San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman

Glee, one of the season's best and most anticipated new series, delivers on both counts - and more. It's a quirky, sweet, humorous, nonpartisan funfest.

Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm

The song and dance spills over everywhere, even onto the football field, in this season's best new TV show, Glee.

USA TodayRobert Bianco

It's not perfect, but in a sea of procedural conformity, Glee is its own weird, often enchanting little island escape.

NewsdayVerne Gay

McKinley and its denizens feel just a little too cliched, the emerging romantic entanglements a little too forced, the female characters--notably Terri and Sue Sylvester--just a little too mean-spirited. Still, it's a great cast.

Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd

Even with its problems--we'll get to those presently--it's one of the best shows of the fall season.

Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin

Cynical, sweet and inestimably funny, Glee--which debuted with a single sneak-preview episode last spring, but joins Fox's regular weekly lineup for the first time Wednesday--is by far the best show of the fall TV season that began rolling out this week.

New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley

The new musical-comedy drama Glee dresses like "High School Musical" and has the heart of "Porky's." That's a compliment.

Washington PostHank Stuever

I never stopped smiling while watching the first few episodes of this pitch-perfect comedy, which finds that elusive sweet spot between snark and heart.

Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen

Glee does the teen years with some edge, but we've seen that before on Glee executive producer Ryan Murphy's previous series, The WB's "Popular." Still, Glee is delightful enough to qualify as a fall favorite.

SlateTroy Patterson

At its best, Glee is not just entertaining but elating, dramatizing Breakfast Club-quality teen angst with the aid of tight production numbers covering new and classic popular songs.

TimeJames Poniewozik

While it's not as knock-your-socks-off as the pilot (while retaining some of the same problems), it continues to show why, at its best, this is the freshest and most joyful new show of the year.

TV GuideMatt Roush

Glee finally presents its second act tonight. And yes, it was worth the wait.

SalonHeather Havrilesky

Combining the breakneck comedy and sly farce of "Arrested Development" with the pop-savvy wit of "Ugly Betty" and the twisted humor, odd soundtrack and deadpan voice-overs of one of the greatest movies about high school of all time, "Election," Glee is bold, silly, demonic and addictive--one full hour of very good (but not very clean) fun.

Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan

Will this strange combination of starry-eyed optimism and manicured irony eventually combust? Possibly. But until then, there's a lot to like about this weird and frequently winning hybrid.

Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray

Thanks largely to some great singers and the comic delivery of Jane Lynch, packs more entertainment into an hour than some networks manage in an entire night. But sometimes I wonder if the show Fox is selling so hard is the same one Murphy's making.

PopMattersChris Barsanti

As effective as the big numbers can be, they don’t always pay off. The show also has a bad habit of delivering easy solutions to the kids’ problems.

Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall

They're flashy and can be briefly shocking or funny or even moving, but the more they go over-the-top, the less impact they have for me.

VarietyBrian Lowry

Before long, issues of pregnancy will assail both generations, giving birth to subplots that become so credulity-straining it’s hard not to yearn for another song to relieve them.