With Glee

Will at The League of Ordinary Gentlemen hosted a great series over the last couple of weeks searching for the ‘greatest covers of all time’. He solicited and posted recommendations from readers and many of the entries will be added to my own music collection in the near future. I was honored that one of my recommendations made the ‘honorable mentions’ list when he posted his final Top 10 but I was also a bit ashamed that I realized I neglected a great TV show in my fall TV round-up last week.

We have been watching Glee religiously every week since it started this fall. It’s the only TV show my oldest daughter and I both watch and the family is hooked. The premise of the show is that it centers around a fictional glee club at a high school in Ohio. When the series started the club was filled with misfits and outcasts and despite their natural talents, they were pretty lousy. Then they get a new teacher/sponsor who is a former glee club star himself, change their name to ‘New Directions’ and begin to steadily improve each week on a diet of contemporary hits, old standards and a sprinkling of show tunes. Their success attracts new members, they continue to get stronger and the series closed its fall run with the club winning sectionals.

Of course, being a TV show, there are plenty of ancillary plot lines. One member of the club is pregnant, there is romance, backstabbing, social pressures, etc. It’s a great ride, but no doubt the most fun each week is the musical numbers. The songs are given fresh makeovers and are always, always positive. My wife will happily verify that when it comes to TV and movies I am a complete and total sap for happy endings or feel-good moments.  It’s the reason that I love watching Disney made-for-TV movies with my youngest daughter and why Love Actually is one of my favorite holiday movies (multiple happy endings!) For that reason my submission to Will’s greatest cover contest was this version of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” which was the stand-out of the series so far in my opinion. As Will says, it is ‘gloriously uplifting’.

Enjoy!