I love karaoke, but Glee leaves me cold

Worst choice of name since the BBC overlooked 'Dicks' and stuck with 'Men Behaving Badly'? Quite possibly. You see, glee is one of the few reactions that this programme does not provoke in me. Nausea by saccharine overdose, yes. Occasional rage, certainly. The odd reflex laugh at an incongruously witty one-liner. But not glee. Never glee.

I'll admit it, I'm confused. Why are all those talented, beautiful people bonding over their supposed adversity? Did anyone involved in making the programme go to school? I did. It wasn't like that. Nor, by all accounts, are American schools. It doesn't promote a realistic, positive message. I can only imagine it reinforcing feelings of isolation.

The miming is superb. The song choices make excellent commercial sense. Sue Sylvester is almost a fully-formed character (which is presumably why she stands out to the point where no-one ever mentions the others). I'm sure the choreography is just as good as you'd find in any other pop video. But that's just it. Glee is a marketing tool. It should come with the word 'ADVERTORIAL' stamped in huge letters across the screen. Everything else is peripheral fluff.

Karaoke is one of my favourite things to do. I'd (relatively) happily sing many of Glee's chosen songs at karaoke (once drunk). But I wouldn't sell tapes of it afterwards - no matter how popular they might be - or, for that matter, record myself in advance, autotune my voice and sync it with an online backing track so I could mime and dub myself. Wait, what was my point? Oh yes. Karaoke should be for post-pub entertainment, in small rooms, with friends, beer and tambourines. Karaoke should not be for number one singles and nationwide tours, no matter what Simon Cowell might say.

At least Minipops was less insidious.