PILOT EPISODE

PILOT

[airdate: May 19, 2009]

GUEST STARS:
Romy Rosemont as Mrs. Hudson
Ben Bledsoe as Hank Saunders
Justin Gaston as a football player

SONGS:
Don't Stop Believing- Glee Cast
Rehab- Amy Winehouse
You're The One That I Want- Glee Cast
Respect- Mercedes
Mr. Cellophane-Kurt
I Kissed a Girl- Tina
Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat- Glee Cast

On My Own- Rachel
Can't Fight This Feeling- FinnREO

Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'- Journey
Leavin' on a Jet Plane (director's cut only)- Will

The pilot was seen from 1-30 times from the average fan.

[gleewiki.fox.com]

REVIEWS:

KimberlyB said: I loved it! I watched the whole hour with a big grin on my face. That was such a tease though, because we have to wait until fall for the next episode. "Sit down, you're rocking the boat" sung by the kid in the wheelchair made me snicker.

Wild-Cat said: I'm particularly lovin' the music--they are totally makin' eighties music back on the in!

noobloser said: I know I'm in the minority here, but it's a little bit of a trite concept, being a little HSM at times, and predictable at times (along with the ending promo, I can already see the problems ahead). HOWEVER (you were about to mouth me off weren't you?), the humor on this show balances it out, and makes it better. I couldn't stop laughing during "You're the One That I Want", and the cover of "Don't Stop Believin'" was very nice. Makes me wish I had the money to spluge on iTunes singles. All in all, I will definitely be tuning in during the fall (I cannot wait for the series to start, as many people have said), but I have the episode downloaded onto my iPod to tide me over until then (thank God the episode was free!).

RECAP:

A cheerleading team practices on a high school football field. We see their scowling coach, the incomparable Jane Lynch (playing Sue Sylvester). She scowls at the cheerleaders and yells, “You think this is hard? Try being waterboarded, that’s hard.” Welcome to “Glee”! An older car with Ohio license plates and a muffler that scrapes the ground pulls in the school parking lot. It’s our first glimpse of teacher Will Schuester, who comes upon a pack of football bullies who intend to stuff a fey, well-dressed young man into the dumpster. “Make some new friends, Kurt?” Will asks. He tells one player, in Spanish, that he owes him a report and moves on. Kurt protests that his jacket is from Marc Jacobs’ new collection, and Finn stops the beatdown long enough to hold his jacket…and wince.Inside William McKinley High School, Will stops at the trophy case, which includes one from 1993 for show choir. A plaque to the deceased teacher reads, “By its very definition, Glee is about opening yourself up to joy.” Will looks pretty grim.In the music room, a bespectacled teacher, Sandy Ryerson , plays the piano while wearing a fuchsia sweater over his shoulders. Beside him is a muscular young man singing, “Where Is Love?” from “Oliver.” The teacher’s ... er ... appreciation for the fellow is obvious, and he joins the boy in a duet while touching the handsome fellow’s stomach. A girl is spying on this scene… The teacher’s lounge is out of coffee, a situation Will discusses with coach Ken, a bulldog of a guy. Cheerleading coach Sue enters with lattes, very proud of herself for her discerning palate. Emma, a cute redhead teacher, comes in and Coach Ken tries to flirt with her. She’s having none of it. But she does have something for Will Schuester: this is clear from the look in her eyes. She gets into a spat with Sue about money that was diverted from from the teachers’ coffee budget for the Cheerios (the cheer squad). I guffawed at Sue’s next lines: “Your resentment is delicious. Well, I have a phoner in a couple of minutes. It’s an interview on the telephone with a major media outlet. I’ll probably do it on my iPhone.”Impeccable Emma has taken out disposable gloves and started to sanitize her table. She’s not a fan of germs, it seems. She’s also single and lookin’ for love, though she insists to Coach Ken that he won’t see her at any singles mixers. She reveals that Sandy, whom we’d seen with the young singer, was fired, and Will asks, “Who’ll take over Glee Club?”Next, we’re in the principal’s office, and – surprise! – Will’s taking over Glee Club, but if Will wants to take over Glee Club, he’ll have to pay $60/month out of pocket, plus use only the costumes available. What will he do? Oh, you know – he’ll spend a sleepless night agonizing over the decision and then will take over Glee Club. How else would we have a show? He has an epiphany to call the club “New Directions.”A Glee Club sign-up sheet is posted in the school hallway. Mercedes Jones, who resembles a high-school-age Jennifer Hudson, belts out “Respect” in her audition, and gets some.Next up is Kurt, from the dumpster incident. He sings “Mr. Cellophane” (from “Chicago”) in a voice that could come from a female speakeasy singer. It’s rather fascinating, honestly. Tina, a punky Asian girl who stutters, sings “I Kissed a Girl.” We then meet Rachel, who says she’ll sing “’I’m on My Own’” from the seminal Broadway classic ‘Les Mis.’” She always puts a gold star after her name, people throw drinks in her face, and it’s revealed that she turned in Sandy for touching that young male singer (but really, for robbing her of the solo!). She’s not homophobic, she insists, she has two gay dads! She’s been given lessons all her life to “give her a competitive edge.” She posts a MySpace video every day to “keep my talent growing.” These days, she says, “being anonymous is worse than being poor.” The Cheerios look at her videos and post nasty comments.We don’t see Artie’s audition, oddly, but he’s granted admission. In fact, at the first rehearsal, Artie in his wheelchair at the center of the production, singing with Rachel. Rachel says, “We suck.” Will finds her on the bleachers and convinces her to stay. She explains that she’s a sophomore and can feel the clock ticking away. She tells Will she needs a male lead who can keep up with her. In a bedding store a wound-up woman is telling another worker that if he can’t fold a fitted sheet, he can’t work at Sheets ‘n’ Things. Will arrives, and we realize this is his wife. Oy. He brings her a sandwich, and she objects to mayo because “if my diabetes comes back, I can’t get pregnant.” He breaks the news that he has to stay late to oversee detention in exchange for keeping Glee Club.Will hears a man berating a worker in another part of the store – it’s the disgraced Sandy, whom Will learns has been getting medical marijuana and selling it, making 5 times more than his teacher salary. Plus, he’s been selling to coach Ken. Back at school, Will knows he needs to add more kids to the Glee Club. He hits up Sue to recruit from the Cheerios, but she says Glee Club is the sub-basement of the high school caste system, while the Cheerios are at the top. Emma urges Will on, telling him that all he needs is a couple popular kids and Glee will seem cool. Coach Ken has Will talk to the football players, who laugh off Glee Club. Later, Will overhears Finn singing “I Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore” in the shower, and Will is inspired. He says this is why he wanted to do Glee Club – to see the gift in a kid that they didn’t know they had. To help him see his gift, Will plants marijuana on him and blackmails him to join Glee Club. Nothing like being a mentor, is there?It turns out that when Finn was younger, his mother dated a lawn painter (you read that right) who was a wannabe rocker. He also rocks a mullet. When he and Finn belted out Journey’s “Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’” together, he said, “With that voice, my band would still be together.” When the lawn painter moves on to greener pastures, Finn vows to himself to make his mom proud.The first song Finn sings with the group is a duet with Rachel, the Grease duet “You’re the One That I Want.” Yes, there is a frisson between the two, and all agree that Finn’s the one that Glee Club wants.Back at Will’s house, he and his wife, Terri, are doing a puzzle. “You usually don’t let me in your craft room,” he says. They get into an argument about her spending – she likes lots of Pottery Barn items and crafts, of course, and generally having a lot of stuff. She pressures him to make more money and says she gets his interest in Glee Club but that high school’s over for them.Emma jumps on a chance to chaperone the kids (with Will, of course) to a Glee competition on Saturday, when they’ll see their big competition. Finn lies to his football pal, saying he has to help is mother on Saturday because she’s having her prostate removed.Coach is upset that Will “stole his quarterback.” He’s extra upset that Emma’s into Will, and he can’t entice her with monster truck tickets. Hard to believe, right?At the Glee competition at Carmel High School, Rachel tells Finn that the rest of the team expects them to become an item – “You the hot male lead, and me the stunning young ingénue everyone roots for.” He reveals he has a girlfriend, cheerleader Quinn Fabray, who happens to be the president of the celibacy club. Fun extracurricular for the yearbook! Meanwhile, Emma and Will share a PB&J sandwich. Don’t all great love stories start that way?We learn Will and his wife were high school sweethearts, but things aren’t as sweet now. Emma’s very eager to hear his marital problems. In the auditorium, Will tells the club that this is their [air quotes] competition, but since his gang is more talented, give them some respect. We know where this is going…Vocal Adrenalin appears -- they’re three dozen strong, dressed to the nines, and as well coached as a Broadway cast. Singing the unexpected, incongruous “Rehab,” they’re slick, energetic, and oh-so-star material. Tina stutters, “We’re doomed.”Back at school, Finn’s football buddy, Puck, exposes his lie: “Chicks don’t have prostates. I looked it up.” Terri delivers the news that she’s pregnant, and he decides to give up Glee Club and become an accountant (which she’d nagged him to do for a long time, we surmise). He stands in an empty auditorium and plays the guitar and sings, “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” In another part of school, Emma is drawing a heart around his face in a yearbook (awww or ewww?) and she overhears gossip that he’s having a baby.Puck is harassing Finn about Glee Club, when Finn says he quit. Puck rejoices, “As a welcome back to the world of the normal, I got you a present.” It’s Artie (in the wheelchair) locked in a port-a-potty. The jocks plan to flip it and offer Finn “the first roll.” Instead, he lets out the “loser,” and Finn delivers the only over-the-top Very Special Moment: “Don’t you get it man? We’re all losers. Everyone in this school. No, everyone in this town…I’m not afraid of being called a loser because that’s what I am. But I am afraid of turning my back on something that made me happy for the first time in my sorry life.” He says he’ll stick with football and Glee Club because neither can win without him. Finn goes to the club to apologize: “This is what I want to be doing, with you guys.” He rallies the gang to get musicians (Artie and the jazz band) and costumes (Mercedes’ forte) and choreography (Rachel) together.Emma shows Will a video from the 1993 Glee team at nationals. We only hear the tape, of the club singing “That’s the way (uh huh uh huh) I like it.” Will says it was the greatest moment of his life because he loved what he was doing. But he insists that he needs to provide for his family. Emma convinces him that the “only life worth living is one you’re really passionate about.”Will enters the auditorium, and there are his kids, the Glee Club, singing “Don’t Stop Believin’” (another Journey song, Finn’s choice). Will’s gonna hold on to that feeling and stay with Glee Club. “It would kill me to see you win nationals without me.” Will we be going to nationals by season’s end? Regardless, it should be a fun journey!

gleewiki.fox.com

my opinion?

amazing. just amazing.