LFC Article - Glee - Musical Comedy Drama

Glee, Popular Escapist TV Show
A musical comedy-drama loved by Gleeks Everywhere

by Kenny Crane 6/24/10

How's the world treating you lately? Tired of hearing about the bad economy, illegal immigration, the oil spill in the gulf? This is a good time to enjoy some escapist TV! The same thing happened in the 1960s. There was the cold war, the Viet Nam war, riots in the streets of major cities. But on TV, everyone loved to watch Gilligan's Island, The Beverly Hillbillies and The Monkees. Now that times are tough again, escapist shows like iCarly, American Idol and Glee are very popular.

Glee is a show about the misfits who are in a Glee club named "New Directions" at a fictional High School named William McKinley in Lima, Ohio. The glee club is lead by a Spanish teacher who defneds them from the plans of the cheerleader coach. It is classified as a musical comedy-drama satire. It airs on the Fox netowrk which also broadcasts American Idol and popular shows such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, Bones and House. Glee first aired after an episode of Americal Idol which was an excellent lead in. This summer, Glee is on at 8PM on Thursdays but will air at 8PM on Tuesdays this Fall, right before new shows Raising Hope and Running Wilde.

Glee is all about music and dance; it features five to eight songs in each show. The songs are a mix of show tunes and pop hits from artists like Billy Joel, Madonna and Rihanna. It takes up to eight weeks to choose the music, create the dance moves and teach them to the cast and crew. Each show costs over 3 million dollars to make.

These are the main characters in Glee:

Artie Abrams (played by Kevin McHale) is a guitar playing nerd in a wheelchair.
Rachel Berry (played by Lea Michele) is a driven singer with a lot of heart.
Tina Cohen-Chang (played by Jenna Ushkowitz) has a fake speech problem and dresses like a Goth.
Quinn Fabray (played by Dianna Agron) is the head cheerleader who has a baby.
Finn Hudson (played by Cory Monteith) is the football team's quarterback but isn't just a dumb jock.
Kurt Hummel (played by Chris Colfer) is a gay singer who gets bullied by the football team.
Mercedes Jones (played by Amber Riley) is a diva with a flair for fashion.
Emma Pillsbury (played by Jayma Mays) is the school guidance counselor and has OCD.
Noah "Puck" Puckerman (played by Mark Salling) is Finn's best friend and team mate, who prefers older women.
William "Will" Schuester (played by Matthew Morrison) is a Spanish teacher who becomes director of the glee club.
Terri Schuester (played by Jessalyn Gilsig) was married to Will but now he is leaving her.
Sue Sylvester (played by Jane Lynch) is the evil head coach of the cheerleaders and is the glee club's enemy.

In the week of June 7th, 2010, Glee was the third most watched non-sports show on Broadcast TV, right behind #1 America's Got Talent and #2 NCIS. It was watched by 6.3 percent of homes watching TV which amounted to 11,075,000 viewers according to the Nielsen TV rankings. Fans of the show are known as "Gleeks" and there are many of them on Twitter and Facebook.

Here is a list of the most recent Tweets about Glee:

What are critics saying about Glee?
Here are some things that have been said:

"Likeable characters"
"The music...is energetic with a wide range of appeal"
"transcendent, tear-jerking and thrilling "
"sexually-charged adult series that is inappropriate for teenagers"
"the audience is invited to laugh at people's pain and folly and humiliation"

When is Glee on next?
Here is an RSS feed of upcoming Glee episodes, from TVguide.com:

Watch an episode of Glee!
GLEE: "The Rhodes Not Taken." Watch the Glee episode, via Hulu, right here! You can even watch Glee in full screen mode!

Kenny Crane has been writing about YouTube videomakers and their videos at YouTubeStars.com since June 2006. He also publishes the YouTube Top 100 Weekly Chart of the Most Popular YouTube videomakers.

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