Ivy Fuld: Glee

It's been a few somber days in television land for me. Terminator Sarah Connor Chronicles met it's untimely end, and The Unusuals was cancelled. Ugly Betty's been moved to Fridays, and Chuck's been renewed but only for 13 eps... I was beginning to lose hope, curl into a ball and watch the Gossip Girl finale over and over till I could forget there was nothing else except Chuck and Blair.

But then along came Glee.

You've probably heard the buzz. Fox is promoting it so much, they decided to premiere the pilot tonight in the hopes of pulling in a ready and waiting audience come fall. Looks like their devious plan is working. Twitter is a-chirp with excitement over the dark, comical and altogether unique pilot. Not only does it star Christopher Guest comic mainstay Jane Lynch, Spring Awakening superstar Lea Michele, and Ugly Betty's Jayma Mays, but it also features my long time fav Jessalyn Gilsig. No surprise there, why wouldn't Ryan Murphy, the creator of Nip/Tuck, want one of the show's most popular characters to be featured in his new show.

The pilot was bangarang, and here's 10 reasons why:

1. It defied my expectations (of which admittedly I had very few)

2. It chooses to be dark in surprising places

3. It is much better written than I'd anticipated

4. It is perfectly cast, with both new and old faces (that sounds really really cheesy)

5. The whole singing aspect is way too fun. It borders on High School Musical, but better

6. It sets up characters, a certain few in particular, that I instantly want to see more of

7. It's written by the creator of Nip/Tuck, so you know this won't be your typical ABC Family show (no disrespect meant)

8. It's about a band of misfits, and those shows are always fun (case in point, The Big Bang Theory)

9. Like any show set in a school, the possibilities for introducing fun new characters along the way are endless

10. I said Jessalyn Gilsig is in right? And Lea Michele... awesome.

(and they use Glee club music in the background, double awesome!)

The fact that most pilots, even of shows that go on to be great, aren't usually that good, speaks very highly of Glee. Their pilot is pretty spot on as far as introductory eps go. We meet Will Shuester (Matthew Morrison), a high school Spanish teacher who decides to take over the Glee club after a student accuses it's former chaperon of getting inappropriate. Will couldn't be more excited to take on the position, in an effort to relive his own Glee glory days. Will is married to Terri (Gelsig), who will undoubtedly prove herself just as psychotic as Gina Russo, just geared more towards home decorating. Emma (Mays), is a fellow teacher, a germaphobe, and hopelessly in love with Will. And then we meet the singers, an overachieving, but musically gifted nut job (Michele), a Troy Bolton wannabe (Cory Monteith), the token gay guy (Chris Colfer), the stuttering Asian (Jenna Ushkowitz), the sassy black diva (Amber Riley), and a kid in a wheelchair (Kevin McHale, no relation to Joel McHale). There's also a non-nonsense cheerleading coach, a dope smoking football coach, and a band of football players who look like they just came off the Footloose auditions (and the role goes to Chace Crawford). All in all, the show leaves you wanting more, too bad you'll have to wait till fall to get it. Of course a strong pilot doesn't mean much if the show can't continue to go up. This burdens Glee with a lot of pressure. They have to continue to push it. Oh and ladies, the quarterback is cute... I mean really cute.

So line up for role call and meet the cast!