Glory Daze Review: Enjoy It While You Can

The ’80s is an easy decade to laugh at. Big hair and cheesy music are just a couple of the things I find amusing about the era that brought us Reaganomics and Run DMC.  The prehistoric cell phones are pretty funny too, though I suppose they were awesome at the time.

Set in 1986, TBS’s Glory Daze examines frat house culture at a fictional university.  The show is reminiscent of Animal House and the Revenge of the Nerds franchise, complete with a cameo from this dude.  Joel, Brian, Eli, and Jason are four freshmen who become fast friends in their quest to find the perfect fraternity.  Joel is pre-med, and has strict instructions from his father not to join a frat.  Brian is a baseball player with a full scholarship.  Unlike Eli, he doesn’t have to resort to joining a frat to get girls.  Eli is a scrawny little guy who exudes virginity.  Last is Jason, a preppy Young Republican whose father has already selected the most elitist, racist fraternity on campus for him.  Despite their surface differences, all four are drawn to Omega Sigma fraternity, a frat of underachievers and slackers.  Here they begin to appreciate the bonds of brotherhood under the tutelage of their “big brothers,” who include a 32-year-old stoner that never graduated.  Despite the stench of marijuana and mediocrity that permeates the frat house, the guys actually do learn a lot about life and friendship. The men of Omega Sig may be a bunch of slackers, but they stick together and can depend on one another.  Complicating matters for Joel are his declining grades and the hopeless crush he has on his frat brother’s girlfriend.  I suspect that their fraternal bonds will be tested at some point, as Joel seems to have more in common with the beauty than her boyfriend.

For the most part, Glory Daze doesn’t get too deep. You aren’t going to gain profound insight about life.  But you will laugh, and that’s largely the point.  The humor is more likely to appeal to a male audience, as the guys chase girls and pull childish pranks on rival fraternities.  The core group of characters are relatively unknown, but there have been some bigger name guest appearances.  Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond) appears as Joel’s father.  SNL alum Tim Meadows plays the faculty advisor for Omega Sigma, with great comedic effect.  He’s going through a bitter divorce and actually sleeps in his office.  DL Hughley appears periodically as Brian’s baseball coach and has had some funny scenes as well.  One criticism I have of the show is that it’s too long to be a sitcom.  Clocking in at an hour, I feel like some episodes wear thin quickly.  The storylines are NOT that deep, so when so much time is spent on such frivolous subject matter, it gets old fast.  It’s all very silly, and I suspect that the show’s demographic is rather narrow.  Even if a lot of people watched the premiere episode, how many made it a point to tune in regularly?  I have my doubts.  I first heard about Glory Daze through the usual social networking sites. My timeline and news feed were all abuzz, so I figured I’d check it out.  The humor is sophomoric, and I’m skeptical about its staying power, but I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.

For more television reviews and interviews, click here.

Images courtesy of TBS.