The initial pilot for Glee a few months back was good enough to get me somewhat excited. Here was a potential series that was seemingly going in the opposite direction to recent successful franchises like High School Musical, and instead actually embracing Broadway. It cast Lea Michele (Spring Awakening) in the lead role with future guest stars such as John Lloyd Young (Jersey Boys) and Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked).
Needless to say, there was a definite contemporary angle but thats a given in any circumstance. This obviously meant that although there would be Broadway renditions, the majority of the material would be popular music….much of it being less than favorable. This was fine though for the large part. If Michele’s early rendition of Rihanna’s Take A Bow was any indication, I couldn’t complain. The insertion of material like Queen and Journey was also a refreshing surprise as well.
Overall though, the personal draw for the show was its potential to serve as an outlet for Broadway stars in guest role capacities. This and possibly only this was the major reason why I found myself following a a rather dull and incredibly derivative high school melodrama. Thus I faced growing disappointment as the episodes progressed.
