'Glee'-ful: 7 reasons to be happy it's back

To "Glee" or not to "Glee"?

That is the question on the eve of the second half of the first season, which has already been answered loudly and firmly by some 8 million fans, otherwise known as "gleeks."

But what about you? The person who has resisted the "Glee" hype ("glype"?) until now . . . the rebel who refuses to be sucked in by the relentless chop-and-grind Fox promotion machine . . . the aesthete who's suspicious of the ubiquitous "Glee" music track that has commandeered iTunes?

Should gleekiness become an option for you as well?

Affirmative, friend. Affirmative.

Before we get to the reasons why - seven, to be precise - be aware that "Glee" returns Tuesday at 9:28 p.m. and there is, truly, nothing you can do about the glype. Of all the midseason returning shows, this is the one with the big breeze at its back called "American Idol." And even beyond that built-in advantage, there is a sense of moment, and momentousness. "Glee" feels poised for the big time, whether you like it or not.

But go ahead, like it. Or like some of it. Here are seven reasons why, based on the first three new episodes entitled "Hell-O" (Tuesday), "The Power of Madonna" (April 20) and "Home" (April 27).

1. Music, music, music

This reason could - nearly does - spill over into all seven reasons. "Glee's" musical tastes (and execution) would represent an unusual degree of intelligence and sophistication for a movie or Broadway musical, much less a prime-time TV show. The third episode, the strongest musically of the first three, incorporates songs from Stephanie Mills ("Home"), Christina Aguilera ("Beautiful") and Burt Bacharach ("A House Is Not a Home"). The performances are expert, and while some critics may criticize (and, in fact, have) "Glee's" sanitized sound - rubbed clean by the use of high-tech gizmos like Auto-Tune - there is something to be said for perfect pitch, too. Meanwhile, if all "Glee" ever does from here on is to introduce millions to Great American Songbook standards by composers like Bacharach, then its legacy is secure. 

2. Sue Sylvester

Jane Lynch was well-known to millions - mostly thanks to her recurring shrink role on "Two and a Half Men" - but was somehow not known, either. She was one of those performers much revered in Hollywood, and much ignored elsewhere. There were admired performances ("Best in Show"), then breakout ones ("The 40 Year Old Virgin") and finally, outright grand larceny, as Sue Sylvester. As the razor-edged, hard-mouthed, snark-swagging coach of the Cheerios, Lynch/Sylvester now has officially stolen "Glee."

In this new round, she gets the best lines, best scenes and even the most memorable music performance - as a Madonna-wannabe in a flawless replica of the famed David Fincher-directed 1990 "Vogue" video.

3. Homage to the Great White Way

No show (perhaps no show in history) has so studiously, so reverently paid tribute to the gene pool from whence all American popular entertainment springs. Broadway is absolutely baked into "Glee." There are recurring roles for John Lloyd Young ("Jersey Boys"), Victor Garber and Debra Monk (parents of glee club adviser Will Schuester, played by Matthew Morrison of "South Pacific") and Kristen Chenoweth, among others. The lead, Lea Michele, starred in "Spring Awakening," and her equally precocious castmate, Jonathan Groff, joins the show in Tuesday's episode for an extended arc as Jesse St. James, the full-of-himself star of a rival glee club. Idina Menzel ("Wicked") plays the rapacious director of that club.

4. A-list guest roles

"Glee" doesn't believe in wasting talent. If you can get Kristen Chenoweth - in other words - you use Kristen Chenoweth, who is currently in the Burt Bacharach musical "Promises Promises," which explains the presence of the Bacharach classics. A luckless former member of McKinley's glee club, Chenoweth's character returns in "Home" to remind viewers over a pair of performances exactly what a world-class singing voice is. But there is more - Olivia Newton-John and Neil Patrick Harris arrive later in the season, and, while not known for her singing chops, former "Saturday Night Live" member Molly Shannon will be here as well.

5. Matthew Morrison

Yes, Mr. Shue - Spanish teacher, glee club leader and, this season, unlucky in love. Anyone who saw Morrison in the revival of "South Pacific" at Lincoln Center - or in "Hairspray" or in "The Light in the Piazza" - knew he was a major-star-in-the-making. With "Glee," the major star has been made. He's terrific as the soft-at-center glee coach with golden pipes and puppy dog eyes. With the new episodes, his vulnerability is rawer than ever.

6. Ingenious structure

As you know, "Glee" takes a song, or an idea from a song, and spins an entire episode out of it, but the conceit now seems brighter than ever. Take "Home," which is largely about lost love or unrequited love, those great themes of American song. But instead of pulling in any of a thousand obvious tunes, Ryan Murphy - executive producer as well as executive music producer - selects "A House Is Not a Home," written by Bacharach and Hal David, and made famous by Luther Vandross. The classic's very first line - "A chair is still a chair" - plays directly to the core plot of the episode.

7. Major music stars

Is Madonna not your beverage of choice? She may well be here, however; the queen of excess offered her entire catalog for use on the show - not for altruistic reasons, she's selling the DVD based on her "Sticky and Sweet" tour - which sounds like oversharing we can do without when albums like "Erotica" are invoked. But in a 30-year career, Madonna has written or produced some great pop songs, too. You'll hear a number of them April 20. Meanwhile, Lady Gaga is up later this season.

'Glee' 101: A crash course on season 1

'Glee" centers on McKinley High's Spanish teacher Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) and his attempt to return the glee club - now known as New Directions - back to greatness, or at least competitiveness.

But it's a singer-eat-singer world out there, and if Will isn't undercut by the school's cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), he has to deal with rival back-stabbing glee club directors, too.

At the close of midseason, the club had to perform brand new songs at the sectionals - without their director. Will had to disqualify himself because of a rule technicality - after Sue leaked their set list to the other directors.

Meanwhile, Will has left wife Terri (Jessalyn Gilsig) after he discovered she had faked her pregnancy, and is looking to hook up with school counselor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays), who is already engaged to the football coach. (He splits with her, when he learns she loves "The Shue.")

Meanwhile, Emma tells Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) about Sue's subterfuge, and Sue gets suspended. Emma decides to leave McKinley, too, figuring it'd be too hard to keep working there with her former fiance and new flame hanging around.

The kids? Football-star-now-glee-club-member Finn (Cory Monteith) still loves Quinn (Dianna Agron) who is carrying Puck's (Mark Salling) baby. Star-struck Rachel (Lea Michele) still has the hots for Finn and so (in fact) does Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer).

Before the show went on hiatus, New Directions had won the sectionals and The Shue was reinstated.

LI's Jenna Ushkowitz sings in the key of 'Glee'

As Tina Cohen-Chang, the stuttering and painfully shy McKinley High Schooler on Fox's hit "Glee," Jenna Ushkowitz often seems tongue-tied. But the actress, who grew up in East Meadow, wasn't at a loss for words when it came to spilling what's in store for her character as the show returns Tuesday with the first of nine new episodes.

"Tina is a bit angrier than I am. She has some unresolved issues with Artie, and there will definitely will be some conversation between them, and fans will be encouraged by the outcome," Ushkowitz said recently by phone from Los Angeles.

Besides possibly making some beautiful music with the wheelchair-bound Artie, played by Kevin McHale, Ushkowitz says the "Glee" fans, or "gleeks," will hear Tina sing a lot more, including some numbers in the much-hyped Madonna-themed episode on April 20.

"I don't think any of us could have guessed what this has become. All any of us knew was that, when we did the pilot, we knew it was something special," Ushkowitz says. "Since then, I've met a lot of kids who love the show and who've told me they've joined the glee club because of our show or they're forming one because of the show. It's been really incredible."

Not that the seasoned 23-year-old actress isn't used to being in the spotlight. Ushkowitz started acting when she was 3, doing commercials for Jell-O and Burger King, and made her Broadway debut in a revival of "The King and I" as one of the king's children. It didn't hurt having teachers in elementary school and at Holy Trinity Diocesan High School in Hicksville who were as encouraging as "Glee's" Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison).

"I had one teacher who basically helped me get through fourth grade with his inspiration. We still keep in touch, and he loves the show," she says. "And in my high school, they had a great music program, so I was blessed."

After graduating from Marymount Manhattan College, she made it back to Broadway with a role in "Spring Awakening," which also gave "Glee" co-star Lea Michele's career a boost. Though Ushkowitz and Michele played competing divas earlier in the season on "Glee," the two are actually close friends.

Next up for Ushkowitz and the rest of the "Glee" clubbers is the live tour, which comes to Radio City Music Hall May 28-30 for five performances. "It's going to be guided by a plot line, and we will all be in character," she says, "only instead being a glee club, now we're going to be rock stars." --Daniel Bubbeo