Teen Drama + Musical Numbers = GLEE

I have a tendency to lean towards some pretty terrible television in my days... Examples include all of the VH1 love shows as well as varying Real Housewife series, Wifeswap and Bad Girls Club. What can I say I have a horrible addiction to other peoples drama. However, to redeem myself, among the numerous amount of "reality" television that I've viewed in the previous years I try to mix in a bit of the regularly viewed and popular shows including; The Office, Modern Family, Parks and Recreation, Weeds, Family Guy, South Park.. etc. I've always been a little wary about shows that appear suddenly on network television and are instantaneously approved by a vast majority of American culture. Hence my internal debate when it came to viewing the new hit show Glee. I must admit, I've always had a hard time with Fox regardless of their ability to have programing such as Family Guy, That 70's show, and my ultimate dirty little secret Dollhouse.

I was skeptical as to whether or not musical television could truly find a place of popularity among the masses of American television viewers and on Fox for that matter. With this in mind, I ended up ignoring the first season of Glee as well as the second season, until my roommate questioned me about my enthusiasm over Madonna. Being pretty in love with Madonna I had to understand her enthusiasm for Glee... For those of you not up to speed with the show they dedicated a later episode within the second season completely to Madonna and the empowerment of women. It was pretty inspiring to say the least, this was definitely nothing I had seen on television before.

For years I've been complaining that they needed a new and innovative formatting of programming on television. As far as I'm concerned Glee hits home on the new and innovative. Yes musical television has been around for years, including the Lawrence Welk Show, SNL live artist performances, MTV, VH1 and other such shows that feature music within their regular scheduling and episode segments. However, Glee takes on the aspect of a musical by not only incorporating performances and songs by the cast throughout the show but creating a plot that is essential to follow week to week in order to glean the overall understanding of the lives of the characters. In this way Glee is somewhat of a movie musical transformed into television format. What I really love about the show is how all the music interconnects with the plot line of the entire series as well as each episode... It is truly the revolution of musical television.

My main concern when it comes to my new favorite series is how this weeks series finale will spiral into the upcoming season. I'm already under the strong impression that Fox could hardly afford to let such a cultural phenomenon just drop off the air. Glee not only has introduced a new style of television to American culture it's also addressing important issues that are facing high students of all ages, genders, races and sexual standings. Not only is Glee able to capture the attention of a multitude of individuals within the teen to young adult ages it also brings a large majority of the adult television viewers with it's on point drama and humor, as well as catching and sensational musical numbers. Going back to my major concern with Glee... The upcoming season finale where the glee club, New Directions, is going to compete in the regional competition against their rival school's glee club, Vocal Adrenaline, reminds me vaguely but all to well of the first season finale where New Directions competes at sectionals for a place in the regional competition. Although the overall plot of this seasons finale is generally different then last season, with different competitors and a new competition, it makes me wonder is this the format that they plan on continuing with for the season 3 finale? With this in mind I wonder how the writer's and producers plan to keep the show fresh with new drama and problems in the upcoming season. It may seem strange to many of you but I often find the most entertaining part of television viewing is in the wonderment of how the people in charge of these insanely popular television plan to keep viewers interested and captivated without going way out of their boundaries and bombing their shows. Regardless, I'm extremely excited for tomorrow night and the Glee finale. It's just one of those shows that gives me the shivers and I'm constantly wondering what songs their going to perform.




Ciao for now...