Word: glee
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...House--jaded hits for the era of Katrina and the subprime disaster, based on the premise that people lie all the time. Maybe 2009's America--the country that swooned over Susan Boyle--will respond to we're-all-in-this-together shows like Fox's underdog musical Glee or NBC's aptly named sitcom Community, about a diverse group of misfits getting a new start at a junior college...
...makes the novelty of a white rapper seem kind of insignificant) to the personal (Eminem's struggle with a sleeping-pill addiction rendered him worthy of sympathy), have shifted the ground of popular culture and Eminem's place in it, gumming up the buttons he once pushed with ironic glee...
...football team for Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith), a quarterback with a secret penchant for singing in the shower. Will pairs him with his female lead, Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), a diminutive, driven diva who's the musical equivalent of Election's high school politician Tracy Flick. Upset that her glee mates are not taking their music seriously enough, she lectures them: "There is nothing ironic about show choir...
There is, obviously, everything ironic about Glee: an upbeat chorus number set to Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" is the funniest thing I've seen on TV this year. But this raises the question of how good a match it really is for the Idol audience, who tend to like their glitter dreams earnest. Indeed, the jock-meets-music-geek pair-up is a straight lift from, and parody...
What makes Glee more than sketch comedy, and what may save its commercial appeal, is that it is also an underdog story (not just about the kids but also idealistic music-lover Will) with heart. Like Ugly Betty's, its spoofing is bright, not dark. And with a well-chosen sound track and arch comedy, the pilot is just a giant basket of happy. If Murphy can flesh out the overly broad characters, this series could be a rare, sophisticated, joyous hybrid that gets to have its pop candy and satirize it too. As Randy Jackson might say, Glee...