Let’s Talk About Glee: Jesus Christ This Show Has Two Years Left!

I have no idea how they’re going to manage it, but yes, Glee has two more guaranteed years thanks to FOX. Maybe after another year of this shit, FOX and/or Ryan Murphy will be open to the idea of a mercy killing, or maybe the actors will realize they probably can’t help themselves with another 22 episodes. But like the final couple of seasons of Heroes, I just can’t imagine how the writers can dig themselves out of their current hole.

In case you’re like most of the world, and not hatewatching Glee like I am at this point, some notes for you to catch-up on:

x Brittany is now a god damn genius. For some reason, she is an idiot savant at math and will be going to MIT. (I wonder if the school consented to the show using its name; I can’t imagine that they’re happy that the scientists from their school are intently studying the crayon mathematical scribblings of Britt.) This didn’t really add anything to existing storylines, except to take away from and make light of the semi-serious issue of Brittany’s 0.0 grade average and complete lack of scholastic aptitude. They might as well have just made Lord Tubbington into the heir of a billionaire’s fortune, because that’s as believable and as much of a storyline crutch as the idea of Brittany as a math savant.

x There was a school shooting, but don’t worry, no one was hurt. Sue took the rap for Becky, who was playing with Sue’s gun, causing it to fire and making everyone panic for about half an episode. This episode pissed everyone off, since it was basically song, song, holyshitwe’reallgoingtodie, song, song.

x Tina, for lack of a more politically correct term, was a fag hag to Blaine for about six episodes. The less said about this, the better.

x Shockingly, there was more drama in the relationships with Will and Emma, and Rachel and Finn. Will got ditched by Emma at the altar, but don’t worry, they got hitched a couple episodes later – the writers just knew that you REALLY wanted to see an extra six episodes of drama, that’s all. Meanwhile, Rachel was dating a male prostitute for a bit, but then she found out and dumped him, but not before Finn beat the crap out of him.

This is a high school sophomore.

x All of the new people are basically replacements of the departing / college-aged New Directions members. The most egregious offenders would be Kitty, a blonde cheerleader that’s basically a non-pregnant stand-in for Quinn, and Puck’s half-brother, who’s so non-descript that you can only remember him as being Puck’s half-brother. Rachel’s replacement is Marley, and while it’s understandable that she doesn’t have the pipes of Broadway actress Lea Michele, she also in no way looks like a high school sophomore. Melissa Benoist is only two years younger than Lea Michele; it’s hard to believe they couldn’t find some 18-year-old who could sing well and to look like an actual high schooler.

x Singling out two of the new people for a tab, because it was so god damn stupid. There was a multi-episode arc where New Finn was getting catfished by someone in the glee club, with feints that it was New Rachel or New Quinn doing it. It turns out the culprit was actually Unique, the show’s teenage version of RuPaul. It was an awkward reveal that made New Finn pissed off, and didn’t really serve a purpose from a narrative standpoint except to… question mark. Make the audience feel awkward for all the parties involved?

x Santana is still wonderful, and delightfully evil at times. As a result, the show has no idea what to do with her. She was finally added to the apartment in New York, to add some depth and testosterone to the Rachel and Kurt living arrangement. That pair was so lame and sad by themselves that even Elliot Smith thought they were overdoing it.

The biggest overall problem with Glee at this point though is the lack of any consequences. Quinn didn’t stay crippled after her texting while driving accident, and her life hasn’t really been adversely affected by her basically flipping between nice gal and supreme bitch mode for two years. Kurt’s harasser didn’t manage to actually kill himself. No one was hurt in the gun incident with Sue and Becky. Will has put up with all of Emma’s various shit, which is nice of him, but also severely strains credibility at a certain point. Rachel was sleeping with a male prostitute and nothing really came of it. Brittany looked like she was headed for a difficult post-high school life, but don’t worry, she’s actually a genius. New Finn found out he was being catfished and got upset, but meh. New Directions lost an opening round competition, but the team that beat them got disqualified for performance enhancing drugs, in yet another ludicrous twist even by Glee standards.

Individually, how the writers tackled each of this issues is OK. Collectively though, it shows a complete lack of will to do anything new from a story perspective, or to make a decision that would have permanent consequences. For a show like Glee, which is basically a dramedy, you need to actually have consequences at some point. To make a blunt comparison – Nobody dies on Glee, but people died in 90210, and even in Joss Whedon shows from time-to-time.

Let’s close things out on a positive note though – Naya Rivera has taken the crown from Heather Elizabeth Morris when it comes to gorgeousness. Here is a picture of her. You’re welcome.

I didn’t link to either picture site for the actresses because they were basically just link spam and what not. The cast photo is a promotional one put out by FOX before the 2012-13 season, and it’s on a bunch of different websites.

Let’s Talk About Glee: Or, Why Am I Still Watching This ****?

Oh look, Rachel's sad! What a unique and compelling plot point!

So, I’m still watching Glee, although I’m now only hanging in on the show by a thread. It has gotten pretty dire in recent weeks though.

For one, the creators seem to have the same problem that every high school-ish show seems to have – clinging desperately to characters that are horribly eff’ed out and that no longer fit with the rest of the show.

Yes, I understand that the singing of Lea Michele (Rachel) was a big draw for the first couple of seasons, as was her on-again, off-again and finally on-again romance with Finn. However, for the love of God, why do we need a fourth season of this?

It would be more tolerable if Rachel-Finn was the only relationship shown to be in constant danger, but it isn’t. Kurt-Blaine, Emma-Will, BritTana, NewRachel-NewPuck and pretty much everyone else on the show have Serious Drama going on in their relationships. A general rule of thumb for Glee is that nobody is ever legitimately happy.

If anything, that’s the direction I’d take in Glee’s fourth season – Just having the kids be effing happy for once. They won nationals to close season three, but in the very first episode of season four, it deals with the “piss in your Cheerios” storyline of the newest member of the club and her mom, the lunchlady who gets harassed by popular kids.

By the way, this storyline seems ripped from an era that no longer exists. I graduated from high school in 2002, and we weren’t doing shit like picking on lunch ladies, because we didn’t live in a 1970s sitcom. I can stretch belief that jocks might pick up the glee club kids, but not that they shit over every member of the student body, and the tone of the show has drifted from the first season, where it was more of a satire in my opinion.

So yes, Glee is another show I’m mostly hate-watching this year, and I didn’t even comment on the other things I found excruciating, like the new Puck, the ridiculousness of the actor ages and how they manage to make Heather Elizabeth Morris somehow look like crap. The only thing I’ll credit the show with – some of the songs and mash-ups are still really good to me. So, they do have that going for them.

This week on Glee: Kurt, Sam, Artie, Brittany and scissoring

Oh, Glee. Glee, Glee, Glee. First off, there was an utterly ridiculous scene in the first 10 minutes, as Santana and Brittany were making out and talking about scissoring. Second, Rachel looks great with bangs. Third, it was cool to see Mike Chang actually get involved in an episode besides dancing. (Even if he really can't sing at all.) And finally, Quinn (and especially her eyes) looked great as she was cleaning slushie off the new quarterback, and I loved how tense her scenes were.

Regarding the actual plot itself, I like that they addressed one of my biggest issues with the first season - that everybody but Kurt's dad realize he was way too aggressive with Finn. Kurt's dad nailed him on it, which I thought was an awesome bit of follow-up.

I also like how Sam and Finn were bantering about Rachel and Quinn. "She's a couple inches shorter and she talks a lot more, but I love her." Well said, Finn, well said. I enjoy all the subtle touches like that; they really help to round out the entire episode. Santana is awesome as well, and I like how evil and aggressive she is. And also, why did Quinn wear her cheerleading outfit on her date to Breadsticks with Sam? Why was Brittany wearing hers too? And was it just me, or was Breadsticks an obvious spoof of The Olive Garden?

One thing that is annoying, and that I'm sure they'll address eventually, is Artie portraying himself as a victim at every opportunity. Since Brittany is my favorite character, I'm annoyed that he hurt her. How DARE you, Artie! And speaking of, here are the awesome Brittany quotes from last night:

On Puck getting sent to juvenile hall: "He might be the dumbest person on the planet and that's coming from me."

Will: What's a duet? Brittany: A blanket.

About Artie: "I know, for a while I thought you were a robot."

To Artie: "I just want to get you in a stroller."

To Santana: "I'm mad at you... but you're still so hot."

Artie: I thought I was over somebody, but I still think I have feelings for them...
Brittany: The Clintons?

While about to have sex with Artie: "You're on the football team now anyway, so we would have gotten around to this at some point."

"I was going to order one really, really long piece of spaghetti like Lady and the Tramp... I've been practicing nudging a meatball across the table with my nose."

-----

Danielle: Heyyy, hope you don't read this e-mail before you see the episode!

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. It brought back all the perfect hilarity and awesomeness while only putting in a few serious moments - Kurt dealing with being lonely, Artie and sex.

I thought Mercedes and Santana's duet was great. And when they were talking beforehand about doing the duet and Santana keeps calling her Weezy.

The other duets were great too - I like that they didn't just do a bunch of typical duets. Kurt's self-duet was very... Kurtish, haha, and I thought Tina and Mike's duet was unique. Rachel and Finn's determination to throw the competition was great too, like when they were getting all fake indignant.

This episode also made me love Rachel again. She was starting to be super annoying the first two episodes, but I just loved her in this episode. That was the Rachel I like.

And of course we can't forget Brittany and Santana making out and bringing up scissoring! Not that I'm completely surprised. I'm glad Artie told Brittany off for treating him the way she did. But the fact that she felt bad was good to see. It was cute in the end when she was moving the meatball with her nose all by herself. I guess also kind of sad, lol.

And Sam! The fact that they made his character a football player but this wicked awkward nerdy guy was great. I hang out with a lot of nerdy guys, so I've been around the cringe-worthy moments when they're trying to be cool and then say the weirdest things. Him and Quinn could be really cute together. When Puck comes back, the confrontation with Sam should be interesting.

Brittany squared makes Glee awesome

Please don't pull out all my teeth - When I smile, I'll look like an adult baby with boobs.

I've been waiting for a Brittany-centric episode for almost a year now, and wow, it didn't disappoint. She had lines in practically every scene she was in, and all of them were great, like the one above. She's hilarious! She needs more air time!

"... Are you a cat?" "I would just like to say that from now on, I demand every solo in Glee club." "I'm more talented that all of you, I can see that clearly now. It's Brittany... bitch." "I fed the snake."

And obviously, from the photos, beyond being funny she is also... uh... a tremendous dancer. Obviously. Unlike some of the other past "theme" episodes Glee has done, I felt that they integrated the music in better, thanks to the dentist dream sequences. Spears also took part in the episode, but only two scenes, so it helped to establish that the episode had her "blessing," if you will.

One other random thought I had while watching about Brittany / Britney: She sure is tall. However, according to this site of celebrity heights, she's "only" 5'8". Maybe it's just that other people on the show are shorter? She's frequently seen next to Santana, who according to IMDB is three inches shorter, and Lea Michele (Rachel) is 5'2", and Dianna Agron (Quinn) is at 5'6".

However, on the negative side, I'll say that I am officially effed out on Will and Emma's thing. Whatever chance that had died to me when he showed up in that fancy car to impress her, and then his ex-wife got into a fight with him. (By the way, wtf? Where the heck did she come from?) Emma and Will getting back together just seems too implausible at this point, even for Glee. Please just give him a new girlfriend, creators.

Likewise, I don't care much for even more Rachel and Finn drama (even if she was incredibly hot in this episode), or Artie trying to win back Tina, because hey, Artie WAS a huge jerk to her. And by all accounts on the show, Mike Chang is a good guy (who just happens to have perfect abs).

He's also another character that could use his own episode, as opposed to obsessing so much over the Will-Emma, Tina-Artie and Rachel-Finn pairings. I need to see more about Mike Chang, Puck, Kurt's awesome dad Mike O'Malley, Principal Figgins and a baby-less Quinn. Let's give the mainstays of the show a bit of a rest.

Glee returns with a splendid episode.

People thought I went on vacation, but actually,

I spent the summer lost in the sewers.
Ah - Loony quotes from Brittney signify the restart of Glee. I was worried that the show might jump the shark and go the way of Heroes, but the second season premiere brought the funny in all of the aspects involving the New Horizons kids.

The odd thing to me was where the episode fell flat - Will and Sue torturing the new football coach, and the adults in general. First off, it looks like the new football coach is just the old one in drag, which would be humorous to me, but I don't know if this is actually the case. Second, Sue just came off as mean-mean, as opposed to funny-mean, like she normally is with Will. She still had some great lines at least. And third, where the heck was Jayma Mays??? She was the most surprising absence, and I hope she hasn't been downgraded to just a guest star for the season.

However, every scene with the kids was great. (Although, I did question the "Santana has breast implants" thing, for the simple fact that her breasts did not look any bigger.) I loved that Quinn and Sue cut a deal for her to regain her status as the top cheerleader, and the scene with Brittney, Sue, the football coach and the doll were hilarious. (Also, Quinn once again looks stunning, which can't be underestimated in terms of keeping my attention on the television set. I am a boy, after all.)

I do kind of wonder where they go from here, of course. Are we going to have another season of Rachel desperately trying to protect her grasp as the top singer on the club? I realize she's the closest thing the show has to a "star" after Jane Lynch, but I feel her character is dangerously overexposed already. I'm still hopeful for some Britt and Santana-centric episodes, since that would really help break up the focus on the four "mains" of the cast - Rachel, Finn, Sue and Will.

Following up on Glee

My entry the other night on Glee brought up some questions and remarks from Danielle and Amber, so I thought I'd elaborate some more. (And as a note, I totally mix up the names of the teams all the time. I just know them as Will's Glee Club and Vocal Adrenaline, who I compare to the Russians in the Miracle on Ice, or in Rocky IV.)

Regarding Sue, I find her outburst of support for the kids out-of-character because it wasn't hinted at more throughout the season. There could have been a more gradual softening than her voting for Will's Club, and granting them the practice space for another year. I think the only times they hinted that she had a heart this season were 1) her relationships with the mentally-challenged sister and Cheerio and 2) when she was rejected by Will and the newscaster.

I find Rachel and Finn a bit boring and implausible, just because of how much they've gone through during the season. I don't think there is a ton of chemistry between Monteith and Michele in their scenes together, so ideally, I think it would be better if they got new beaus.

As far as Journey goes, heck, I love Journey. However, they definitely feel a bit effed out now, between The Sopranos ending, the beginning of the Glee season, and their constant presence at every college party I ever went to. I was looking forward to a funkified finale, but instead I got Journey. boooooo.

Glee can be cheesy, yes. But typically, it skews toward cheesy when it comes to the numbers and format, and not so much the interpersonal relationships. I just felt like it all resolved itself a bit too neatly in the final episode. The birth scenes were awesome, but having Rachel's mom adopt Beth seemed like a convoluted way to keep her involved with the show.

As far as Mercedes and Quinn go... meh. Yeah, I guess you can say their feelings for one another crested with the pregnancy song and dance the previous episode, but even then, it felt more like a meeting of the minds as opposed to a lasting friendship. Like Rachel's mom, it felt like a convenient bow so that people wouldn't be asking, "Hey where the heck is Quinn going to live?" If anything, I'd prefer for her to strike it out on her own, except that I can't remember how old she is on the show.

Keeping it in the family with Glee

Although both main story arcs on Tuesday night's Glee dealt with irregular family situations, only two of the characters - Rachel and her mom - came across as likable considering the circumstances.

While I'm not generally a fan of Rachel because of her smugness and cockiness, I do enjoy when she is portrayed as an actual human being and not a stereotype. Tuesday was my favorite "Rachel" episode of the season, since she is so vulnerable and therefore accessible throughout the episode. Her initial Lady Gaga costume - pictured above - is one of the best sight gags of the second half of the season. And I also think the slow, gradual development of the relationship with her mom is the right decision for the show to take. There is enough camp in a typical episode of Glee to resist making them best-friends-forever right after their initial meeting.

However, the other main arc of the episode - friction between Finn, Kurt and Kurt's dad - felt completely flat to me. I think it's unrealistic to portray Kurt's dad as the only person on the show who doesn't realize that Kurt is in love with Finn. I also don't think Finn would have allowed things to proceed as far as sharing a room with Kurt without mentioning this fact to either his mom or Kurt's dad. As a result, I found everything about this plot arc, including the horrible Gaga-dressing by Finn, to be unrealistically out of character.

The little odds and ends of the episode helped to make up for this though. The other mini-issues of the episode - Quinn and Puck squabbling over the name of their child, and Tina trying to deal with her new dress code - were both interesting. There were also some quirky, winking at the camera moments on the show, mostly between Rachel and her mom.

And, I've got to give props to Iqbal Theba, who plays Principal Figgins with the perfect mixture of ignorance and authority. In Tuesday's episode, he insisted that Tina stop dressing like a goth because of his worries about Twilight and vampire problems, only to be harassed by Tina into reverting the dress code because of his irrational fear of vampires. While this served as the catalyst for the show's Gaga theme, it was unfortunately kept in the background and used mostly as a bookend.

Also, unlike last week's episode, Brittany was back to her ditzy, quotable self. (She suggests that Tina dress up as a cross country skier, a Happy Meal with no onions or a chicken. When Rachel comes in with her sadly pathetic Gaga outfit, Britt says, "You look horrible. I look awesome.") I've found that on the Internetz, the Brittney and Santana combination is known as Brittana, which is awesome.

There are two episodes of the season left, and I imagine we're going to see a bit more focus on singing and dancing, since the sectionals are coming up to end the season. At least, that's what I'm hoping for - While the drama of the first season has been high, I do think it would be more appropriate if they focused on the actual Glee club with the final two episodes as opposed to leaving us with drama-filled cliffhangers at the end of the season.

Hey, the kids are happy again!

The fallout from last week's episode of Glee is seemingly... brief. In a refreshing change of pace, the episode shifted away from the ongoing drama between Emma and Will, and between Rachel and everyone else. Instead, we got a largely Puck-centric episode, as he was using Mercedes to regain his popularity. In the process, she decides that she no longer wants to be popular, and drops out of the Cheerihos.

Next to Brittney, Puck and Santana are my favorite secondary characters, and both were featured in Tuesday's episode. Puck was obviously the star of the show, as the main storyline was about him losing status at school because of his lost mohawk. Meanwhile, Santana glowered as she was forced to watch Puck and Mercedes grow closer, and she had a duet of “The Boy Is Mine” over him, which I found to be one of the season's stronger songs.

Outside of Puck, Santana and Mercedes, there were two other plots going on. First, Kurt tried to act not-gay for the episode, in order to win the attention his father was giving Finn. Brittney featured heavily in these scenes, as she dryly noted that she had made out with every boy at the school (even Artie?) except Kurt because she thought Kurt was gay. Also, note: Brittney looked super foxy in this episode, maybe because she was allowed to wear something besides the cheerleader outfit. Dear Glee producers, please think of ways to put Brittney in normal, hot clothing more often. (p.s. The same goes for Santana.)

The second sideplot revolved around Rachel losing her singing voice. This served the effect of humanizing her a bit, although she was still prissy most of the episode. Finn was surprisingly decent and nice to her, which made me a little disappointed on the inside, to be honest. Thankfully though, Jesse was completely absent from the episode; something about that dude just rubs me the wrong way.

Grade: A-

TV Review: Did you know that dolphins are just gay sharks? ... yeah.

It's nice to see that some things don't change.

Wow - Glee sure came back with a bang. Where to start in breaking down Tuesday's episode?

First and foremost, the seemingly neat bows made at the end of the first half of the season are already mostly undone. Emma and Will are already broken up (and he's already made out with that foxy teacher for the rival vocal group), Finn and Rachel aren't really together either, Will's ex-wife is still lurking around, and Sue Sylvester is the coach of the cheerleaders again. The only thing that seems to be going well, somehow, is Quinn and Puck still being together. And, I imagine this is only true on the surface because they couldn't get to EVERYTHING in an hour-long episode.

As is, the above was a lot of plot to unwind in an hour-long (45 minutes minus commercials) episode. While I enjoyed most of what was going on, excluding the cringe-worthy Emma and Will scenes, there was so much going on that it became hard to follow at times. For example, I think Rachel and Finn broke up about 47 times in that episode, and now Rachel is dating an entirely new guy altogether. If they had split all the plot going on in this episode into two or even three, with some more humor, I think the series would have been better served. Still, I thought this was a great reintroduction for series regulars, even if a newcomer (I'm sure there were plenty with American Idol as a lead) would have been completely lost.

Speaking of Britt, and I realize I wasn't, but I'm glad the writers or producers or whoever on the show finally rewarded Heather Elizabeth Morris with some more lines! (Also, a key note about her: She even acts airhead really well. In any given scene, she is not looking at whoever is talking.) Britt and Santana served as the comic relief for the episode, with Britt as her typical airhead self, and Santana as the brains of the group solely because she isn't as stupid as Britt. A shout-out to Naya Rivera, a.k.a. Santana, who does a good job with her character, the sort of straight woman to Britt's sheer moronic lunacy.

I used one of Britt's quotes as the title of this entry, but good lord, she almost deserves an A+ for just her contribution. In fact, here is my new regular feature when I review Glee: What Britt Said.

[In regard to Rachel] "Those sweaters make her look homeschooled."

[Finn says Rachel is cool.] "Finn, that's mean."

[The waitress asks why they want to return their dinner, even though they ate it all.] "There was a mouse in mine."

[Why didn't Britt and Santana ruin glee club?] "We were seduced by the glitz and glamor of showbiz."

"Did you know that dolphins are just gay sharks? ... yeah."

"You're a really good dancer." [Finn: Uh, thanks, but my feet weren't really moving.] "That was the best part."

"Sometimes I forget my middle name."

Grade: A

Around The Dial: Betty White close to SNL gig and Glee goes Washington

I was only planning on doing one post today, but surfing the sometimes-excellent web site of Entertainment Weekly led me to do this "extra" post, even though it is technically appearing before the other one... Anyway, on to the news!

- Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Betty White and Saturday Night Live are close to reaching an agreement on her being the host for an episode! Because she is an 88-year-old lady, she would apparently be part of a "Women of Comedy" night that could feature SNL alums Molly Shannon, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

Given White's obvious health limitations, I definitely wouldn't be opposed to that. I do hope that SNL tries to expand and fold in a few more alums or female performers that are off the beaten path. Obviously, Bea Arthur would be a bit of a hard get, but Cloris Leachman and Phyllis Diller are still around. If you'd like some more contemporary alums, Sarah Silverman was on the show for about five minutes in the 1990s, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus was on the show for several seasons.

- Apparently, I'm not the only dude who loves Glee, as President Obama has arranged for the cast of the show to perform at the annual White House Easter Egg Role on Monday, April 5. This is another scoop from Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly, so really, he's doing pretty well this week in my book.

Anyway, since I vaguely just mentioned Glee and a story on it, it gives me a great excuse to run a picture of the vexing Lea Michele. Enjoy!

The photo of Lea is from this blog. The awesome picture of Betty White is from this blog.

More Glee in my future, but will a gimmick derail?

I'm torn about the news that Glee is getting a second season. On one hand, I'm glad that the show is definitely getting a second season, guaranteed, since FOX has such a horrible track record with nurturing shows. For example, it has already canceled Dollhouse; I didn't watch it, but I've heard good things from friends, who are no doubt displeased at that news. And in the past, FOX hasn't seen it fit to renew great, critically acclaimed shows like Arrested Development, Firefly, Futurama and Family Guy. So, if Glee is safe for another season, then I'm quite glad.

However, an Entertainment Weekly news post about the news contains a distressing bit of information to me - "Fox is launching a nationwide casting search this February to fill three new season 2 roles. Per the network’s press release, “Auditions will be open to amateur individuals as well as professionals between the ages of 16-26, and all hopefuls will be able to submit auditions online."

What the hell? Why do I want to see amateurs sing? If I wanted to witness that, I'd actually watch American Idol. Dear FOX, keep your god damned amateur singers on one show. I'd prefer that actors and actresses with actual chops, like the lovely Jayma Mays and Lea Michele, get screen time.

I suppose that the new cast members could be just bit players, but really, I can't imagine a scenario in which actual professionals wouldn't be better served for the roles. Also, they're casting three people? That seems like quite a few. Does that mean three people are leaving the show to make room for them? If so, then I suppose it could be a good thing, since it would freshen the cast up a bit from year-to-year, but I would prefer professionals taking those spots as opposed to amateurs.

Also, Britney better be staying on the show. That's all.

Losing man card points with Glee

The lovely women of Glee.

At the risk of losing more points off my Man Card, I must say that Glee is quickly becoming my favorite comedy slash drama on television. Spoiler alert: This week's episode was the best of the season so far.

My favorite part of Glee has been its evolution from a somewhat-shallow, somewhat-stereotypical show to something deeper as its characters have become developed. This last episode, which delved into Quinn's homelife, actually succeeded in making her a sympathetic figure. Given the status she started with in early season episodes, that's quite the feat.

The expansion of the secondary characters, such as Quinn [left, looking fetching if I do say so] and the previous week's episode featuring the cheerleading coach, is what has made Glee special in my mind. The pacing and character development is in stark contrast from, say, Heroes, which introduces and dumps or overexposes characters in rapid succession. There is a gradual roll-out with Glee, and I daresay that it is the best show in television at this currently. Each episode gives you a little snippet of the ensemble - Lost is great at character development too, but the pace is so plodding at times that I prefer Glee, looking solely at that aspect.

One odd aspect of the show is the older ages of the actresses involved. Outside of my guidance counselor crush Jayma Mays, everyone else is six to eight years older than their character. This is especially true for Rachel, who is quite visually appealing... but her character is a high school sophomore. What the heck? The actress, Lea Michele, is 23. The same thing goes with Quinn, played by the 23-year-old Dianna Agron.

Still, despite my confusion about their character ages and the effect this has on their hotness, Glee is incredible. I will have to make a Top 10 list after all the current seasons of the shows I watch conclude, but it wouldn't surprise me if the show made my Top 5.

The photo of Agron comes from her IMDB photo gallery. Lea Michele's photo is from here. The Jayma Mays photo is from here. And the picture of Heather Elizabeth Morris is from here.