DVD Corner

Glee, Vol. 1: Road to Sectionals (DVD Review)

Content Grade: B+
Extras Grade: B

US Release Date: 29 December 2009
Not Rated

When the pilot episode premiered months before the show’s actual season would get underway – scheduled to coincide with the “AMERICAN IDOL” finale and pull in what studio execs may have assumed would be its core audience – it was unclear whether “GLEE” would be the musical dramedy that could succeed where others couldn’t.  (“VIVA LAUGHLIN” or “COP ROCK”, anyone?)  But a bajillion* downloads of “Don’t Stop Believin’” and 13 episodes later, and it seems creator/executive producer Ryan Murphy (“NIP/TUCK”) has found the magic formula.

“GLEE” follows a misfit group of high school kids who come together when high school Spanish teacher Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) takes the reins of the defunct glee club.  The musical numbers (ranging from classic rock to hip-hop to country to Broadway and back again) are slickly produced, but not overly so; and I dare you to not have one song or another stuck in a giddy loop in your head after watching just one episode.  But it’s the broad strokes and the slowly revealed intricate details of the cast of characters that keeps you coming back and, most importantly, takes the song bursts past gimmick and plants them firmly into the category of storytelling device. Continue reading →

February 14, 2010 Posted by Ranielle | DVD review | Cory Monteith, DVD review, Eve, Jane Lynch, Jayma Mays, Jessalyn Gilsig, Josh Groban, Kristin Chenoweth, Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison, Ryan Murphy, Stephen Tobolowsky, Victor Garber | Leave a comment