IMHO "Glee" (1.1): Pilot

Why didn't I like this more? It should have been a slam dunk. Perhaps it was over-hyped? Perhaps I was expecting more considering it was created by Ryan Murphy (who gave us the greatest high school series ever, Popular)?

I'm giving it an up arrow because the good outweighed the blah ... but why didn't I like this more? Watch the pilot below and judge for yourselves!

The Good:

Jane Lynch as the bitter, hard-as-nails cheerleader coach. She can mine any line for comedic gold.

The musical numbers. The Rehab bit was terrific, but I'm willing to forgive almost every flaw about the show because of that closing number. Journey is, of course, the greatest rock group of the 80's, and Don't Stop Believing has become a rock standard. The good news is that the show's cast managed an exuberant cover, but I thought it was hilarious that, because American Idol ran late, my DVR cut the song off before it finished (ala the finale of The Sopranos).

The Blah:

The gay teen Kurt (Chris Colfer) has me worried. He starts off being shoved into a dumpster (after pleading with the bullies to let him take off his new Marc Jacobs jacket), and aside from his audition number, has maybe one or two more lines. I realize that it's just the pilot episode, but I have a nervous feeling we may be in for another "barely there" gay character when the show comes back. I hope I'm wrong.

The pacing seemed off for some reason. The first half of the show was sluggish, then the second half steamrolled through everything. It was as if they had to set up certain plot points in the beginning, then ran out of time and hurried through the obligatory scenes (jock doesn't want to join glee club but learns a lesson about ... himself, teacher quits the club but the power of music brings him back and teaches him a lesson about ... himself), etc.

Overall, though, I thought the show worked well enough to warrant another look when it comes back in the fall. I'd love to meet the two gay dads of deceptively perky Rachel (Lea Michele) (and I'd love it if they made her totally, cheerfully insane ala Election's Tracy Flick), and I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they'll do more with Kurt than make him a walking bitchy one-liner factory.

Maybe it was wrong of me to expect Popular 2, but couldn't Ryan Murphy at least bring back Mary Cherry as a substitute teacher?

What did you think? Did you love it? Hate it? Were you disappointed? And are you planning to come back when it returns this fall?