I Love And Hate Glee

I remember thinking when Glee premiered, "LOVE THIS SHOW!" Then Fox played this great tease on fans by waiting months before the fall premiere and did all that crappy scheduling during American Idol season. Ugh, those jerks. I'm pretty sure the scheduling people at Fox knew exactly what they were doing when they introduced it, took it away, brought it back, took it away again, brought it back ... All the teasing made us want it even more, and now I find myself watching it week after week with friends, despite the fact that I'm utterly disappointed with the characters, the story lines, and the messages the show is sending.

For the record, this post contains spoilers, so if you have not seen the most recent episode and you like surprises, you should probably stop reading.

Let me begin by saying that Coach Beiste is the character I have the least qualms with, and I actually find her story lines to be the most real and relate-able. Expressing your emotions for the first time is hard. Additionally, I find flirting to be awkward, and I generally fail at it in a big way.

That being said... Santana, could you please stop being such a bitch and just get over yourself? I'm not trying to be insensitive to the fact that she is struggling with her sexuality, I merely am so tired of the writers making her more and more mean with each episode. The show tries to be anti-bullying (remember when Kurt felt forced to leave McKinley for his safety last season - the best story line the show produced last season), yet they make their characters into the most unlikable and harshest bullies I have ever seen. The worst part is that, every time Santana has an "Awwww" moment, later in that episode or by the next episode, she has reverted back to her "I hate everyone except Brittany" personality that totally isolates her from the group.

Then there is Quinn. The poor teen mom who gave her daughter up for adoption and now is trying to steal her daughter back, and will do anything, including plant false evidence, to make that happen. Yeah, umm...great role model.

As for the adoptive mother of Quinn's baby, Ms. Corcoran, aka Rachel Berry's biological mother, this thing you are doing with Puck, NOT OK! Seriously? What is with shows promoting student teacher relations that are way inappropriate? Anyone seen Pretty Little Liars? That show has another student-teacher relationship story line and I'm just trying to understand when THAT became so common that it is now included on hit Teen shows. I mean, Mr. Schu is already pushing the line with student teacher relations the way he coaches, but at least he has stood firm on the no dating or sexual relations with a student rule.

Ok, and can we rewind to when Artie got waaaaaaaaay to power hunger as director and straight out told Rachel and Blaine that they need to lose their virginity if they ever want to be successful in West Side Story. Not good advice! Furthermore, asking a teacher at your school if she is a virgin, NOT OK! Shesh, these shows are confusing the role of teacher and friend and can I say that, as an educator, the two are not the same. Teachers are not suppose to be your friend, they are an adult that you respect and hopefully trust, but they are not your friend. Teachers that try too hard to be friends with their students end up losing control of the class, I see it every week.

Man, I miss the 90s. Remember how cute it was that Cory and Topanga waited until they were married to shack up, and how totally ok that show made it? Today, if you are a virgin in high school, let alone a virgin into your adult life, there is something wrong with you.

Shows like Glee, The Secret Life of An American Teenager, Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, 90210, blah blah blah, they set horrible examples. They portray parents incapable of taking care of themselves let alone their teenagers, teenagers killing and then not facing consequences, teachers who date students, sex, sex, sex. There was not that much sex going on at my high school, seriously. Though, the teacher/student inappropriate relations that did happen, but still, it wasn't glorified, it destroyed families and people's career.

I would like to see the 90s return to TV. People were less Hollywood/more normal looking, more relate-able, and just overall better people. I watch them as adults and I still want to be their friend.

*Sigh*

I Love Darren Criss

Raise your hand if you have been pleasantly surprised by Glee this season.

*raises hand*

Too bad it is on hiatus until November :(

Oh well, here is some beautiful Darren Criss to help you through the next couple weeks.

In Review: Glee does Bieber

Tonights episode of Glee was about the same as last week, only insert Justin Bieber songs. I'm starting to get a little tired of seeing the same thing unfold every show.

-Brittany continues to get dumber. I seriously don't understand how this character gets out of bed in the morning by herself.
-Sue attempts new depths of evil and leaves me questioning how is she not in jail after all the physical abuse she throws at students? Seriously, it is now routine for her to slam students into lockers, Ohio must have some really leinant laws on how to treat a student.
-Once again, Santana can't find her own guy so she goes after someone else's boyfriend.
-Meanwhile Quinn can't decide who she wants as a boyfriend so she strings Finn along on the side while foolish Sam stands by idly believing Quinn is better than she is.
Let's see, what else...
-Puck struggles to swoon Lauren.
-Lauren pretends she doesn't like Puck and acts tough even though the camera close ups of her while he sings tell another story.
-Oh yeah, and Mike dances while everyone else sings.

Overall the episode was kind of blah. I wasn't even that impressed with the song choice. I liked seeing Emma, even if for just a short scene. She was my favorite character in season one. In spite of her OCD she was and continues to be the most normal and level-headed character on this show. I wish they hadn't married her off to hot dentist John Stamos. In my opinion, killing the Will and Emma storyline has killed the show. All the students are just too annoying and self-centered to really bring any depth to the show.

Does anyone else feel like each episode starts at the same place? Rather than picking up where the last show ended, each episode is the same. Kurt is really the only character on the show now with any substance and he doesn't get the screen time he deserves.

Oh Glee, how I once loved you so...

The actors do seem pretty fun and friendly, though. Above they are pictured having a picnic in January together on set.

Thoughts?