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*