h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

One of the best nights I've had this year was going to the MEN Arena and watching Glee "Live" - yes, I'm well aware there's an awful lot of lip-syncing going on so it wasn't a real concert but good God it was fun. There's just something about Glee that bypasses my aversion to cheesiness and makes me smile. It does make me regress somewhat to my teenage years, singing along to cheesy pop and having fawning crushes: in Glee's case, it's Blaine and (in a development that's given me some pause for thought) Santana that make me go all gooey.

What I really like about Glee is, amongst all the cliches and melodrama, there's actually some really well-observed drama and realistic portrayals in there: Kurt's reaction when he nearly lost his father to a heart attack, Finn's discovery he's got his girlfriend pregnant (or at least he thinks he has) and Karofsky's denial and eventual acceptance of his sexuality. Plus Blaine: I think every gay kid knew someone who was impossibly attractive, talented and out and proud while they themselves were coming out. It's things like this that elevate Glee from standard televisual Valium to something altogether more special.

They also do musicals properly: since Once More, With Feeling (perhaps Joss Whedon's finest moment) it's become a bit of a cliche for TV programmes to do a musical episode but it's more event telly than proper musical where feelings and motivations are enunciated with catchy melodies: the Glee writers/directors are getting extremely good at weaving the songs in seamlessly - the last two episodes have been excellent in this regard (and curiously it's involved Naya Rivera/Santana both times). I've loved musicals ever since I was a little kid because I think there's little sexier than a human voice, especially one that's expressing its feelings and I love Glee's blending of musical classics with modern pop stuff: their take of Pink's Raise Your Glass (already one of my favourite songs of the decade) is one of my favourite things ever.

Now I'm off to over Darren Criss some more. I may be some time...

Oh you! how come you haven't shared him with the thread!
I've never seen Glee so that's all you're getting from me.

If you liked 'once more with feeling' and you may also like 'Dr Horrible's Sing a long Blog' also by Joss Whedon.... http://doctorhorrible.net/watch/ (also can be found on youtube)