Still not watching Glee, “kill yourself!” As Glee’s sweater wearing, doll collecting, Josh Grobin obsessed, Sandy Ryerson might say.  Glee, which airs on FOX Wednesday’s at 9pm, is a decadent mash-up of musical fabulosity, high-school brashness, and witty irreverence.  Take equal parts High School Musical and Arrested Development, sprinkle a dash of the always-hysterical Jane Lynch and you’ve got a recipe for ultra-dry musical mayhem.

 Glee follows a group of high school misfits, some more so than others, as they try to make it through the harsh reality of High School while committing social suicide: joining the glee club.  All the characters are present, the Broadway wannabe, The Jock with a sensitive side, The Jock without one, The Vengeful Cheerleader clique, and The Teacher with unfulfilled dreams. With such a played-out cast of characters one might expect Glee to get drowned out by the ratings juggernaut that precedes it (So You Think You Can Dance). But Glee has found a niche among the aging High School Musical audience.

I have to admit that as someone who professes to despise the musical genre with a passion smelt from the diabolical furnace of Liza Minnelli’s vibrato, I was prepared to dismiss Glee as an overwrought, cliché production capitalizing on the current trend of musicals on television. Interestingly enough it is exactly the overproduced, cliché nature of Glee that makes it so much fun to watch.  Give me more elaborate backdrops, pile on that auto-tuner, and keep the all too impossible scenarios coming!  Who doesn’t want to see the whole football team doing choreography to “Single Ladies”… during a game?  Who doesn’t want to see a High School teacher sing and dance to “The Thong Song”?  And who doesn’t want to see the prettiest, most popular girl in school get a grape Slurpee facial?

If the production and cliché of Glee is its foundation then the music of Glee is its flourish.  Current pop music combined with old musical standbys are sure to appeal to most audiences, even if you’re an a cappella mavin.  The show also has an impressive pedigree of musical talent: Lea Michele (Rachel) was in the original cast of Spring Awakening on Broadway, and both Matthew Morrison (Mr. Schuester) and Kevin McHale (Artie Abrams) were in boybands.  So don’t be surprised if you find yourself belting out an awkward rendition of “Mr. Cellophane” in the shower.