Glee was the breakout US hit of last year and became just as popular around the world soonafter. Its heady mix of high school drama, snarky comedy, teen soap, and song 'n dance numbers pushed a lot of viewer's pleasure button, becoming the perfect antidote to the global recession. The show's about to begin the latter half of its first season (tonight in the US, next Monday in the UK), but in the meantime the first dozen episodes have been packaged together as "Glee Season 1 - Road To Sectionals":
1.1 "Pilot": "... the characters are extremely likeable... song-n'-dance routines are irrefutably uplifting, fun and beautifully-choreographed." Continue...
1.2 "Showmance": "... exuberant and fast-paced, which is what you demand from a high school comedy-musical..." Continue...1.3 "Acafellas": "... a diverting hour of silliness, but nowhere near as joyous as the previous episodes..." Continue...
1.4 "Preggers": "... ultimately a fun hour... the show's certainly got plenty of pace to it. Maybe it's too fast, actually." Continue...
1.5 "The Rhodes Not Taken": "... a great guest-star performance from Broadway singer [Kristin] Chenoweth... idiosyncratic and comical..." Continue...
1.6 "Vitamin D": "... it goes without saying that Sue's dialogue was to die for as she self-narrated her journal scribbling, and now we have the prospect of [her] co-chairing glee club with Will..." Continue...
1.7 "Throwdown": ".. you really have to just roll with Glee's peculiarities, as reality is taking a firmer backseat the deeper we stroll into the season..." Continue...1.8 "Mashup": "... Sue suddenly developing a romance with a slimy news anchorman and thus requiring dance lessons from her 'arch enemy' Will just felt extremely improbable to me..." Continue...
1.9 "Wheels": "... weak songs, meager laughs... a well-intentioned but ham-fisted attempt to tackle issues of disability, and one that left me feeling bludgeoned from a shaky moral high ground..." Continue...
1.10 "Ballad": "... I'm beginning to feel a little indifferent about Glee's recent episodes, and it didn't help that Sue Sylvester was totally absent..." Continue...
1.11 "Hairography": "... a few decent moments, but it felt ephemeral and pointless in many ways... the jokes just weren't all that great, and I'm not a fan of Glee's self-righteous tone..." Continue...1.12 "Mattress": "... definitely an epochal episode... more focused and smoothly plotted than recent episodes..." Continue...
1.13 "Sectionals": "...for all its many faults, 'Sectionals' benefited from the simple fact it was the culmination of a dozen episodes' buildup" Continue...
DVD Disc Review
Picture (1.85:1, Anamorphic Widescreen) I'm spoiled by high-definition Blu-ray these days, so reviewing the picture quality of DVDs can be difficult to judge on its own merits. At a cursory glance of the episodes across all four discs, I saw little that would detract from my enjoyment. The colours looked fine, and while the picture quality was spottier than a HD transfer would undoubtedly have been, I'm sure everyone who hasn't yet made the jump to 1080P will be happy.
Sound (Dolby Digital 5.1 English, Dolby Digital 2.0 English) Again, lossless HD tracks would have punched the sound up a notch, but the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack still does a decent job with the show, and breathes some life into the many songs. I didn't originally see these episodes on TV in true 5.1 surround sound, so it was the best presentation I've heard of the show yet.
Special Features
Welcome To McKinley (5 mins.) The funniest extra is undoubtedly this faux video presentation by Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba), who gives a hilariously inept and self-conscious guide to the facilities of McKinley High for the benefit of freshmen. This is possibly the best thing Theba's done on the show, as worrying as that might be, so please give him more to do on the actual show!
Glee Music Video (3 mins.) Queen's "Somebody To Love" gets glee'd and set to a so-called music video that plays like an extended promo for the show in slo-mo. This actually encapsulates the show's appeal, although it's a pity it's not presented in stereo and not surround sound.
Full Length Audition Pieces. Here you can watch the full performances of Rachel singing "On My Own" (3 mins.) and Mercedes performing "Respect" (1 min.), which were the respective actresses audition pieces for the show.
Fox Movie Channel Presents Casting Sessions (12 mins.) The most substantial featurette on the disc is this look at how they cast the show by holding auditions at Fox. We learn, as if there was any doubt, that the creators were after performers who were "triple threats" (i.e can act, sing and dance), that Lea Michele was the first to be auditioned and walked in fresh from a car accident picking glass out of her hair, and that Corey Monteith's audition tape had him drumming on tupperware and wine glasses, amongst other things. A nice peek behind the curtain, but a shame it only focused on a few of the core actors.
Deconstructing Glee With Ryan Murphy (3 mins.) The co-creator of Glee gives his brief thoughts on what the show's all about and its themes, for what it's worth.
Dance Boot Camp (3 mins.) Choreographer Zach Woodlee gives us a quick insight into how the cast get into shape for the dance routines, and it's again mentioned that Corey Monteith is the weak link (but we knew that from the show.)
Jane Lynch A To Glee (1 min.) Resolutely pointless soundbite from Jane Lynch while sat in makeup, with a few clips of her character Sue Sylvester to bookmark.
Meet Jane Lynch (1 min.) Considering Lynch plays the show's best character, the most disappointing thing about this Glee box-set's extras is how marginalized she is. Here's a so-brief-it's-unnecessary extra that could, and should, have been far more extensive.
Things You Don't Know About Jayma/Corey/Amber/Chris. A handful of Glee's cast answer trivial questions about themselves, each lasting approximately 1 minute. Very underwhelming.
Video Diaries (17 mins.) The cast were given camera-phones to record their trip from L.A to New York, to attend the Fox Upfronts presentation of Glee last summer. Here you'll see each actor's video-diary of the day, truncated to a few minutes per person. Jane Lynch, Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison, Corey Monteith, Kevin McHale, Amber Riley, Chris Colfer & Dianna Agron all participated. The result is rather unfocused and sometimes confused, but nevertheless a fun candid look into each actor's day. You can sense the group cameraderie and excitement about being on the cusp of network success. Each actor's diary is playable separately, but I recommend you "Play All" and sit back.
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