Favorite New Show Of The Week - Glee

This show totally snuck up on me and hooked me hard. Its set in the most dysfunctional high school EVER but all the humor comes from the truth that ALL schools are dysfunctional. You have to have taught for a few years to truly understand that. I have had some time away from it and I miss the madness and the people you get to be on staff with. Such a bizarre mix of personalities that have to lead these kids while dealing with all the crap that all humans deal with. The writers of this show SO get that and just tweek the obsessions and peculiarities just a bit for full comic effect. Basically the show focuses on the group of kids who are part of the school's glee club which is musical theatre. I was a drama GOD in high school so the show really resonates with me (I don't like to brag but I won my school's award from outstanding performance in Drama my senior year. Like an Oscar when you are 18 and I did a year of theatre studies at college before I went into teaching) The McKinley High School's Glee Club is led by a young teacher (Will) who has issues at home with his baby obsessed wife and issues at school with his students and the dirt obsessed fellow teacher who he SHOULD be with but isn't. She gets who he is in ways that his wife just doesn't. The kids too have problems of their own. The braniac loves the jock who worries what the other guys on his football team will think about his singing. The black girl has ghetto anger management issues and wants to kiss SOMEONE and the kid in the wheelchair just wants to fit in. Of course the gay kid thinks he is better than everyone else but that is just his cover. The Principal is a clueless penny pinching bureaucrat and the young teachers greatest opposition come from the butchy cheerleader instructor who really wishes she was born a man. She has sent three of her evil cheerleaders into the club to destroy it from within. Jane Lynch is brilliant in the role. The comedy comes at you fast and like 'The Big Bang Theory' the lines are instantly quotable. The song and dance numbers are lively and better than anything you will see on the reality talent shows. These kids are incredible actors and are more true to life than all the vacuous wannabees that make up '90210' or 'Gossip Girl'. These are the role models young people should be gravitating towards but what does an old man like me know, right? Check it out before it gets cancelled which is what happens to all truly brilliant shows.



Will - "Where's Terry?"
Howard - "Doing inventory, I can't count higher than thirty."

Will - "This is nice. I can't remember the last time I just sat around with the guys and talked about our feelings."
Ken - "You want to know what I am feeling? I live at the YMCA and I only got one pair of long pants."

Principal - "I want the Acafellas at the PTA meeting. I want those parents happy. They found out we were feeding the children prison food."

Will - "You guys got the steps down you just need to relax. Okay, you guys play baseball right? What does your coach tell you about hitting?"
Student - "If you charge the pitcher bring the bat."