Gleeful!

My relationship with Glee was not love at first sight. I really enjoyed the pilot and the subsequent episodes, but overall I enjoyed the music much more than the uneven story-telling. This lead to erratic viewing and I was mostly meh while the rest of the country was ascending into full gleekdom. However, somewhere between the Throwdown and Mash-up episodes, I reconnected, recommitted and finally gleeked out!

Last night, Glee was featured as the penultimate panel at The Paley Fest! Creator Ryan Murphy with his producing team along with the entire cast except for Lea Michele participated. Prior to the panel we were given the immense thrill of screening the director's cut of episode 14, which is scheduled to air on April 13. It was amazing! Idina Menzel and Jonathan Groff each brilliantly debuted as interesting and exciting new characters. I won't spoil anything here, but see the spoiler list at the end of this entry!

I cannot adequately express my utter and sheer joy at witnessing this panel. E! Online correspondent Marc Malkin was the host and he led the panel superbly. When new guest-star Jonathan Groff was asked what it was like to join this ensemble, he praised them for being so down-to-earth, professional and fun. To which, Jane Lynch looked at Matthew Morrison and said he hasn't worked with us yet! I loved that moment! The panel was great fun and there are links all over the web that cover it in great depth. I left the panel with an even greater love for the show, knowledge that the 15th episode back will be a tribute to Madonna featuring 10 of her songs and an anxiousness to get back into the Glee groove!

Glee SPOILERS!

1. The song list for the April 13 return are The Beatles Hello Goodbye, Lionel Richie's Hello, AC DC's Highway to Hell and The All American Rejects Gives You Hell.
2. Idina Menzel is Vocal Adrenaline's choir director and Jonathan Groff is their star singer.
3. Jane Lynch, Curt and Amber perform Madonna's Vogue, recreating her infamous video in the Madonna tribute episode.
4. Kristin Chenowich will return as April this season.
5. Rachel and Puck, or Puckleberry as Ryan Murphy called them, will get together again.
6. We won't meet Rachel's 2 dads until possibly sometime during the second season.
7. Neil Patrick Harris will appear as Mr. Shue's old rival. They will duet to Aerosmith's Dream On and a Billy Joel song.
8. Jane Lynch and Matthew Morrison will appear in a few select cities on the Glee Tour. They exchanged an interesting look at that announcement.
9. The Futon Critic's full transcript