Kids don’t like to compete, they like to PARTICIPATE!

"American Idol" is over.  The construct was the contest, the appeal was the banter…  Paula may have known bupkes about music, but she was a great foil for Simon, whose acerbic comments broke societal taboos and made us turn our heads the way we rubberneck to view accidents on the freeway. Yet it all worked if the ultimate winner became a star.  But that formula is over.  Can anybody but a dedicated viewer even tell you who won the past couple of years?  The contestants may have good voices, but they lack charisma, their defining characteristic is a desire to make it.  And we laugh at people like that.  Don’t you know that’s why we love reality TV?

Whereas "Glee" is something completely different.  It’s a traditional show, it’s fiction, and the stars are actors, with skills.  It’s both a throwback and positively modern.  Because we’re sick of the posers who have not paid their dues.

And however long the show lasts, the fascinating thing is that while prognosticators put forth the premise that music has died, killed by the Internet, and labels weep, this show is propped up by great tunes, that the public wants to not only buy, but sing!

"Glee" without music isn’t even "Degrassi".

Credit Jane Lynch, she’s a star, finally breaking out from the mockumentary circuit to ascend to the fame throne she deserves.  But the set-up is flimsy, it’s the joy of music that makes "Glee" a hit.  And if you’re in the audience for this seventy minute production, you cannot deny the power of song.

They do GaGa so well, you don’t have to see Ms. Germanotta.

And there are modern tracks and there’s even the Broadway staple "Defying Gravity" from "Wicked".  But the triumphs are all classic rock.

To see the cast jump on trampolines during Van Halen’s "Jump" is to feel joyous, to jump up and down yourself.

And you know Freddie Mercury would be laughing, all the way to the bank, when he heard them do "Somebody To Love".

And these old acts do go to the bank.  Journey sold over 150,000 copies of their greatest hits album after the episode featuring their music aired in the U.K.

And although Lea Michele is the eye candy, and has a long future in front of her, the stars of this show, the cherry atop the ice cream concoction, is that little ‘ol band from the Bay Area.  It’s Steve Perry who is America’s biggest rock star, not Bruce Springsteen, certainly not Bon Jovi.

Sure, that’s overstatement, but Journey is the new Doors.  A band that was successful during its heyday, derided at the time of its implosion, which experiences a renaissance years after its demise, when most people have forgotten it.

Credit "The Sopranos".  How does the hippest show on TV, some say the best series ever, end with a frothy, poppy throwaway?  Do we reevaluate the show, or the track?  I still love "The Sopranos".  And now I love "Don’t Stop Believin’".

And so does everybody else.

Not only the original Journey fans, who are legion, who could fill stadiums if the original band went back on tour, but the Boss himself.  Did you see he insisted Sting close his Rainforest benefit with the Journey opus?  The audio may not be great, but you’ve got to watch Elton, GaGa, Sting, the Boss, et al, belt out this number

"Don’t Stop Believin’" – Lady Gaga, Elton John, Springsteen, Sting, Blondie, Shirley Bassey

It makes you feel like we all live in one big universe, where no star towers over another, but music reigns supreme.

And the "Glee" live show opens with "Don’t Stop Believin’".  But deeper in, there’s a medley.  Well, that’s not a completely accurate description, it’s a mash-up/mix-up of "Anyway You Want It" and "Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’".

Na na na na na na, na na na na na, na na na na na, na na na na na na…

Some things never change.  We like to sing along.  We don’t only want the music in the people on stage, we want it in ourselves.  And "Glee" is nothing so much as a celebration of the tunes.  "American Idol" is a reality show.  Featuring two-dimensional artists trying to inhabit real songs.  "Glee" is inclusive, the performers have no pretense, they’re celebrating the music, not themselves.

And that’s the modern era.

We want to belong.  And when you see "Glee" live, you feel like a member.  Despite appearing different from so many in the audience, you know the power of song.

And that will never die.  Write a great song and it lives forever.

"Glee" may die, but the transcendent numbers upon which it is based will continue to radiate.  Watching this revue you can’t help but feel positive about the art form.  TV shows fall by the wayside, but every note of a great song…stays in our brains for eternity!