Glee, "Sectionals": I saw her today at the reception

I wasn't a fan of "Glee" when it started, and despite seeing some improvement in later episodes this fall, it's still mainly background viewing for me while I do other things.

Last night's fall finale (the long hiatus comes in part because Ryan Murphy's busy directing a movie) brought a bunch of storylines to a head. In typical "Glee" fashion, it might have brought too many of them to a head at once, not allowing all to have as much impact as they might have had the big developments been spaced out, but the performances - both acting and, especially, singing - were uniformly strong. Myles McNutt, as usual, has a much more elaborate review of "Sectionals," as well as a list of questions the show needs to answer before it returns.

So, for the more passionate Gleeks, how satisfied were you with last night's show? And do you feel the show is creatively heading in the right direction? Or are there still things that can be improved between now and April 13?

Glee, "Wheels": Getting in tune

I haven't written about "Glee" since the season premiere, but Fox has sent out enough episodes on review screeners - and I've had enough cleaning of my desk and/or inbox to do - that I've seen a decent amount of this season. And tonight's episode represented a show I... well, that I at least didn't dislike as much as I've disliked some past outings. Some quick thoughts on why coming up just as soon as I hit a high F...

From the episodes I've seen, and the reviews I've read elsewhere of the episodes I haven't from people like Myles McNutt, I get the sense that "Glee" is a show with a serious identity crisis. At times it's as broad and in-your-face and self-congratulatory as every other Ryan Murphy show that I eventually stop watching out of frustration, and at other times it can be relatively human-scale - and, to my mind, much more interesting.

"Wheels" - written, ironically, by Murphy himself - was one of the latter group of episodes. No stupid fake pregnancy subplot (though it did have the slightly less stupid fake baby daddy subplot), nor any of Jessalyn Gilsig, period. Sue Sylvester still said outrageous things, but didn't seem like a cartoon (and that was even before the payoff to the Down syndrome story, which Jane Lynch nailed). Rachel still took a lunch tray to the face, but overall the number of opportunities to laugh at the characters' misfortunes was way down from some earlier episodes.

In keeping with that last part, the episode did a nice job of putting the viewers inside the heads of Artie, and Kurt, and even Kurt's dad(*). It took their problems seriously, and wrapped two very good musical performances (particularly the re-arranged "Dancing with Myself") around them.

(*) I would say, "Who knew Mike O'Malley could be a good dramatic actor?" if there wasn't so much abundant evidence that it's much easier for comedians to play serious than for serious actors to play funny. You can discuss amongst yourselves how funny you find O'Malley.

Murphy recently told the LA Times that "Wheels" typifies where he wants to see the show going forward, tonally. I hope he can stick to that. I'm still not 100 percent in the show's target audience - the showtunes don't inherently make me happy the way they do some of my friends - but at least with this episode, I could see the outlines of the show that the "Glee" fans are so obsessed with.

Not sure when/if I'll be writing about it again, but what did everybody else think of this one?

'Glee' fall review - andreikirilenkotattoo on TV

In today's column, I talk about "Glee" - which still isn't really a show for me (and won't be part of the blog rotation) - and about Fox's marketing campaign for it.

Unrelated, I suspect you can figure out the new blog logo theme without my help.

Glee, "Pilot": Just a small town girl...

As I wrote yesterday, I wasn't very fond of "Glee", but I also recognize that I'm not really in the show's target demo. (At the same time, other series have been known to overcome my demo-inappropriateness, like "Gilmore Girls.") But as I imagine some of you will really enjoy it, or at least want to discuss it, I'm setting up this post.

What did you think?

'Glee' review - andreikirilenkotattoo on TV

In today's column, I review Fox's "Glee," which I wasn't a big fan of. Beyond the fact that I'm not exactly the target demo, it also reminded me too much of aspects of Ryan Murphy's other shows ("Nip/Tuck," "Popular") that I tired of quickly. Your mileage may, of course, vary.