Glory Daze (2010-11)

Glory Daze is one of those US shows that runs for a single season and is cut down in its prime, but unlike Firefly or Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip it will hardly be remember as a classic, cult or otherwise. I watched all 10 episodes on E4 and while I enjoyed the show, it never really kicked up a gear into something I'd revisit or could call anything other than ok. I'd already made the decision to see the season out but not bother with any further seasons before I read that it had been cancelled. 

Glory Daze is by no means terrible, it's just that the premise suggested it could be so much more than another comedy-drama about a frat house. Its USP is that it is set at a university in 1986, so cue bad fashion, a great soundtrack, no cell phones or internet and plenty of jokes at the expense of the future to come. Unfortunately the characters were all a bit too cookie-cutter and the set ups - mostly involving frat parties - so 'been there, done that' and with no 80's twist that I'm not surprised it was cancelled. The young cast of unknowns were a perky bunch, sometimes liable to be a bit too campy and over dramatic, yet on the whole likable and fun. 

This did not happen often enough.

The best parts of Glory Daze involved Tim Meadows' Professor Aloysius Haines, who got all the best lines and was funnier than everyone around him, I'm so glad he was a regular cast member. The other stars were the cameos from John Michael Higgins, Kevin Nealon (from Weeds), Barry Bostwick, Reginald VelJohnson, Ken Lerner, Michael McKean, and Fred Willard who popped up as faculty members, fathers of the main cast and just random characters to steal scenes. Glory Daze was a fun, light, fluffy concoction that kept me amused and entertained but will always be less than great.