nd season can be found for free. Let me know if you find out.

Barb said...

Ooh, I love it too!

Syhalla said...

I was pretty iffy on Glee at first. Especially after seeing the pilot. I mean, that last song was just not possible. That number of people could not make that much sound, and quite a bit of it was so obviously autotuned.

But I've watched the first couple episodes now, and it's really growing on me. I've realized you have to take it in a similar vein to Arrested Development. Everyone is a little caricatured. Which is why I actually find the wife to be one of the funniest characters. She's just SOOOOOO over the top.

We'll see where it goes from here. It's got potential to be a lot of fun, but it's also got the potential to be a total flop.

elliespen said...

Motion DeSmiths: It's on Wednesdays at 8 on channel 13. Right after SYTYCD. Thanks for the link!

Syhalla: Yes, suspension of disbelief on some [most] of the musical numbers is important, but I've always been willing to suspend away when it comes to big production numbers. Same with most characters, but having actually been in the "Oh crap, there's nothing on the sonogram" situation, there is no way any real person, over the top or not, would have reacted the way she did.

I don't hate the character; I'm just a bit disappointed in her. Because yes, she is hilarious. But not in any way well written. Caricatures emphasize and blow reality out of proportion; they don't start by just taking reality out of the picture altogether. But out of an entire show of pretty good writing, I can forgive one "mistake" character.

Rachel@ A Little Bit of Ray said...

I love this show and am so glad so many others do too!

MJG said...

I sense some Glee parties in the future. Heck, so SYTYCD + Glee parties. Wednesday night got 10x better when they moved mutual to Thursday!! (Except now I sometimes miss The Office.)

Glee was on probation for me after the ridiculous performance of "Push It" but I think that was an attempt to go to the extreme just for shock value. It guaranteed them a certain class of people would continue watching the show. Anyway. I, too, love it.

Erin said...

Ok, first of all- we totally watch Glee around here! (and several times throughout the week- fastforwarding the naughty parts!) My hubby can't stop singing the "Take a Bow" song. He's obsessed!

Secondly, I knew a girl who faked a pregnancy just like the wife. Yes, its true! Sad to say... but people really are like that!

Thirdly, if you get Netflix, you can rent both seasons of Pushing Daisies. (I wrote an angry letter to the channel that produced it for cancelling the only hillariously funny show on television! I'm sure some intern read it and laughed, then hit 'delete'.)

erachamay said...

we happened to turn the TV on just as the football dance was coming up (I want you to know that I rarely if ever see anything on TV on the day it airs [what would I do without dvr?] so I feel SO cool to be in the loop on this one) and since I liked the song, and it was football, I made Daniel stay on the channel. You should have seen his reaction to the whole thing. I mean, this is Daniel here, Mr. Anti-Musical... he was like "I don't even know where to begin." After a long period of silence. It was hilarious. But I've watched it a couple of times since... *sheepish grin*

Carrie said...

I actually really like Glee too!! I missed this scene so thanks for sharing it! I saw when the kicker tried out for the team. Funny Stuff!! And to Matthew Morrison my heart says, "Pitter-pat, pitter-pat." Maybe I was born to melt for a "Matthew" *wink*