Rock out with Fox’s new high-school comedy and congratulations to How I Met Your Mother on a great fourth year.
Glee
Here’s why Glee–the offbeat comedy about a high-school glee club created by Nip/Tuck mastermind Ryan Murphy–is pretty awesome: it closes with a full-on choreographed dance number scored to the Journey tune “Don’t Stop Believin’” a.k.a. the Greatest Song Ever Written. (Don’t believe me? Ask David Chase.) You want another reason? Okay, try the show’s centerpiece, an elaborate, Broadway-ready performance of Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab.” These show-stopping sequences are more imaginative, more sheer fun than almost anything I’ve seen on TV in ages. But here’s why Glee isn’t totally awesome…at least not yet: it’s still searching for the right tone. The elements are there for a great show. The cast–particularly the teen performers–are all absurdly charismatic and have terrific voices. Murphy’s script is also sharp and funny, much closer to Election than High School Musical. Unfortunately, the characters still need some work. Right now, too many of the women come across as bitchy opportunists who take undue advantage of the laid-back men in their lives. For Glee to succeed long term, Murphy has to tone down the caricature and get the audience laughing with these characters instead of just at them. Luckily, he’s got some extra time to pull this off. Even though the pilot is premiering tonight after the American Idol finale, the show itself won’t start airing until the fall. In the meantime, don’t be surprised if you find yourself watching the below clip over and over and over again.
Premiere: B
How I Met Your Mother
With The Office flagging, 30 Rock going overboard on celebrity cameos and Parks and Recreation still finding its voice, How I Met Your Mother has emerged as the most consistently hilarious comedy series currently on the air. It’s certainly got the tightest ensemble in the business; week in and week out, the show’s five-person troupe brings the funny…as well as a surprising amount of dramatic heft. Last night’s finale broke new ground on two storylines that have played a major role throughout the show’s fourth year. First, Barney and Robin finally confessed their attraction to each other in a sweet, funny scene that provided the night’s biggest laughs (and sighs of relief). Next to that, Ted’s decision to finally give up on his dreams of being an architect and accept a teaching position didn’t seem like a particularly earth-shattering development. But then we learned that his future bride was somewhere in that classroom, which means after four years of waiting and several false starts, we might actually see the mythical mother of the show’s title. My one complaint about the episode is that Marshall and Lily weren’t given a lot to do; while their friends are moving forward with their lives, they seem to be standing still. Then again, I’m thrilled that Lily was lying about being pregnant; while that’s obviously the next logical step for them, babies are almost always guaranteed show-killers. So let’s save the procreation for the series finale, okay guys?
Finale: B+/Season: A-
