Glee, confronting my shortcommings, and emerging from deep primeval swamp that is Wednesday night fall TV programing

There is nothing like running up against your shortcomings to keep you young. Last night The Girlfriend and I sat down to watch Glee and it occurred to me "Crap, I don't know if I can blog about a fictional show!" I'm sure I'd be a lot better off if I'd drop my "I won't take notes" policy, but I'm not there yet. And despite The Girlfriend's cries from the shores of Supportia, I'm just not sure I can bring myself to do it, I get a lot of mileage out of doing things half-assed.

Of course there were a billion shows on last night, so many shows, in fact, that I'm amazed we were able to get all of them onto the DVR. Last night we had the premiere of Glee, Next Top Model (I know), and So You think you can Dance, as well as new episodes of Top Chef and Ghost Hunters -Ghost Hunters is a fantastic show, just give it a watch or two, it's on the SciFi channel 14 hours a day. You'll thank me.

Anywho, in the face of so much TV we opted to watch the first part of SYTYCD and Glee. SYTYCD is starting another season after finishing up it's last one like 2 weeks ago, pretty soon they're going to be running back to back seasons. The next couple weeks are auditions, which for me always dances on the line between funny and too much. Reality contest auditions were going well until American Idol made fun of the fat kid who was clearly mentally disabled a few years back. Honestly, that kind of killed reality TV contest audition shows for me -thank you American Idol- Ooh Speaking of American Idol, I just found out who's replacing Paula!!! Ellen DeGeneres. I wish there were a way to write the disappointed trombone sound... you know the one. Clearly American Idol has jumped the shark... also clearly "jump the shark" jumped the shark so long ago that I'm not sure if I'm ashamed of myself for using it. Regardless, I love me some American Idol, I've forgiven it of worse crimes -as mentioned above- so I will give the show the benefit of the doubt. Prove me wrong American Idol!

Back to SYTYCD, two things keep me watching this show; Fist, Cat Deeley. Hands down my favorite reality TV host. Even Jeff Probst -my second favorite reality TV host- has moments where I want him to shut up. I never want Cat Deeley to shut up. She's delightful, and 14 feet tall, which makes for great awkward hugs with the dancers.

The other reason I watch SYTYCD? There are some legitimately unbelievable athletic feats performed on this show. Seriously, some of these people are un-real. It's like the NBA in it's wow-factor. But it's also like the NBA in that I pretty quickly tire of it enough that I can't ignore the absurdity. But with the current Wednesday competition, I'm not sure that's a bad thing. So I won't be blogging about it anymore.

Let's talk about Glee. Here's what concerns me; this show is good. It's funny. It's surface funny, like when cheerleading coach/gym teacher(?) Sue (played perfectly by Jane Lynch) suggests that the Finn and Rachel should be "hobbled" as punishment for using the Cheerleaders private copy-machine. But it's also funny in a more subtle way -at least I think it's subtle, I could be a elitist... OK, I am and elitist. It's laughing at itself, and it's laughing hard. There are moments of genuine discomfort that -if you're not in on the joke- may be too much to bear. Like the way that the Glee performances are obviously overdubbed -and way cheesy, or the way it teases with the threat of characters breaking into song musical style repeatedly but rarely delivers. Few shows can get away with playing around with discomfort. The Office does it, and it succeeds because the characters are so likable. I get the feeling from the first two episodes that Glee has enough likability with the characters to keep it around for a few seasons... if only it weren't on Fox.

Key Moments:

-The Principle responding to Sue's outrage that her dry-cleaning budget is being cut to help the Glee club: "The dry cleaners we have are just as good as the those in Europe"

- The first sequence features a conversation in which Sue is trying to intimidate Will (played by Matthew Morrison, another truly likable character):
Sue: "Iron Tablet? They keep your strength up while you're menstruating"
Will: "I don't menstruate"
Sue: "Yeah? Neither do I"

- During a meeting of the "celibacy club" Finn reveals that to keep from prematurely ejaculating while making out with his girlfriend, he thinks the time he ran over the mailman with a car.

-Sue: "That the most offense thing I've seen since an elementary school production of Hair!"


More Sue -she's obviously the heavy lifter on this show: