By By Allison Klamkin, Special to the Chronicle

After airing its pilot episode in May, Fox’s newest comedy is back. “Glee” entered the network’s fall lineup on Wednesday.
Centering on a small-town high school’s misfit glee club, trying to recreate its award-winning past, “Glee” features a fresh, young cast of newcomers and a few television veterans. Each week’s episode will feature songs performed by the cast,
After its premiere, “Glee” kept a strong presence both on the web and on television.The pilot re-aired twice in the past week, once being a “Tweet-peat,” featuring live tweets on Twitter from cast members and fans.
The characters are your typical high school personalities which, although clichéd, gives the show a good dose of charm. Everyone knows these characters; they were the kids we all knew in high school. The characters also face issues pertaining to today’s youth, such as fitting in and finding out where they truly belong. And don’t we all want to root for the underdog?
The true highlight of “Glee” is its young, talented cast. Several cast members, including leading actress Lea Michele (glee club captain Rachel Berry) and Matthew Morrison (Spanish teacher and club adviser Will Schuester) have Broadway credits under their belts (Michele in “Spring Awakening” and Morrison in “Hairspray” and “The Light in the Piazza,” to name a few). Other cast members like Jane Lynch (cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester) and Jayma Mays (guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury) are familiar faces to prime time television. The rest of the cast is made up of promising newcomers.
Author and creator Ryan Murphy (“Nip/Tuck”) has some great character developments and story ideas for “Glee” and never fails to come up with quoteable one-liners that reference everything from popular culture to Broadway musicals.
Despite a pilot full of energy and fast-paced humor, something was missing from the newest episode. Although the musical performances were exciting and fresh, especially Matthew Morrison’s rendition of “Gold Digger” (who knew he could rap?), the episode felt slow and dragged in a few places, especially when Will’s wife (Jessalyn Gilsig) continuously obsessed over her hysterical pregnancy, a storyline which felt slightly disjointed, even in the pilot.
However, I think that “Glee” can overcome these small issues with tweaks to the storyline and certain characters. Although “Glee” isn’t the typical prime-time programming that deals with crime scenes and hospital romances, it could easily become a favorite of many. It’s a fun show that doesn’t take itself too seriously (and thankfully doesn’t try to be the next “High School Musical,” either). The weekly musical performances give it an added boost of personality along with clever writing and talented cast. I expect this show will prove itself in the ratings and become one of the season’s new hits.
 

The cast of “Glee”, Fox’s newest comedy that airs Wednesday nights. (Photo Courtesy www.celebutopia.net)