Gleecap (Glee Recap) - "Audition"

I am so unbelievably excited that GLEE has returned with new episodes (not that I don't love watching last season's over and over too).  There's a lot of expectations on this show going into it's sophomore year.  Will it live up to the hype?  Will it be as good as last season?  Well if last night's episode is just a teaser to the rest of the season then my answer is YES!

Last time we saw our glee clubbers they were deflated about their 3rd place finish at regionals.  Quinn and Puck had a baby and allowed Shelby (Vocal Adrenaline's former coach and Rachel's birth mother) to adopt her.  Finn and Rachel were officially back together.  And by the looks of it the club was one big happy family.

One of the best things about this season premiere is that it not only was it signature GLEE with great songs and hilarious Sue Sylvester lines, it also took time to make comments on some of the show's critiques in fun little jabs - like when Jacob tells Kurt people say "they [the club] are nothing but a glorified karaoke club designed to make the inventors of Auto Tune millions of dollars."  And of course Kurt gets a nice little jab in about how easy it is for people to sit at home and go on the Internet and criticize people but getting up and actually saying it to their face takes much more guts (so true of so many things people say on the Internet)!

But I think the thing I enjoyed most about the season 2 premiere was how much it mirrored the pilot!  I literally thought that the scene in Figgins office with Sue and Will about budgets was mis-cut and they somehow put footage from the pilot in there instead until they cut away to the shot showing Coach Beiste.  There were a few one liners also taken straight out of the pilot episode but I loved that about this episode - new school year but same old characters!

Glee's Big Gay Summer

Finn and Rachel have been dating all summer and it looks like Finn has shed a few pounds during those summer months (possibly in preparation for the Rocky Horror episode that in which he is rumored to be wearing a gold speedo).

Apparently some people actually read Jacob's blog about the Glee club and they want to know why Mr. Schu's song selection sounds like "they come from a drag queen's ipod".  Also loved the line directed at Will, "when did you ink your sponsor ship with Land's End".


Puck confirms the rumor that he got a vasectomy over the summer.  But will not talk about his feelings for Quinn.

Brittney said "people thought I went on vacation, but actually I spent the summer lost in the sewers".  This girl has to be one of the BEST characters on TV because she always has the best lines!

Mike Chang and Tina are now a couple (poor Artie).  They fell in love at "Asian Camp" where they were counselors who taught tech-savvy Asian kids about the arts.  Sidebar - How about Mike Chang's Abs! Those things are awesome!

Santana got a boob job which is not cool with Coach Sylvester!  Sue has a very strict "no plastic" policy.  Sue makes a very good point when she asks Santana "What would possess someone your age to get a boob job?  You don't even know what your body is going to look like yet" this is sooo true what possesses teenagers to get boob jobs AND the bigger question is who's parents allow them to get a boob job as a teenager?

Mirror Image/The New Faces in Town

Here is our first example of mirroring the pilot.  Although Sue and Will have a new formed friendship she gives him the same advice she gave him last season about his club sign up and how he needs to hold auditions because not everyone should be champions.  This leads directly into the almost perfectly similar scene from the pilot where Sue and Will discuss the budget with Figgins about cutting both of their budgets.  If it wasn't for the cut away shot of the new female football coach named Coach Beiste, Ken Tenaka had a nervous breakdown, who will mach Sue in intensity but is very sensitive, I thought something got mixed up and they were airing the wrong scene.  Sue even says "You can't cut my budget without written consent from the Federal Reserve, it's in my contract!" which is, if I'm not mistaken, the exact same line she said in the pilot when Figgins cut her budget so that Will could start up the Glee club! 

This whole scene has some great lines:  Figgins tells Sue she can live without 2 confetti cannons and Sue's reply is "Do you think your kids can live without their dad?" 

Another great thing about Coach Beiste, she refers to herself as "The Panther"!  She also confuses Sue with her zingers like "That's a steer with 6 teets and no oink". 

Mirror image scene number two.  While posting Glee club sign up sheets in the locker room Finn hears newcomer Sam (Chord Overstreet) singing "Every Rose has it's Thorn" in the shower Ala Will hearing Finn sing "Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore" in the Shower in the pilot episode, it has identical shot selections like the shot of the feet, Sam is singing into a bar of soap the same way Finn did.  Such a great job mirroring these scenes with the pilot!

Empire State of Mind

In an effort to recruit new members to join Glee, the club performs a Jay-Z hit at lunch (but first let me make this note, the kids have lunch tables outside? No school in Ohio would have an outdoor lunch area because it's too damn cold for most of the school year!  I went to high school in Ohio, I would know).

First of all, I love their shirts where can I get one?  I really loved the stair dancing, loved the look they all had going (especially Kurt), I just think they should limit their rap numbers 'cause it's not really what the guys in this show are good at.  We heard Artie doing a little rapping last season and I do think that of all of them Puck is probably the best rapper but let's face it, classic rock and show tunes work best for this group.  HOWEVER, I still LOVED the song and the number so it gets and A in my book!

More New Faces - Sunshine

Another new face was Sunshine (international pop star, Charice) who we first "meet" in the girl's bathroom when Rachel introduces herself while posting fliers for glee club, and very awkwardly introduces herself and invites her to join Glee because they need chorus members to sway in the background and smile as Rachel sings solos - that is of course before she hears her sing.

After still self-absorbed Rachel realizes that this girl could steal her glee club thunder, she decides she can't let her join the club.  Rachel and Sunshine singing "Telephone" was definitely a high point in the episode, Rachel getting up in Sunshine's face for the "diva-off" was awesome!  And then Sue busted in and said "Shut up" - classic Sue but I wanted to hear them finish the song!

Not Enough Kurt and Mercedes!

This Episode was seriously lacking in the Kurt/Mercedes scenes.  The only real time they get is when Rachel tries to convince them that Sunshine shouldn't join the club because it would take away from them getting solos. 

We get a great little Mercedes/Kurt interaction prior to Rachel entering the room where Mercedes asks Kurt if he's wearing a Men's sweater and he replies "Fashion has no gender" - I love it! Which is why we clearly need more Kurt and Mercedes, as Sue said back in season 1 "Why do you two not have your own show on Bravo!"

Rachel reveals her genius plan to make sure Sunshine doesn't sign up - she has paid the football players $100 to slushie them in front of Sunshine's locker so she will not want to join.  My question is she had to pay them?  Wouldn't they have slushied them for free?  Kurt and Mercedes however are not down with this idea and want Rachel to stop being so self-centered and think about how she can help the club beat Vocal Adrenaline

Sue and Schu Join Forces

Will and Sue decide they must work together to destroy Coach Beiste in order to restore their budgets.  They pull high school pranks on her like ordering a bunch of pizzas and delivering them to the locker room where they wait outside and giggle about it like little kids.

Will and Sue continue their immature antics in "operation mean girl" where they won't allow Coach Beiste to sit at their table despite the open chairs.  Sue says "these seats are currently being occupied by my ghost friends" - that is definitely a top Sue line in my books!  And Will says he has a meeting with some science teachers so his seats are reserved for them (not as original Will you need to get better at this).  After Beiste tells Will everyone told her that Sue was mean but he was cool, he starts to regret his decision to work with Sue.  And when Sue gets Brittney to accuse coach Beiste of sexual assault (similar to when Rachel accuses Sandy the former Glee coach of assault -of course not on her on the male in the club so that he will get kicked out and replaced) Will finally decides to stop messing with Beiste and gets Brittney to confess the truth which does not sit well with Sue!

The final straw comes when Will, who is trying to apologize to Coach Beiste, tells Sue that he's not gonna do it anymore after Sue tries to get Beiste to eat "poop cookies". 

Balance restored - Sue and Will are now enemies again.  Sue goes on a rampage and says that the two of them (Will and Beiste) are "making a very serious mistake, the likes of which have not been seen since the Mexican Indians sold Manhattan to George Washington for an up skirt photo of Betsy Ross" that line is just so clever and wrong at the same time, so Sue Sylvester!


Artie has woes


Tina dumps Artie for being a bad boyfriend (he was playing a marathon round of Halo so couldn't pay attention to her) and starts dating Mike Chang instead because "he tries to be into what I'm into, like his abs".  Artie wants to join the football team to impress her, his logic is if Kurt can do it so can I - haha too funny and Finn's response: "Being gay isn't a handicap".  I love this line because I feel like some people think it is a handicap when it absolutely is not!  Artie seems to think if Finn pushed him down the field in his wheelchair he'd be, to quote Finn, "a human cannon ball".

Sam Evans and His Big Mouth

Finn tries to recruit Sam to join the Glee Club so he has him come in and sing for the guys.  As he is describing himself to the guys Puck is staring at him and says "Dude, your mouth is huge, how many tennis balls can you fit in there?"  (not really sure why you would ask anyone that) and Sam has one of the best lines of the night - "I don't know, I've never had any balls in my mouth, have you?"  and I love the slight little smile as Puck doesn't answer.

So Sam sings "Billionaire" with a little back-up from the rest of guys and apparently he also plays guitar.  This kid isn't half bad and he's not too horrible to look at either.  Should be interesting to see the dynamic between him, Puck, and Finn as 3 popular guys with strong voices.

Coach Beiste is a Softie

She seems tough on the outside but she's really quite sensitive.  After Sue and Will go "operation mean girls" on her, we see her crying in the locker room while reapplying her bright red lipstick as Puck walks in with his offensive joke about Helen Keller not being able to drive because she was a woman instead of the obvious fact that she was blind.  Puck seeming to show some concern asks her if she was crying and she says "yeah I saw your stats from last season and it really hurt my feelings" - nice zinger coach. 

Coming off this humiliating situation, when Finn tries to tell her about Artie wanting to play and she thinks he's messing with her so Finn gets kicked off the football team! Oh no, without Finn as the starting QB does WMHS stand a chance?  She goes off on him and he says "Dude" which makes her even more angry.  Despite Will's attempts to convince her and Figgins that Finn was only trying to help Artie, Coach Beiste will have none of it and refuses to let Finn back on the team!  

New Cheerios

Quinn wants back on the squad and wants her status as queen bee restored.  Can order be restored to the school hierarchy?  Last year at the beginning of the school year Quinn was captain of the Cheerios dating the football QB Finn and all was good, by the end of the year she was an outcast member of Glee who got pregnant by her boyfriend's best friend, got kicked off the Cheerios, and out of her house and it looked like she was destined to be like the rest of the glee club members.  Finn got kicked off the football team can Quinn really get back on the Cheerios?  The answer - Yes! 

Even though at first Sue said no way, after Quinn says Churches would donate money for the confetti cannons that she lost in the budget if she let a girl on the team who got pregnant and now promotes abstinence education while wearing a Cheerios uniform onto the squad.  First off what? Wasn't she all about abstinence BEFORE she got pregnant?  I mean she was president of the celibacy club for crying out loud!  But alas she gets in, AND because of Santana's boob job Quinn will be the head Cheerio (like before) and Santana is demoted to the bottom of the pyramid so that if the pyramid falls her "exploding sandbags will protect the squad from injury!"  This leads to a massive girl fight in the hallway! Full on face slapping, bitch-fight between Quinn and Santana - it was amazing till Schu broke it up...Brittney watched from the side and said "Stop the Violence" haha love her!

However, the best thing about Cheerios tryouts was Finn's audition!  After being kicked off the football team he needs something to make him cool so he thinks by becoming a Cheerio he will gain some points (not sure what makes him think being a guy cheerleader is going to help his popularity but hey). 

Auditions

Sam never shows up to audition and Sunshine doesn't show up cause Rachel gave her directions to a crack house for the audition location! (but not an active one)  Tina and Mike bring this to Mr. Schu's attention because apparently the Asian community is very tight knit so they heard about it.

Rachel convinces Sunshine to really come and audition and she sings an AMAZING rendition of "Listen" from Dream Girls.  Too bad Sunshine won't be joining New Directions because she's been recruited by Dustin Goolsby (Cheyenne Jackson from 30 Rock), the new coach of Vocal Adrenaline, thanks to Sue (shoulda went along with the poop cookies)!  They gave her and her mom a condo and a green card to get her to join! (what kind of glee club has that kind of money and how is that legal?)

Turns out Sam's reason for not showing up is because he's already the new kid and after Finn got kicked off the team and the way everyone on the team talks about the guys in Glee he didn't need anything to make him more of an outsider.  Plus now that Finn is off the team, he's the new Quarterback!

Final Number

Touching moments between Finn and Rachel where Rachel admits to being a spotlight hog.  Rachel tells Finn to go ahead and break up with her but Finn says he wouldn't do that and that she's the one who should break up with him because he's no longer popular.  Isn't it cute, that the actually do really care about each other?  But it looks like Finn has got a lot of work ahead of him trying to keep Rachel in line, he's going to have to mediate between her and the rest of the club. 

Then we get a showstopper from Rachel who gives us "What I did for Love" from A Chorus Line as the final number of the episode.  And not only is it a great song, it's classic Rachel!

So did you all enjoy the premiere as much as I did?  Sound off in the comments.  Next week - Brittney Spears! Unfortunately I will be on my way to New York City to see my first Broadway show - Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes in Promises, Promises - so I won't be able to post a recap until the weekend but I'll get one up :)

Cheno Coutdown - Home

In exactly 1 week I will be headed to Connecticut for the first night of my quick trip to New York City to see the wonderful Kristin Chenoweth in her current Broadway show - Promises, Promises - also starring Sean Hayes from Will and Grace.  In honor of this I am posting an entry each day featuring Cheno!

Before I get into the clip I just spotted this little SPOILER on Kristin's return to Glee via E! online's Kristin Di Santos -

April Rhodes is on her way back to McKinley High and a little birdie we like to call Kristin Chenoweth    tells us we're in for a nearly nude treat! "I'm going back in two weeks to do Glee. I did hear April will be stripping and it made me nervous—made me not want to eat." Just don't expect any smooth moves on the stripper pole. Says Kristin: "I'm not going to practice it either because I don't think April would know how!"

Read more: http://uk.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b201407_spoiler_chat_get_premiere-week_scoop_on.html#ixzz10CQjxxEW


In honor of GLEE returning tonight our Cheno Countdown clip will be from her second appearance on Glee in the episode "Home" where her version of  "Home" from The Wiz is utterly breathtaking.  She looks stunning in the white gown and every time I hear her sing this song it is so moving that I have to fight back the tears.  I could watch this episode of Glee over and over again, and in fact have seen it about 3 times in the past 3 weeks now.  Some people criticized her appearance in this episode saying her character was just thrown into the episode in order to have Kristin on the show again but I disagree.  And I can't wait for April Rhodes to come back this season! It will be interesting to see what she's been up too since we last saw her.  She said she was heading to Broadway to "mount an all white production of The Wiz" with her millions she received in a settlement to keep quiet about her affair with a strip mall tycoon.  Something tells me April will have some fun stories to tell when we see her again but what would be interesting is that Nationals is in New York so it would be great if she appeared in that episode (if she is still on Broadway when the the group gets there).  I believe she is set to film her second season appearance in Glee in late October after a rescheduled concert with the Oklahoma City Pops.  The Promises, Promises website says she will not be in the production for a week or so in late October so I assume she will be out in LA taping.  So I hope everyone enjoys Kristin Chenoweth's version of "Home" and tune in and watch the season 2 premiere of Glee tonight at 8pm on FOX!

Emmys Red Carpet Reaction

So I DVRed (yes i made that a verb) both E! and NBCs Red carpet coverage and first off I have to say that E! had much better coverage.  Not only did theirs start an hour before NBCs so we got to see more but the quality was so much better as well (this does not bode well since NBC is on the decline - even though I work for an NBC affiliate so I hope things pick up soon - fingers crossed for The Event -which I have seen the pilot and am going to post something about it soon).

You get Ryan Seacrest on E! (not a huge fan but he knows his way around the red carpet) and Billy Bush on NBC (not particularly impressed with him) not to mention the NBC side crew including Nate Burkus (who by the way is getting his own show this fall) and let me just say that Nate's questions about everyone's bathroom floor and what they looked like was getting old after the 1st person.  Not a big fan of that question, I don't care what someone's bathroom looks like I mean you can ask them how many dresses they tried on before they decided on this one but geez that's about all I care to know.

NBC also had horrible graphics.  That little wipe screen of their horribly designed Emmy Red carpet logo between Billy and Nate just way too plain, someone could have and should have designed something with some animation, better colors and the logo itself was just horrendous.  (I hate that I'm bashing my own affiliate but this red carpet show could have been much better and also as for the E! had a whole extra hour of coverage on them, I could have handled not having to do the 6pm news yesterday for more red carpet coverage!).  And someone could have let Billy know that there were still 30 seconds left when he threw to the Emmy's the audience could see the clock why couldn't someone tell him in his earpiece to stretch?

As for the stars and the fashion I have these as my best and worst dressed (I love that no matter what they thought of their fashion Billy or Ryan or Nate or anyone always says how great they look because they have to - hehe)

January Jones is definitely a WORST dressed in my opinion.  That dress was horrendous especially considering how great she looked last year.  And her hair had that bed head look which E! commented on as well at the end of their red carpet coverage.  Judge for yourself

As for the Best Dressed I have a few favorites Glee's Lea Michelle looked great in the Oscar De La Renta Navy strapless gown.  Clare Danes looked stunning as did Modern Family's Sophia Vergara

What did everyone else think of the Red Carpet?  Who had the best coverage of the red carpet?  (I didn't get to see TV Guide Channel's coverage cause I don't get that channel but if anyone saw that coverage and thought it was awesome please share) Sound off in the comments - Jimmy Fallon did an excellent job as the host, especially his opening number and tribute to shows that are no longer with us.  Overall the Emmys were pretty fun!

Ryan Murphy Developing Comedy for Kristin Chenoweth

According to Entertainment Weekly, Glee creator Ryan Murphy is developing a half-hour musical comedy series to star his friend Kristin Chenoweth.  Known best for her performances as the orignial Glinda in Wicked and as Fran Kubelik in the Broadway revival of Promises, Promises as well as guest appearing as April Rhodes in Glee, Chenoweth is no newcomer to television.  She had parts in the short-lived ABC series Pushing Dasies and also played on The West Wing from 2004-2006.  This also won't be her first crack at her own show.  Back in 2001 she was the star of Kristin, however it only lasted 11 episodes.  Ryan Murphy said it will not be a spin-off of Glee, but a brand new show to showcase Kristin's unique talents.

I've been wondering how many musical shows are going to be created in the coming years due to the success of Glee.  I hope this is a great show because I really like Chenoweth, she has an amazing voice and is funny to boot!

So what do you think?  Will this show be amazing or a flop?  Sound off in the comments....

Carol Burnett headed to Glee

Ok I know it's been a really long time since I posted anything but there's the big scoop.  Carol Burnett has been cast to play none other that Sue Sylvester's nazi-hunting mother on Glee this fall!  Tell me this isn't the most genius casting.  No word on an exact episode for her appearance but supposedly it will be in October or November.  Sue's father, however, will not be making an appearance (at least not at this time). 

So what do you think Gleeks...is this a perfect casting or what?  sound off in the comments

Freshmen Shows get Syndication

Big News for fans of Glee and Modern Family.  It seems like these freshmen series have already landed themselves syndication for the fall!  According to deadline.com"...Twentieth Television is finalizing separate deals for the cable rights to both hit shows made by 20th Century Fox TV with NBC Universal’s Oxygen and USA Network."

Oxygen, which will be the syndication network for Glee in 2013, is also planning a 2011 reality show to find the next Glee star!  So if you want to be on Glee look into this upcoming reality show.  It is reported that Oxygen will pay mid-six figures per episode of Glee to air in syndication.  It is rumored that this deal will also feature additional Glee-related programming! (not sure what this means but I love Glee so more programming could be great!)

As for Modern Family, it will be syndicated on USA network (not sure when this starts).  The network, which has mainly focused on hour-long programs is planning to expand into the half-hour market.  They recently ordered their first half-hour script and are looking for off-network series to support it's upcoming original half-hour series.  Prior to landing Modern Family the network pursued Two and a Half Men which landed on TBS.

Both Oxygen and USA are owned by NBCU soon to be owned by Comcast.

So are you all excited to watch re-runs of these shows on cable?  Sound off in the comments

Glee to the Movies?

I just read that there is a possibility of up to THREE Glee movies.  According to Hollywoodlife.com, all of the stars of Glee have a stipulation in their contract that they must be available should 20th Century Fox decide to make up to 3 movies based on the show. 

[The actor] hereby grants Fox three exclusive, irrevocable options to engage [the actor] in up to, respectively, three feature length motion pictures.

Lea Michele, Corey Monteith, Diana Aragon, and Mark Salling all have this in their contracts that they signed prior to filming the pilot back in 2008. 

So Gleeks, what do you think about the possibility of a Glee movie or three?  Sound off in the comments

New INFO:
Show creator Ryan Murphy has stated that there will NOT be any Glee movies :( 

Glee Season 1 Finale: "Don't Stop Believin'" in this show!

So, Glee wrapped up it's brilliant and award winning first season last night with a bang.  Quinn had her baby, New Directions competed at Regionals, and Sue Sylvester showed some heart (at least to us).  My first and overall opinion of the finale is that it was really good, but I do have a few gripes about it.  But first let us recap.

We find out that the judges at regionals will be "celebrities", including our very own local celeb - Sue Sylvester, along with Olivia Newton-John, Josh Grobin, and the local news anchor Ron something or other.  New Directions feels like it's over because with Sue on the judging panel they are sure to lose.

Will invites the gang to his place for pizza and to gear up for regionals but they feel like they still think it's over for Glee because if they don't place the club gets shut down.  Mr. Shue goes to Emma for some advice on how to get the kids motivated and we find out she's been dating her dentist (who may or may not be played by John Stamos come fall, or at least that's the rumor floating around the Internet).  

Finn talks to Rachel and says the two of them as leaders need to step up and get the group focused on winning and after Will talks to Emma he decides that when he was ready to quit at the beginning of the year the 6 kids in the club at that point (Rachel, Finn, Mercedes, Kurt, Artie, and Tina) convinced him to stay by singing "Don't Stop Believin" by Journey and says that at regionals they will perform a medley of Journey songs! (YES!)

Regionals arrive and by my count there were only 3 teams competing, New Directions, Vocal Adrenaline, and Oral Intensity (funniest name ever) from Ft. Wyane, IN.  OI goes first and our gang gets nervous, they are signing a mash up Olivia Newton-John and Josh Grobin (what?).  So someone tipped them off to who the judges would be! 

New Directions is up next.  Rachel and Finn start at the back of the room and walk up to the stage similar to Rachel's performance of "Don't Rain on My Parade" from sectionals.  Although the big thing is that before they go on Finn tells Rachel he loves her! that's huge!  So they go on with their medley of Journey songs finishing it all with a slightly different rendition of "Don't Stop Believin" than they did in the pilot and it was great! 

When they get backstage Quinn is greeted by her mother who apologizes for kicking her out of the house and says she's sorry she missed all the other times she sang and she wants her to move back home and they can set up a nursery for the baby and that her she kicked her dad out for cheating on her with a "tattooed woman".  While waiting for a response Quinn's water breaks and they rush her to the hospital where she gives birth to "Beth" with daddy Puck and new found friend Mercedes in the room with her all while Vocal Adrenaline sings their song "Bohemian Rhapsody" (or I should say Jesse sings and the rest of the team just dances?!). 

The hospital must be across the street because Rachel comes back to hear some of VA's performance and talk to her mom (their coach).  She asks where the team is and she says at the hospital because Quinn is having her baby.

Backstage the judges are now trying to decide a winner, Josh Grobin liked New Directions, Olivia Newton John voted for Oral Intensity because they used her songs and Ron chooses Vocal Adrenaline.  When Grobin votes for New Directions the other judges go on bashing them calling them poor and actually being really mean about it and Sue tries to stick up for them (OMG Sue is sticking up for Glee) it is the same school she works at after all. 

The time comes for the announcement of the winner.  Sue gets to announce the winners.  Runner up goes to "the not at all stupidly named Oral Intensity" (great line).  and 1st place goes to....Vocal Adrenaline (I sort of wonder if Sue was actually telling the truth here she didn't even really look at the card before she announced it)...which means New Directions didn't place so Glee club is canceled!

Emma is seen fighting Principal Figgins for the club and tells Will he can't give up. He says he loves her and kisses her. (which wasn't scripted by the way!)

The team is very sad about it but take the time to tell Mr. Shue about what they all got out of being in Glee and he and Puck sing a wonderful "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" complete with ukulele.

Sue goes to Figgins and using her blackmail tells him to give Glee another year.  She tells Will it's because life wouldn't be the same if she didn't have him to fight with.  The audience sees just exactly how she votes at Regionals and surprisingly enough she votes New Directions #1. 

I guess we will see what next year holds for our Glee kids this fall.  If you can't stand that it's a summer with no Glee, fear not, you can rewatch the first season every Thursday night on Fox this summer!

OK, on to my gripes about the finale

First off, in the scene where they are having pizza at Will's I swear Quinn says she's only 8 months pregnant yet she has the baby at regionals which seems to be only a few days, maybe weeks (if your pushing it) from the point when they have pizza...WTF?  They've kinda run this whole pregnancy strangely by really playing it up in the first half of the season and then completely downplaying it the second half...I mean half the time Quinn barely looked pregnant. 

Second gripe is that why would you have a competition and have it be judged by celebrities?  And why did Olivia Newton John and Josh Grobin seem to be the two that took it the least serious? they are the music professionals right?  And don't even get me started on Josh Grobin's acting (or lack there of).

OK, first why are there only 3 teams? just trying to save time? if there are only 3 teams then they can only have 2 place and they knew they couldn't have New Directions finish lower than 3rd? 

Why did they only sing 1 song or mash up of songs?  at sectionals they sang 3 songs!

Honestly how can you vote for Vocal Adrenaline over the other 2 when Jesse was the only one who really sang?  you can't call yourself a Glee Club if you only have 1 person singing most of the song!  It seemed like the rest of their club was only there for backup dancing and a few little words here and there in the song but other than their cleverly choreographed dancing their song was no where near as good as New Directions (which makes me first second guess the judges lack of judgement and second the announcement Sue made of the winner).  Maybe next season will come out that New Directions actually won and Sue cheated?

Finally how did Shelby (Vocal Adrenaline's coach) get to adopt Quinn's baby?  She just got done telling Rachel (her real daughter) that she needs to focus on her and she wants a house and a dog and basically wants nothing to do with Rachel and then she gets to adopt Quinn's baby?  I guess they needed to tie the story together but come on?  Although at least she kept Puck's name of Beth for her.  Maybe she will let Puck and Quinn be a part of the baby's life since she regrets not being a part of Rachel's as a child...we shall see.

So, What did you think of the finale Gleeks?  sound off in the comments.

Newsworthy Notes

Some of this news is old some is new but it's about stuff I care about so I thought I'd share it with you.

First and foremost fans of ABC's FlashForward or organizing a save the show effort on June 10 outside of the ABC HQs in Atlanta, LA, Chicago, NY, and Detroit. They are planning a "blackout" where they will simulate the show's blackout on the streets outside the HQ for 2 min and 17 sec (just like the show)...All I have to say is I hope this works cause I loved this show. There is also a facebook page to save the show. It wouldn't be the first time a show was cancelled and fans got the network to bring it back with a grand gesture. Take CBS's cancellation of Jerhico for example. The fans sent thousands of peanuts to the CBS executives and funny enough, it worked and CBS brought it out of cancellation but it only lasted 1 more season (I didn't watch this show so I can't say if it was worth the effort but enough people thought it was worth it and it got saved)...here's hoping these fans can get this show brought back from the dead. Here's a link to the story on Variety.  And at the bottom of the story are links to the facebook save the show page and another website which my work computer wouldn't allow me to go to so not sure about that one.

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Here's another bit of news that I frankly don't care for.  Disney which owns ABC, ABC Family, SoapNet and many other channels has decided that in 2012 they will pull the plug on SoapNet and replace it with Disney Junior.  Great just what we need more cartoon channels!  I like cartoons dont' get me wrong but come on there are so many channels out there for kids.  And now how am I going to watch re-runs of Beverly Hills 90210 or One Tree Hill?  It also airs Gilmore Girls (but that's also syndicated on ABC Family) and the OC plus re-airing daytime soaps and talk shows such as The View and it even has an original series called Being Erica.  All of this will disappear so that Disney can air another channel aimed at toddlers!  I mean it's gonna air shows that are already on other channels like Handy Manny and other Playhouse Disney shows...just watch the frickin Disney Channel if you wanna watch these shows! Toddlers don't need a 24 hour network for themselves!  Toddlers shouldn't be watching that much TV! come on parents!  here's a link to a story.

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This is really old news but in case you didn't hear Glee, which will return for a second season this fall, has already been picked up for a third season!  This happened a few weeks back but it was during season finale time and I was trying to watch a lot of television plus I had already posted a ton of posts on here so I held on to the news for a while and am just now getting around to posting it.  But here's another bit of info about Glee for you.  The Complete First Season of Glee will be available on DVD September 14.  I know that's a long way away but it's news nonetheless.  There will be some never before seen Sue's Corner's, 3 behind the scenes clips and some karaoke sing-a-long feature.  If you already bought Glee: Volume One: Road to Sectionals, you will get a $10 rebate for buying the complete first season on DVD as well.  (This is exactly why I didn't buy the DVD when it came out because I had a feeling that they wouldnt' release the second half as a separate DVD so I said I would just wait for the full season to be released and if it was released as 2 sets of DVDs I would just buy the 2 sets when the second set came out).  More info on the DVD here.

DVR catch up night

DVR has got to be the greatest invention ever! (well obviously the VCR was a great invention but you can only record 1 show per VCR so unless you got yourself like 8 VCRs and Televisions to attach them to there is no comparison to the DVR).  Of course you can always turn the internet to catch up on your missed episodes (assuming the show is readily available, i'm not up for paying on itunes to watch something when I already pay for cable!)...and speaking of DVRs, ATT has the best one because not only is it a DVR it allows you to record up to 4 standard definition shows at the same time!  For me this is the best thing yet because as the title of my blog suggests television is my life and by that I mean I watch more than the average bear's worth of television, I mean Tuesday night alone is a monster let's see we have Lost, Glee (which was on Wednesdays), American Idol, Parenthood, V, and 90210 - and that's just Tuesday - let's just say Sun-Thurs all look like that on my DVR (Friday and Saturday are the only relatively free days and that's not saying much because you got SNL on Saturday and sometimes Friday gets a show on that I will watch)

So now that we all agree that the DVR is a great invention let's talk about my catch up on shows night because let's face it I can't watch all the shows I want to the night they are on or I'd never get any sleep to be alive at work (where I work with television - even if it is news not entertainment, sometimes the news can be very entertaining, but i digress...)

Tonight I watched Idol gives back (that I watched live) - I only watched it to see Carrie Underwood perform and to see who got kicked off this week and then got the bonus of seeing my favorite idol - David Cook show up! but my bottom 3 was only off by 1 person and I almost put Casey down so I was that close to getting it perfect however I wouldn't have guessed Tim would leave I thought it was high time Aaron left BUT I also though Tim should have been like the 2nd person kicked off the show so I guess it doesn't matter.  I am interested to see next week's theme of Shania Twain - I didn't know she had enough hit songs to earn her own night...we shall see how this goes.  I was just thinking there needed to be a country night and I guess this week is as close as I'll get.

So that was live TV now on to the DVR -
How I Met Your Mother: this show is obviously no where near the level it once was but this week's episode did give us the game "Drunk or Kid" which is obviously a great game you name a scenario and the other people have to guess if it happened when you were drunk or a kid! great concept right?

Romantically Challenged: I wanted to give Alyssa Milano's new show a try...it was not great but I will give it 1 more week to change my mind.  She doesn't look old enough to have a teenage son and her sister doesn't seem to fit into the show.  As for her two guy friends - one of them struck me -as Sue Sylvester would put it "a sneaky gay" - he was dating a girl but seemed like he was gay, I mean he met her at a cooking class...the other guy was oddly juvenile and the place where they hung out and drank wine seemed like a coffee shop at first but then I saw the wine and thought restaurant but who hangs out at a restaurant like every day?  It could have been a bar but the tables didn't make it look like a bar at all...Anyway, I'll give it one more week before I dump it

Now on to shows that need to back next season but are in limbo -

Accidentally on Purpose: This show is one of my favorite new shows this year and no one gives it credit.  Jenna Elphman is great as the older woman who got pregnant on a one night stand by a guy 10+ years younger than her...Zach (the baby daddy) and his best friend Davis, and then there is Billy (Elphman's character) and her sister Abby and Scottish work friend Olivia make a great core group of characters.

Tonight was the season finale in which we see Billy and Zach finally become parents, but not before hilarious things happen.  In this continued episode from last week, Zach got pulled over for speeding and then lied to the cop and said Billy was in labor so the cop took them to the hospital where they had to sneak out cause she wasn't actually having the baby but then on the way to where they were actually going, get pulled over again by the SAME cop so Billy hides in the back only to go into actual labor.  So Zach gets arrested and Davis has to take Billy to the hospital (Davis is kinda a stoner if you don't watch the show)  Billie makes him stay with her she tells him to pretend he's at a strip club and he replies "Ok but it'll be kinda hard to stick dollar bills down there when a baby is coming out!" too funny.  Billie calls Abby to get Zach out of jail but Abby ends up in Jail too so then she has to send Olivia who gets them out of jail because she knew the cop (apparently she disappeared on him a while back because his response to seeing her was "your alive")

now that that recap is over we need to find a way to save this show! come on CBS give it another shot!

Finally another show that needs to get renewed that is on the bubble - Trauma on NBC.

This show gets better and better every week.  The character development is so great it makes me not miss ER so much and this weeks episode especially because it really only focused on the main cast instead of the medical emergencies that usually happen which are predictable.  As soon as we see someone on camera who is not a main cast member we know that there is going to be an accident and one of the crews will get called out to try and save them (it's about paramedics if you were unaware).  I love that the show is set in San Francisco - the last good show out of SF was Eli Stone and that got canned too soon (ABC pisses me off) and before that it was Charmed (which ties back to Alyssa Milano).  Ok so anyways each week we are getting more and more about these characters and their personal lives outside of being a medic which totally reminds me of ER only that show was about doctors.  Even when the episodes are about the specific emergencies we learn things about them and the effects are cool because sometimes there are big explosions and stuff like the pilot where a medical helicopter crashed into a building.  And of course we get to see creative looks at how people get injured and I'm sure even if it looks like a stupid way to get hurt it probably happened to someone at some time.

OK so to sum up -
DVR = awesome
Save Trauma and Accidentally on Purpose from cancellation

If I could seriously get paid to watch like every show on TV and write about it I would take that job in a heartbeat so if anyone out there reads this and knows of someone hiring for that job shoot me a note...One day maybe I'll get a video recap that I can put together on here or something (but that might take way too much time that I don't have which leaves less time to watch TV so I'll prolly just stick to posting some pics and video clips from the net...)

time to watch more stuff on the DVR - Parenthood, V and Ghost Hunters remain, good thing Modern Family and Cougar Town were reruns tonight!

I will leave with this - Glee is hosting an online casting call for next season through myspace and this guy's video on youtube is a submission - what do you think? should he be on the show? If you think you should be on the show go to myspace.com/gleeauditions to submit your own

"Madge-ical" Madonna and other Tuesday night awesomeness

The power of Madonna = best episode of Glee yet!...the song choices fit perfectly into the context of the show and were performed awesomely! Some might have even been better than the original versions (example...4 Minutes). Classic Sue Sylvester - her parents were famed Nazi hunters? of course they were...Rachael and Jesse went to a Wiggles concert and then SHE won him a CareBear!...The Emma/Rachel/Finn Like a Virgin montage was absolutely amazing...although I'm dissapointed Finn went through with it, especially in a dirty motel, and what were Rachel and Emma wearing? And the mash- up of Borderline/Open your Heart was so smooth you'd think it was only 1 song! plus the video sequence of them roaming the halls of school with all of the different Madonna looks walking around - great! Sue throwing students into lockers - how funny was that? Jesse looked like a creeper in the library telling Rachel about his "melancholia". Finally, who else is excited to see Kurt and Mercedes in the Cheerios in the future!

Missing though - in Sue's office with Kurt and Mecedes they cut a line from the promo out..."Mercedes is black, I'm gay...we make culture" and in the promo Sue said "why don't you two have you're own show on Bravo?" that's funny why didn't it make the cut?

I want more Puck though...it's been a while since we've seen him more than 2 minutes an episode and I also want to see Quinn sing more...And who else feels like Jesse is still a traitor? He's going to awful big measures to spy on the other team if he is.

I want to see more of Ms. Pillsbury's pamphlets...not sure how many people took the time to read the ones in last night's episode but they were great!
"I still breastfeed, but how old IS too old?" and "Help!, I'm in love with my stepdad!" too funny...here's a screen shot

Favorite lines from last night's episode include:
Santana's response to Rachel's "can I ask you guys something": "Yes you should move to Israel"
Quinn: "Please stop talking, you're grossing out my baby"
Sue: "William...I thought I smelled cookies wafting from the ovens of the elves that live in your hair"
Sue: "You think this is hard? I'm passing a gallstone as we speak...that's hard!"
Brittany: "When I pulled my hamstring, I went to a misogynist"
Sue: "Hey there Whoopi, Don Knotts" (referring to Mercedes and Kurt)
Jesse to Rachel: "Just come out so we can talk, or sing about it..." - this is one of two references this episode where you see a character comment on the fact that they are in a television show, the other being when sue is writing in her diary and she says "even in a voice over"
Brittany: in reference to Jesse St. James, "Mr. Schu, is he your son?"
Jesse: "Ok Finn, I know we have a big showdown coming, so let's just decide on the arena...sing-off, parking lot, 5 o'clock, be there" (Rachel's no response was funny too)

Can't wait for next week!
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Now LOST - The Last Recruit

This episode wasn't the best of the season but a much needed set-up episode for the big showdown. I am dissapointed that Lost is NOT new next week but that just builds anticipation for the new episode in 2 weeks.

Here are just a few notes from the episode -
Why did Sun freak out when she saw John Locke on her way to the ER?
Did Sayid actually kill Desmond?
What's Jack's deal?
What happened to Miles? - I forget...I got it now, he went with Richard and Ben to get TNT from the Dharma barracks

I did enjoy that Clair joined Sawyer's team it felt to me that it wasn't just about Locke's last recruit it was also about Sawyer's recruit as well...

We learned that Christian was indeed the Man In Black all along (or is he lying?)

Here's something interesting brought to my attention through Doc Jensen's recap on Entertainment Weekly.com - if Christian was the man in black and therefore all dead people seen on the island are the man in black who's to say that Hurley's vision of Jacob on the island is not the man in black himself (Jacob is dead after all).  I mean so far everything "Jacob" has told Hurley to do hasn't had the best outcome - take bringing Sayid to the temple for example, look how that turned out...he died and now he's back but a complete zombie.  Seems to me the MIB is manipulating Hurley to do his bidding...what do you think?

On another Lost note, head to abc.com and vote for the fan Lost promo contest to decide which fan-made promo will air on ABC during an episode of Lost this season!

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American Idol - inspirational songs

Crystal Bowersox is in a league of her own! this girl has it together.

I also enjoyed Lee Dewyze's performance.

My bottom three this week are Aaron, Siobhan, Tim but I'm probably totally wrong on at least 2 of them! I'll have to watch the big 2-hour Idol gives back results show tonight to find out!

Thanks for reading check back again for more on great TV!

Gay Sharks and Whispers of the Dead

Hello to anyone who reads this...it has been a while since my last post. Since Tuesdays have become the new IT night in television what better time to post my thoughts than Wednesday morning. Now granted I have yet to watch V and Parenthood from last night yet and am in the process of watching Idol off my DVR -somehow Ryan Seacrest knows that Adam Lambert's tongue is more talented that his? - but i'll come back to Idol after i'm done watching...but LOST and Glee alone merit a post.

Let's start with Glee...
Who wasn't happy to see Glee return from winter break? hillariaty ensued as usual. Rachel and Finn started the episode as dating, or at least Rachel thought so. Loved the "Team Finn" shirt Rachel was wearing at the basketball game...and let's be honest Finn is like the worst athlete ever...he said he set a record for sacks taken during football season and then he just stands there and lets the other team steal the ball as he spends time scanning the stands? Anyway...I love the Sue is back and still out to get Will...she sends her two minions to make Rachel jealous by going after Finn who takes them on a date together where they spend time talking about him even though he was sitting right there...they told him that's how it works they pay for them to go to dinner and then they will make out in front of him...how wierd is that? Oh yea and I love how they tell the waitress that there was something wrong with their food and they want another plate even though they ate practically all of their food..."there was a rat in mine" - really? where is it now? Also Brittany provided the two best lines of the night anyway...
"Did you know that dolphins are just gay sharks?" and "Sometimes I foget my middle name"...priceless!

also I loved Puck telling Quinn to stop getting fat cause he doesn't date fat chicks and she states the obvious that she's pregnant and his response..."And that's my fault?" - uh yeah!

We got to see Will as a playa, and learned a little more about Emma...we got a great rocker Finn rendition of "Hello, I Love You" by The Doors, an angry Rachel singing "Gives you Hell" by the All American Rejects, and a wierd meet the sneaky Jessie duet at a music store of "Hello" by Lionel Richie (David Cook still sang it better on Idol in season 7)...and of course what Hello themed anything wouldn't have a rendition of "Hello, Goodbye" by the Beatles...the one odd thing was hearing a song that a cast member didn't sing during Emma and Will's date...

All and all great to see the show come back and look forward to next week's Madonna themed episode embedded below is Sue's shot for shot remake of Vouge (with a few line changes to the song to poke fun at Will Schuster)



And now here's something I hope you'll really like...(ala Rocky and Bullwinkle) LOST!

"Everybody Loves Hugo"

We finally learn what the Whispers are! now that we know that the whispers are those who died on the island that can't move on...I now question Jacob's wine bottle theory that says that the island is keeping evil from escaping and taking over the world...(kinda like pandora's box?)...I think it's more like keeping the souls from moving on and maybe the man in black escaping will let them move on...but then Locke pushed Desmond down a well and all my thoughts of him possibly being a good guy went out the window...I can't blieve how haphazardly Illana threw the dynamite around...hello let's put like 6 sticks of TNT in a bookbag then throw some botlles of water in there on top of it and then of course let's just throw the bag on the ground they dynamite will NEVER explode!...I totally called her Arzt-like death the minute I saw her bag-o-dynamite. Loved the Hurly-Libby reconnect in the sideways world...but I wonder if the reason she was in Santa Rosa is the same in both worlds because in the flash backs she looked much more crazy than in the sideways world story...Also Desmond guns down Wheelchair bound sideways Locke in a hit and run! My guess is that either he has to die in the sideways world or he needs a near death experience to jolt his consciousness jump. I LOVED the end when Jack and Locke had their stare down something BIG is comeing there...and now Desmond, Lock, and Saywer can all see the mystic kid (but this time the kid was someone different possibly an older version of the first kid we saw)..and well that leads me to the preview for next week's episode with the creepy Willy Wonka son playing in the background...I LOVED how eerie it made it feel...that song creeps me out when I watch Willie Wonka so to add it to LOST was great! check it out below

All the Single Football Players?!?

If you did not see last night's episode of Glee you missed one of the funnest hours of television! This show gets better every week.  From the moment you see Kurt rehearsing the Single Ladies video in his room with 2 female backup dancers you know you're in for a ride.  Non-stop laughter, that's the best way to describe this new hit show on Fox.  And Fox did it right from the start...airing the pilot episode of Glee during season finale time in May, GENIUS!  Get people talking about the show all summer and see what their reaction is to a show will help you judge how it will do in the fall.  As someone who works for an NBC affiliate I can tell you, i think this is a great premise and other networks should rip this page out of their book.  But as far as last night's episode of Glee is concerned.  Quinn in preggers, which coming from the president of the chastity club is hilarious.  Not to mention the fact of the story she tells Finn to convince him he's the father even though they've never had sex (but apparently she has had sex with Puck...geez what a slut.  i mean getting drunk on wine coolers and sleeping with your boyfriend's friend).  How will anyone believe that hot tub story she tells Finn?  Anyway, Sue is great as usual (Jane Lynch is a genius comedy performer) and Rachel quits Glee club, oh yeah and Kurt is gay...who didn't know this? but i'll leave you with the two funniest clips from last night...

Happy watching