One thing I can guarantee anyone who watches the new Fox musical comedy, Glee, Tuesday night: For the next 48 hours after the show ends, you will not be able to get Journey's song "Don't Stop Believin' " out of your head.
For the first 24 hours, that's not such a bad thing - kind of uplifting, in fact. After that, it will start to drive you mad.
But the staging of that song by a group of misfit high school students in glee club near the end of the heavily promoted pilot is so elevating and inspirational that it almost redeems all the stereotypes and lame humor that come before. Grit my teeth as I did at how one-dimensionally empty-headed the writing could be, I will still be back for the start of this series in the fall because of its musical punch.
Producer Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck) and the programmers at Fox understand the power of capturing that one shining moment onstage - in this case, when a group of disparate underdog performers comes together and through discipline and hard work creates something transcendent. It was there in Disney's High School Musical (all three versions) and before that, in every successful real-life senior class play ever staged.
And, of course, it's there for the solo performer in American Idol, the mega-hit show that will provide Glee with one of the largest lead-in audiences in TV history Tuesday night. And just in case anyone might miss the connection between the two productions in terms of transformational musical moments, Fox has been endlessly playing a slick promotional ad for Glee that features "Don't Stop Believin'" during commercial breaks all season long.
But, first, there are all these cardboard characters to wade through. There is the mean-spirited and superior cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch). She, of course, ridicules the kids in glee club. Then there's the geeky kid who everybody wants to beat up, Arty (Kevin McHale). He, of course, personifies the victimhood of kids at the bottom of the high school pecking order.
There's also the star quarterback, Finn (Cory Monteith), and his cheerleader perfect girlfriend, Quinn (Dianna Agron). Of course, there is also the overachieving, but not so perfect looking girl who longs for Finn, Rachel (Lea Michele). And let us not forget the thick-as-a-block football coach and a school principal who is largely defined by his East Indian accent.
