Seven episodes in, there has been a fair bit of grumbling that Glee, Fox's crazypants series about a misfit high school vocal ensemble, has gone off the rails. Perhaps that's why it was so delightful last week when the group, mingling again after having been split in two in a faculty power struggle, eased into a casual singalong of Nelly's "Ride Wit Me."

Part of it was that it showed the kids relaxed and having fun, rather than struggling with pregnancy, coming out, crippling self-doubt, crippling self-aggrandizement, etc. But part of it was that, for the first time in a long time, it sounded like they were singing.

Why singing is important on a show about singing, after the jump.

 

That's not usually the case. Despite the presence of a handful of Broadway-tested performers, notably Spring Awakening alums Lea Michele (razor-focused pre-diva Rachel) and Jenna Ushkowitz (stuttering wallflower Tina), Glee seems to do everything in its power to avoid anything resembling live vocals. It's as if the show, having given "featured songs" producer Adam Anders an up-front credit, figures that it might as well produce the hell out of everything it can. You know, since Anders is already there and all.

The results are usually less like "Ride Wit Me" and more like the not-remotely-believable around-the-piano version of Kanye West's "Gold Digger" from the season premiere. Or like the mashup of Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" and Usher's "Confessions, Pt. 2," which, while not without its charms, didn't exactly scream "high-school music room." (Bear in mind that Cory Monteith's Finn, who sings lead on the first half of the performance, is supposed to be hopped up on cold medicine, so his twitchiness isn't bad acting so much as meth-head tweaking.)

Of course Mr. Schue thinks this performance was awesome. He just watched six high school kids benefit from light and sound tech that even Bon Jovi or Usher might find excessive.

Now, I'm not naive. I know that this is what current pop production sounds like, and I also know that Glee all but demands that you happily consign realism to the rearview mirror as soon as you turn your eyes towards the screen. I'm not against either of these things. And I know that selling the songs (and their videos) on iTunes probably offers the show an ingenious, much-needed additional revenue source that's nearly unheard of in scripted television.

But when the songs are the least plausible aspect of a show that also includes a woman bluffing her way into a school nurse position despite being completely unqualified and then handing out pseudoephedrine to students like vitamins ... Well, there's a limit to how much disbelief you can suspend before you hear a loud "snap" and it all crashes to the ground.

Glee's concept is predicated entirely around a singing group dedicated to live performances, after all. If we can't buy that, then the foundation quickly gets very shaky.