Good for Glee for trying this out. Ask and ye shall receive. Ok, maybe I didn’t actually write to the writers and tell them to feature Schuester more but I did say he needed to play more of a role in the story lines. And, John Stamos brings the sexy back, which is the perfect juxtaposition for Schuester (see dictionary for meaning). You see, Schuester is the perfect teacher character. He’s “cool” for school but a dork deep-down with insecurity issues…perfect. Stamos is straight-up cool and if you watch Entourage, you’d love the story line where he and Drama have a ping-pong grudge match. The fact that they emphasize his tight friendship with Bob Saget is money. But I digress.
What to like about the Rocky Horror Glee Show:
“Ain’t No Carb That’s Into Sexy” The Boys and Body Image
The Finn/Sam discussion about abs and carbs and being self-conscious about your body, was a good one. I actually knew a guy who, after learning the guacamole we were eating had too many calories for his liking, spent the next day “punishing” himself on the stairmaster. Now given the cheese-flavoured nature of the “Finn learns a valuable lesson on overcoming his insecurities” inherent in network shows, it was pretty good.
Sam also is developing more of a personality which is a good addition after the subtraction of the bad-boy, ab guy Puck, so we’ll see where that goes.
“Using the Arts to Pick-Up the Other Guy’s Chick” Will and the Emma Fixation
Like I said above, Will is one of the better characters and his attempts to get Emma by doing a Rocky Horror production was a good way to do Rocky Horror without it seeming trite. Why he still likes Emma is another matter but considering the slim-pickins in a school, I can see why he’s attracted to her. Their short touching scene (you know, the one where piano starts softly playing in the background and voices go lower, almost a whisper…) is, well, touching in an un-emotional kind of way.Â
What was better was the lecture Will took from Sue about the arts and high-school and pushing boundaries;Â a bit of wisdom from the villain worked well.Â
Rocky Horror is something for the freakish and the weird and those that like to have something esoteric to joke about. I’m not a huge fan and quite frankly, Finn’s reaction to the script was the same as mine the many years ago that I saw it. Seeing the Glee kids replay some of it was a refresher in what the musical was trying to do and makes me want to take another look at it.
I also want a drama/stage production department that can put on a musical with those sets in a week. I’m sure anyone who has worked on a musical will give a “pshaw, as if!” but remember, it’s TV and as we all know…TV sucks