1. It’s like
High School Musical…on crack! The similarities are aplenty. A jock who sings well? Check. Social outcasts with hidden musical talents? Check. Inevitable jock-nerd (sort of) romantic connection? Check. If HSM is rated G, I’d say
Glee is rated PG-15. Not because there’s sex and violence (at least not yet, or I hope none ever!), but because there’s actually some gay characters (does the term gay…and I don’t mean gay as in happy….exist in Disney la-la land?). And illegal drugs. I love it.
2. Show tunes galore! Even the non-Broadway musical tunes are sung in a musical style…I like. And now I’ve got Amy Winehouse’s
Rehab and Journey’s
Don’t Stop Believing playing over and over in my head…blame it on those round-the-clock promo spots on ETC.
3. I’m not familiar with a single person in the cast. OK, that’s an exaggeration, I actually know who Jessalyn Gilsig is (only because I’ve seen her on other TV shows, and I’m such a tv/movie nerd). The rest are unknowns, or were plucked from Broadway. Which means they ARE all uber-talented, and not just there because of star power.
4. For some inexplicable reason, Glee reminds me of
Election, that Matthew Broderick-Reese Witherspoon-Chris Klein indie that no one in my circle of friends has ever seen (digression: go see that movie now!) The lead female in Glee is totally Tracy Flick (Reese’s character) and the lead male reminds me of Paul Meltzer (Chris Klein’s character).
5. Listen to the musical score. It’s even more amazing than the show tunes. They took semi-popular scores from films, and had them sung by a choir
a capella. Clever.

I would normally follow that list with raving recommendation, but…I actually don’t think Glee is for everyone. It’s too campy, too Broadway-ish, too corny at times. But as a girl who’s seen
High School Musical an unhealthy number of times (not proud of that), whose favorite TV show is
American Idol (not proud of that either), and who has several Broadway cast recordings on her iPod…Glee is totally my TV dream come true. Thank you, Ryan Murphy.
[And on a final note, can I just say that ETC and JackTV are the Best. Channels. Ever. Not only can I watch
Glee only a few days after it’s US showing (on both channels!), but JackTV is also airing Jay Leno’s new show (live!) and ETC will air
Gossip Girl Season 3 (also only a few days after the US airing!) And then there’s TMZ pa!]