'Glee' - 'Audition': New voices, same old direction
The club auditions new members, and the new football coach causes headaches for Sue and Mr. Schue
Dot Jones as Coach Beiste joined Sue and Mr. Schue on the "Glee" season two premiere.
In a less cuckoo-bananas week, I might actually do a write-up on the "Glee" season premiere, which introduced a bunch of new characters (I quite liked Dot Jones as the new football coach), set up new stakes/tensions for the characters, had a bunch of songs, and opened with a very meta sequence in which Ryan Murphy essentially used Kurt to dismiss all criticism of the first season. But I have to do some writing triage here, and frankly there are shows I care about a lot more that I'd rather spend the time on something else.
Still, I saw the premiere, and as I've said before, I often find the response to "Glee" more interesting than the show itself, so I'll open up the floor for y'all to discuss what you thought of it, and perhaps when the rest of my schedule slows down within a few weeks, I'll check back in on how the new year is going.
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupBethany
September 21, 2010 at 9:46PM EST Reply to CommentI started watching Glee just 2 weeks ago, finished the first season, and watched tonight's episode.
I like the show, but I don't love it like I do Chuck, or even Parenthood. The characters don't really draw me in, I think because they're somewhat stereotyped and exaggerated. I've enjoyed it more now that I've stopped taking it too seriously, and just enjoy it for the music rearrangements, talented cast, and overblown high school drama. As long as they keep singing and dancing, I'll watch, but without any emotional investment.
I have to say, Britney's one-liners are about the only thing that make me actually laugh out loud. Looking forward to seeing her get more of the spotlight next week.
Phdelicious
September 21, 2010 at 10:14PM EST Reply to CommentI thought it was a pretty solid episode of Glee. Everything people love and/or hate about the show was in evidence tonight except for Schu rapping. Is it going to be quite the "darling" it was last season probably not, but the addition of Coach Beiste really worked for me here and there was a decent attempt at creating a plot not just a series of show pieces.
I'd say so far, so good, but they're not winning over any haters yet.
dtnaour
September 21, 2010 at 10:38PM EST Reply to CommentJust finished watching with my family. Maybe it's just that the concept is not fresh anymore, but I was underwhelmed. The story was completely disjointed and hard to follow, but for me it seemed to be something else. I feel as if the cast has "gone Hollywood," and the show wasn't fun. Maybe the Britney episode will be better, but I don't find myself yearning to watch it like I do shows like "Chuck" and "Rubicon."
Marcos
September 21, 2010 at 10:40PM EST Reply to CommentAs a Gleek, even I had to admit that there was too much going on in the episode (reminiscent of the latter half of season 1), but I also think people take this show too seriously.
Most bloggers/critics I read love to point at Glee and talk about what a mess it is or rag on Matthew Morrison for rapping. I think they want this show to be pitch black comedy to go along with serious shows like Sons of Anarchy or Mad Men, or uber quirky like Arrested Development.
The truth is, while Glee has some darker satirical moments, it's ultimately about kids finding themselves through music. As long as the show has fun musical numbers and great one-liners, I'm in. Sometimes a show doesn't need plausibility or cohesion to be entertaining; it just needs to be fun.
Then again, I'm just a fan and don't get paid to share my opinions about TV shows.
P.S. I really do love the site and podcast, and I respect the opinions shared here. I'm just tired of the Glee bashing.
Madalena Dude I'm with you
September 22, 2010 at 6:21AM EST
September 21, 2010 at 10:50PM EST Reply to CommentThe only likeable thing about the show is Jane Lynch. She is simply spectacular as Sue Sylvester and has been since the show's pilot. The other characters pretty much bore me, and that version of the Jay-Z New York song was cringeworthy. Also, I don't want to sound insensitive, but Artie rapping that Billionaire song in his wheelchair just looked silly. Overall, the show is not that bad, but not that good either, at least in my book. I do understand the rabid fan following, particularly from fans of Broadway musicals and the like.
SaneN85 "Also, I don't want to sound insensitive, but Artie rapping that Billionaire song in his wheelchair just looked silly."
September 22, 2010 at 12:06PM ESTIf you don't want to sound insensitive, expound and sh*t.
filmcricket
September 21, 2010 at 11:49PM EST Reply to CommentI didn't care much for the "How do you respond to the comments on my blog" opener. There's meta, and then there's breaking the fourth wall without any attempt at humour. If I were at McKinley, I'd have told WhatsHisFro to get his camera out of my face. And Lea Michele can poke fun at herself all she likes, it won't make the diva rumours go away.
The meta humour I did like: Finn trying to join the Cheerios, as a way of commenting on Corey Monteith's horrific dancing.
I thought Coach Beiste was playing Sue and Will at first - it looked like there was a smile on her face as she walked away from the impromptu pizza party - but then it just turned into a way for Will to show what a good guy he is, again, some more. Maybe we'll see more of her conniving side in the next few weeks.
Such an overcrowded cast really doesn't need more characters; I hope Sunshine doesn't take up as much space as Jonathan Groff did last season. All that said, I intend to keep watching, because the musical numbers are really all that count.
CJ I was so disappointed. Maybe my expectations that they had fixed the problems were too high, but this episode was so uneven. The beginning, taking aim at critics was funny, but at a certain point, drop it already. I liked Dot Jones but she had to play three different characters in this ep. I started out laughing & thinking about how much I missed Sue, but they took it too far, especially given her back story--it made no sense!
September 22, 2010 at 1:21AM ESTAnd the numbers? Either songs we're sick of or just badly staged. I could go on, but enough negative-I think I'll just add this--I fell out of my chair laughing at "Stop the violence". Heather Morris is fantastic--I'm scared to death they are going to ruin her for me with this next episode. And she didn't have too much to do, but I liked the chin in the air, not gonna take it Quinn.
Now I have to go watch Sons of Anarchy--yes, the demo's do cross occasionally;)
cj Sorry--"Empire State of Mind".
September 22, 2010 at 1:30AM ESTLoesser
September 22, 2010 at 9:05AM EST Reply to CommentOne of their poorest episodes. The dastardly Sue needs to be clever, but these childish pranks played on the tall coach failed to amuse. Rachel, seconds after admitting to Finn that she's acted out of selfishness, sings precisely the wrong song, What I Did For Love. Love isn't selfishness, and it seemed she'd gone right back to justifying her destructive actions. Two new characters made to feel completely unwelcome is a redundancy for the department of redundancy department. New quarterback singing in the shower? A witless replay of the pilot's quarterback singing in the shower. Ick
Jennifer I agree. I thought Lea Michele did a good job with "What I Did for Love" but I couldn't figure out why Rachel was singing it in the first place. I'm generally a Rachel fan, but even I found her intolerable in the episode, which was just underwhelming in general.
September 22, 2010 at 2:12PM ESTI'll echo the comments about Heather Morris. "Stop the Violence" was definitely the highlight of the episode, and I'm looking forward to next week. I also enjoyed Cheyenne Jackson's brief appearance as the new Vocal Adrenaline coach.
Lara I thought she was singing about her love for the spotlight.
September 24, 2010 at 12:58AM EST
September 22, 2010 at 9:10AM EST Reply to Comment"Empire State of Mind" was just wrong, but the bathroom Gaga sing-off was hilarious and I almost wet myself every time Brittany opened her mouth.
Stop the violence,
Elizabeth
Tom Galloway But the key question about the premiere is, where was Brad the piano player?
September 22, 2010 at 1:03PM ESTMary
September 22, 2010 at 1:03PM EST Reply to CommentI'm already bored with the "amp up Rachel's selfish bitchiness" plot device.
sean Yeah. Covered that last year, do we really need to start all over gin from square 1?
September 24, 2010 at 6:02AM ESTjenfullmoon
September 22, 2010 at 10:57PM EST Reply to CommentI thought it was interesting, kind of a mixed bag though.
Good:
* "Telephone" and "Listen" in particular, though all the numbers were good.
* Much as I hate to say it because Artie is my favorite, Tina and Mike were hot.
* Cheerleader auditions. Quinn, Becky, Finn. BWAH.
* A brief Sue/Will teamup, even if the pizzas thing was lame.
* Liking the new folks.
Not great:
* The freaking blogger kid upped his annoying by a thousand.
* The sheer amount of bullying going on got real old.
* I didn't much care about Rachel's angst at the end.
* Why does Finn look absolutely miserable every time he's "officially" with Rachel? So cute when not official, and he looks like he wants to die when they are. Huh?
I look forward to the upcoming machinations, though. I've had a crap week and I forgot how much fun a singing show is to see every week.
jthomas666
September 23, 2010 at 9:42AM EST Reply to CommentThe ep was mainly just getting pieces in place for the series. Everything was just kind of shoehorned in there. A lot of things were turned up to eleven--Rachel's diva-ness, the Quinn-Santana catfight, etc.
None of the musical numbers did much for me this time out, either.
While I like Coach Bieste as a character, I find it odd that she would accuse Will of not making her welcome given her antagonistic attitude in Figgins' office.
kathi
September 23, 2010 at 3:21PM EST Reply to CommentI've promised myself I will stop nitpicking and overanalyzing this show, and just enjoy it. And I enjoyed a lot about this ep... the new characters way more than I expected to. So all is good. I am happy to see CJ's comment above. I was afraid that the overlap between the Glee and Sons of Anarchy audiences was only me. I've promised myself to stop nitpicking and overanalyzing SOA, too.