Filled with...

I cannot think of a more appropriately-named show on TV right now than “Glee.” To say it filled me with the aforementioned would be an understatement. It made me want to clap my hands and jump up and down and sing out loud to Journey in a crowded room. Funny, mean, touching, fabulous. Come on, it has show tunes AND Jane Lynch. If that’s not super gay (in the very, very good way) then I don’t know what is.

Now, I wasn’t in show choir in high school. I lacked both the ability to sing and move my hands in unison. But lots of my friends were in the club and I distinctly remember the shiny costumes and the enthusiastic performances. But the great thing about “Glee” is that it isn’t really a shiny, sequined high school musical wannabe. It’s about embracing the cheesiness and acknowledging the cruelty. High school is mean, it always has been. But it can also be filled with inexplicable joy. Kind of like “Glee.”

Roll your eyes all you want, hipsters, but there is an energy, eagerness and earnestness to those jazz hands that is impossible to resist. At its heart, it’s about the oddballs, the misfits, the dreamers. Gay kid? Yep, he’s there. Beyonce wannabe? Yep, she’s there. Stuttering Asian punk? Yep. Wheelchair-bound guitarist? Yep. Quarterback who wants to sing? Yep. Myspace superstar in her own mind with two dads? Oh, girl, she is so there. All that and an upcoming cameo by Kristin Chenoweth and I feel like doing that jumping up and down, clapping and signing Journey thing again. Still not convinced? Well, let Jane explain it to you. I mean, who can say no to Jane?

My only real disappointment is that I have to wait all damn summer to see any new episodes. It won’t return until the fall. Now that, that’s cruel. That’s even more cruel than high school.

p.s. If you missed it, the episode will stream all summer at fox.com.