Why “Glee” Is Doing It The Best

As I watch the latest episode of Glee, I’m left thinking about how this show is really unlike anything else on television, now or ever. On its surface, an uninformed viewer may mistake this for another “teen drama”. A show set around high school kids, struggling through crushes and cliques and all those other high school clichés. It seems we’ve had these shows throughout recent decades. I grew up with Saved By the Bell, Head of the Class and 90210 (the original). Maybe some of you can look back to Square Pegs, or even further back to Welcome Back Kotter. We all got to see how high school was supposed to look like. How the class clown always had a joke, how the jock could never get the answer right and how you could always trust the teacher to help you do the right thing.

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Well, those times are gone… and thank goodness!

The scenarios and plot lines in Glee are nothing like the traditional teen drama we adults grew up with. Take the latest episode for example, Episode 6 “Vitamin D”. You see teens abusing a supplement to get extra energy. This concept is not new to teen shows. Heck, even Saved By the Bell had the brainy girl freaking out on some over-the-counter uppers. But in Glee, this “vitamin” is given to them by the school nurse (who doesn’t even have the medical experience to know you should feed a fever and starve a cold. Oh, wait. Is it starve a fever and feed a cold?). Anyway, we see an authority figure make the big screw-up. And instead of getting an after-school-special-like-lesson, it’s just pure humor. No life lesson learned. No person in authority stopping a careless teen from making a major mistake. And for this, I thank you Glee.

Now, Glee isn’t completely exempt from the trappings of teen dramas. Take for example the current ones on the CW. 90210 and Gossip Girl are two dramas based on the lives of overly-privileged, overly-dramatic teens. Of course, these “teens” are played mostly by actors in their mid-20’s. In Glee, we pretty much see the same thing. While some of the actors really are teens – barely (like Kurt Hummel, played by 19 year-old Chris Colfer), some actors are much older (jock turned singer Finn Hudson is played by 27 year-old Cory Monteith). I am surprised by the actual ages of some of these Glee actors. They play teenage-angst so well.

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Now keep in mind, I am giving you the viewpoint of a 30-something person. I do wonder what a teenager thinks about the show and its scenarios. Specifically, teens that hasn’t yet made it to high school and only has the TV to enlighten them of what’s to come. Hopefully, they can see that high school is as ridiculous as this show portrays. That the adults don’t always have all the answers. And that it’s really up to them to make their own path in life.