Glee is a surprisingly complicated beast. Ostensibly, it’s simply High School Musical. Yes, there is singing and there is high school and there is angst, but Glee’s relation to its tweeny predecessor is decidedly ambivalent. It’s as if Glee was HSM a few years back, but has now grown up, realised girls have boobs, small quantities of weed are useful for blackmail and that singing isn’t just about expression, it’s about escape. Glee delivers all the same punches HSM always did, but this time, they come with an ironic, mildly self-deprecating smile.

This is not to say Glee is without flaws. The quality varies, and certain episodes can be almost painful to watch, but being a rough diamond is part of Glee’s charm. There’s easily enough good, poignant and deliciously cheesy moments to outweigh an occasional bit of cringe.

But what makes Glee special is not so much the songs or the one-liners or the plotlines or even the ‘fake sexy teenage cast’, but instead the show’s brazen loser-glorifying ethos. As one character puts it, the Glee kids slot into the high school hierarchy at sub-basement level, just below “the invisibles and the kids playing live-action druids and trolls in the forest”. These dweebs, these nerds, these utter weirdos: they are our heroes. The publicity photos feature cast members, from uber-jock to boy soprano, each flashing an ‘L’ sign at us, and it isn’t quite clear if the loser is supposed to be us or them. I suspect it’s both.

And yet, Glee seems to have generated appeal amongst its least likely supporters: I am reliably informed that several members of both my college’s inter-year drinking societies have become fans. Somehow, the show that was dedicated by its creator to “anybody and everybody who got a wedgie in high school” has found an audience among (I generalize broadly here) the wedgie-givers as well as the wedgie-receivers. I suppose it’s not surprising. There’s definitely enough comedy and catchy tunes to keep anyone interested, but if that’s the only reason you’re watching, then you’re kinda missing the point.