How much longer than 4 years will 'Glee' cast be in high school?

Social networkers swooned recently when they saw a blog report in which "Glee" creator Ryan Murphy acknowledged that the show's "student" cast members will eventually be too old to play high-schoolers.

The information in the blog post is utterly consistent with what Murphy -- a graduate of Warren Central High School in Indianapolis -- has been say- ing whenever asked about the age issue.

That is, whenever he's not saying that they will never graduate from McKinley High School.

In August, for instance, Murphy was asked at Summer TV Press Tour 2010 how he planned to handle the whole aging actors playing high-schoolers thing.

"We obviously have to deal with the cast and the fact that, you know, the show will hopefully go many, many years," he said. But Murphy also said he had already "mapped out the first four years with our original cast."

"Glee" was unveiled in a single episode in May 2009, but actually launched as a series in the fall of '09. You do the math.

Murphy delivered these comments just a few months after appearing on Oprah Winfrey's show. She asked him what would happen when the cast graduates.

"They never will," he responded. "It's a 10-year high school."

A few weeks after Murphy's press-tour comments, he was asked again whether he would recast the high-schoolers when they started to look too old. That time he said he knew he would have to do it eventually if the show ran many seasons, but that Fox had committed to air the show only through May 2012.

How much longer than 4 years will 'Glee' cast be in high school?

“A Very Glee Christmas”

Sabotage, heartbreak, deception, gifts -- sounds like a Christmas episode of "Glee." Sudden, random dispensing of all sad plotlines to hurriedly wrap things up happily ever after -- sounds even more like a Christmas episode of "Glee"!

Onto this episode - Guess who doesn't love Christmas? If you said Sue Sylvester, you'd be correct. The forever track-suited cheerleading coach does not enjoy holidays in which the main themes are "cheer" and "joy" and "giving to others." So Sue rigs the McKinley High School staff's Secret Santa program, and all the staffers draw a slip of paper with her name on it. When the other staffers discover her crime, Sue refuses to return the presents, or give them to homeless kids. Glee club coach Will and the other staffers take back the gifts anyway while she's not around, but then stupidly leave them under a tree in the glee club room -- because, hey, this is "Glee." Sue disguises herself as the Grinch who stole Christmas and she and faithful Becky break into the glee club room and destroy their tree, decorations, sheet music and even the piano. Vandalism of school property apparently is not a crime in Gleeville.

Anyway, Sue-as-Grinch also steals the presents from under the tree that were intended for homeless kids -- of course she does! Because, you see, she hates the glee club and glee club coach Will's hair. You had to be there.

And,

In case you've forgotten the place in the Rachel-Finn saga, they are currently "off" because she made out with Puck last week, and Finn's not pleased. Even after Rachel sings "Merry Christmas, Darling," especially for him, and they duet with "Last Christmas" while shopping for Christmas trees, Finn tells her he simply can't forgive her for what she and Puck did. And yet, soon thereafter, Finn is seen walking down the hall at school prattling merrily with Puck. Once Finn gets one foot on the ground, he's really quite a jerk, isn't he? Anyway, Finn and Rachel are through. Forever. Until the next sweep.

Also, Emma and Carl are still married after their quickie Vegas wedding. Will, devastated, decides to spend Christmas alone, wearing truly heinous sweater vests.

Kurt's at his new school, and in a scene totally removed from the other storylines at hand, performs the duet "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with Blaine, in a fancy private-school study room with leather couches and a roaring fireplace. It's the highlight of the episode, on so many levels. Blaine is now officially the object of Kurt's affections, but Blaine has not returned Kurt's love, so ... heartbreak.

Meanwhile,

Brittany…….oh Brittany still naïve as ever believes in Santa Claus, who is sometimes a white guy, sometimes a black guy, sometimes Coach Beiste. Brittany's boyfriend, Artie decides to play along and persuades the glee club to play too. Brittany tells Santa all she wants for Christmas is for wheelchair-bound Artie to be able to walk. The glee guys ask Coach Beiste to break into Brittany's house and give her the harsh truth about Artie not being able to walk, ever. If it weren't so creepy, it would be sweet. But it is so creepy. Anyway, Coach Beiste does that little thing and Brittany is crushed to learn Santa may not be magical after all.

But after all this, guess what? It's nearly time for the episode to end and its many holiday tunes to go on sale. So, some mystery person (Coach Beiste?) suddenly gifts Artie a mechanical contraption, allowing him to stand up and walk. Brittany believes in magic again. The glee kids sing for McKinley High teachers, who donate money so the gang can still give something to the homeless kids after Sue stole their presents. And Sue is so touched by it all, she breaks in to Will's house and returns all the gifts, and decorates Will's Christmas tree with the help of the glee club. That she hates.

So, that’s it folks for the year with a heavy heart……see ya all in the glee episode review section of my blog until after the Superbowl in February

“A Very Glee Christmas”

"Hit Me Baby One More Time!"

For what was the most talked about episode for the ‘Gleeks’ in the off season, the Britney Spears episode of Glee Season 2 titled "Britney/Brittany" was aired on Tuesday night on Fox. Some of the experts felt that it was a bold move by the creators of the show as such a hyped episode could have kept the audience riveted till the end of the season. Another positive ASPECT that the fans can take from the airing of the episode is that the bigger surprises are yet to come in the show.

Not much of a plot the entire episode revolved around Britney Spears and her videos that the cast dreamt about in the dentist’s chair while under the effect of Anesthesia. With each of the cast members(Brittany, Santana, Rachel, Artie) having their own Britney Spears’ video where they imagined themselves as the pop icon or saw the diva herself, the audience were treated to some great pop music. Though not all the covers can be called up to the mark, the Britney Spears fans and the ‘Glee’ fans are sure satisfied by seeing their favorite pop icon in their favorite TV show.

The critics gave a mixed review to the episode with some feeling that the ‘Toxic’ star should have had more screen time. Apart from the music, there was also some drama in episode 2 of the second season of ‘Glee’. 

The best thing about this episode was how heavily it featured Brittany. It was the first time we’ve seen so much of her and Heather Morris killed it. That girl has impeccable comic timing, crazy-good dance skills, she can sing and she has a slammin’ bod. What more could you ask for?

The show began with Kurt petitioning Mr. Schue to allow them to sing some Britney music. Honestly, I’m shocked they hadn’t already covered her. The other glee kids agreed (loved Artie’s “Spears is fierce, yo!”) save for Brittany, who said because her name is Brittany Susan Pierce “I’ve lived my entire life in her shadow” and that “It’s been a hard road.” Seriously, Brittany had so many fantastic one-liners in this episode, I can’t possibly include them all.


Cut to Brittany at the dentist, getting put under to have some cavities filled just as Britney comes on the radio. In Brittany’s anesthesia induced fantasy she sang “I’m a Slave 4 U”, wore all the best Britney costumes – The snake! The red plastic jumpsuit! The sparkly body suit! – and nailed all the best Britney choreography. She came out of the fog of drugs and re-entered her own fog of reality and asked the dentist “Are you a cat?”



Hit Me Baby, One More Time…With That Anesthesia!

Brittany returned for more dental work and more drugs with best bud Santana, and the two had a synced fantasy where they performed “Me Against The Music” as Britney and Madonna – with a not-so-surprise appearance by Britney herself at the end. Brittany returned to glee rehearsal with a new love for Britney Spears and a new found confidence, demanding solos and saying “I’m more talented than all of you, I can see that clearly now.”


Rachel and Artie were up next at the dentist – Rachel reenacted the “Baby One More Time” video in her fantasy(which was the coolest), and Artie sang “Stronger” along with the football team in his. Sure, it sounds stupid. It was a silly episode. But that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable.
Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman?

                                       

                                                                          

Brittany wasn’t the only kid who found confidence in her Britney dreams. Rachel started dressing sexier and Artie officially joined the football team – along with Finn, who Coach Bieste reinstated. I loved how manipulative Rachel was this episode. Kudos to Lea Michele for not being afraid to play her as totally unlikable. Not only did she basically tell Finn (why don't their characters break-up, its clearly visible they have zero chemistry between them) that she was happy he’d been kicked off the football team because it made him less desirable and because “I want to be the only thing that makes you happy”, but she also convinced Quinn to proposition him as a test. So manipulative!


I’m not sure what will become of Artie on the football team, but whatever happens will be worth it because of Brittnay’s “Did you get a leg transplant?” line. For reals.

Sqeaky Clean


The other exciting thing this episode was the debut of John Stamos as Dr. Carl Howell. I love John Stamos. And weirdly enough, I didn’t watch a ton of Full House growing up – I love him from ER. Anyway, I really liked him on the show. If I didn’t want Will and Emma to be together I would totally dig him as her love interest. He’s helping her to get over her issues by making her mix up red grapes and green grapes in a bowl (I don’t think I could deal with that – I have WAY too much in common with Emma Pillsbury) which Emma described as “madness, sheer madness!”

Dirty Dancing


I loved the “Toxic” performance, and I loved it even more because Mr. Schue decided to take part. It was so inappropriate! And so hilarious! Had he not performed, it would have been too similar a performance to “Push It” last season – New Directions rebels and sings something sexy and cool? Old news. Mr. Schue up there writhing around with them? Awesomely awkward.


By the way, I know Mr. Schue was going through a bit of an identity crisis with the singing of the Britney and the buying of the sports car, but did he have to return the sports car and take back that heap of junk he’d been driving? Why didn’t he return the sports car and take a nice Yaris or something instead? Why keep dricing the clunker? Happy mediums, Schue. Happy mediums.


I loved Sue’s reaction to the performance and the “Britney Spears sex riot” that ensued. She threatened to sue Will over her injured neck, made an awesome Gloria Allred reference and told him she’d take him for everything he has, including “your extensive collection of vests. Seriously, you wear more vests than the cast of Blossom.”


The Exception


I loved the episode, but with one exception was "The Only Exception". It just didn’t fit, and why does Rachel always have to close with a solo? I like Paramore and the song fit Lea Michele's voice than it did with Haley Williams, but that song did not suit the episode when it was basically about Britney Spears. And the Rachel/Finn drama was a subplot, so why close with her soliloquy about how she needs to let Finn fly? Was it so that we could hear Brittany ask “Finn can fly?”? Actually, if that was the reason then I can accept it. Otherwise, I thought it was a stupid ending. But let’s look at  the other stuff from the episode that had me cracking up”

1. Everything Brittany said.
2. Brittany having cavities in all her teeth because she was “pretty sure Dr. Pepper was a dentist”.
3. “You dress like the bait girls on To Catch a Predator.” – Santana, on Rachel’s old look
4. “Normally you dress like the fantasy of a Japanese businessman with a very dark and specific fetish.” – Santana, commenting on Rachel’s new look (Actually, Santana had a lot of great lines this week!)
5. The return of Terri!
6. Brittany informing everyone that she’ll now do all the solos, starting with a Ke$ha cover next week.

So, are you guys excited about next week episode "Grilled Cheese"evidently the most controversial episode for Glee, as it will focus on religion and what God means to the members of the glee club. 

"Hit Me Baby One More Time!"