***Editor’s Note:  This was written last night but I clicked save instead of Post, so just pretend you read it last night***

Umm…so I warned you yesterday that I wasn’t really going to get a chance to take a look at the shows ABC previewed at their upfront today, but for the most part it doesn’t look like they’re making too many changes.  I’ll try to get to it tomorrow in some detail.  Anyway, tonight was a GREAT night of television.  The penultimate outing from Lost, entitled “What They Died For”, should put anyone at ease who was worried about the direction of the show for the final 2.5 hours on Sunday.  I feel completely at ease (well besides the fact that I’m losing my favorite show) and excited for the finale.  Also, I think this episode retroactively should validate last weeks embattled “Across the Sea”.  But that’s all I’m going to say, as Lost can be covered much better on many different places on the internet.

What I do want to spend some time on is taking another look at Glee.  A couple weeks ago I posted about my concerns for the direction the show was taking, and I’m happy to say that I’ve only felt the show has gotten better each week since then.  Tonight’s episode, “Dream On” with special guest star Neil Patrick Harris (always a nice addition), directed by The Joss Whedon (I think he needs to make that a thing), and featuring recurring guest stars Jonathan Groff and Idina Menzel, was strong, well-balanced, and completely enjoyable.

The A-story was one we’ve seemingly dealt with before, and at first I was a little hesitant.  Glee Club faces adversity as some one (this time NPH as Bryan Ryan) attempts to shut them down.  However, it didn’t feel as re-used as I would have worried, and this was largely due to the presence of NPH and his work opposite Matthew Morrison.  This week NPH fills the Sue Sylvester role with the hilarious diatribes in his role as “The Big Bad” (more on this later).  Morrison certainly hasn’t been my favorite character (and usually his musical performances irk me a bit), but matched with NPH the story carried well.  The highlight was of course the Dream On duet.  Certainly one of the top performances to date on the show.

The B-story had the elements that we’ve learned Glee does really well: melodrama.  After, for my taste, too long spent away from Artie and Tina, they finally return to the forefront. We got to see into their relationship, how it has developed over time, and got to see Artie struggle (yet again) with the fact that he is in a wheel chair.  This time Tina tries to help.  Did it come off a litle schmaltzy?  Sure.  Did Glee piss me off again with a dream sequence song that, while being obviously a dream sequence song, was tried to be represented as a non-dream sequence until the end?  Sure.  (But I’ll take any opportunity to listen to the “Safety Dance” and see a really fun dance performance.)  But ultimately, I found the story to have emotional resonance (and I really thought that Jayma Mays pulled the whole story arch together when she told Artie to be realistic), and I really like Artie and Tina and wish they were given more air time.

The C-story was the one we (read: I) have been waiting for all season.  We finally find out that Idina Menzel is Lea Michelle’s mother.  Predictable? Yes.  But totally worth it for the chance to see Idina and Lea sing “I Dream a Dream” together (which I will undoubtedly be replaying all day on Hulu).  (Also, it really disturbs me every time I realize just how young these character’s are supposed to be.  This week Rachel mentions she was born in 1994.  Egad!).  

Two things of note from this episode.  First, Sue Sylvester was limited to one big scene.  I know we love the Sue Sylvester diatribes, but I think they work best in small doses.  Similarly, I don’t think we got a great Brittany one-liner in this episode.  I almost think they’ve been pushing too hard to get those in recently, and I’m fine to see them pull back for a week.  Also, Finn was basically non-existent this week.  As his is the character that bother’s me the most (and reminds me way too much of every high school aged character Chris Klein has ever played), a week off from him doesn’t bother me at all.

Any way, I think Glee has settled in nicely.  Will it fill the high expectations I had for it last year this time?  Probably not.  But when it hits with strong musical performances, and decent story-telling, like it did tonight, it’s definitely a show I want to watch (but not over-analyze like I did tonight.)

(via popculturebrain)

Putting it all in perspective, as always.  Thanks, Sue.

So during Glee’s first season (fall season? how are we referring to this?), I don’t think I hid my enthusiasm about the show and its long term prospects at all.  Loved the music, loved the enthusiasm, and felt that a lot of the writing was very smart (not to mention pithy).  Sure they got stuck in that odd baby rut for a while, but in general the show was smart and I was very much looking forward to its return and its future.  However, 3 episodes into its second run, I’m not sure who’s more confused about the shows direction, me or showrunner Shawn Ryan.

The first episode back, the show made the same type of move that so many shows make coming off a “season finale” and basically un-did everything it accomplished prior to that finale.  Most times this is because a show creates some ridiculous cliffhanger that is great for the drama but really does not create a long-term sustainable situation.  That wasn’t necessarily the case here.  Why couldn’t Will date the OCD guidance counselor?  Why couldn’t Rachel date Finn (well other than the fact that it wouldn’t have allowed us to add Jonathan Groff)? [Side Note:  Jonathan Groff has been painfully underused so far.  Give the man a solo!]  Why did we have to return to a situation where the New Directions were once again fighting for their life as a club?  Glee gave us three major story archs in the first round of episodes, and we reset all three in the first episode back!  Momentum stopped.

Episode Two is the showstopper, the one they’ve been selling us on during the hiatus, the big Madonna episode.  The songs were fun.  But, really, the whole episode felt rather inorganic.  When forced to build an episode around a specific musician rather than build the songs out of the storyline, the writers are really hamstrung.  The music may have been fun (and immensely profitable based on the episode’s iTunes rankings), but the show really suffered for it. 

That brings us to tonight’s episode, which had a nice theme about home.  The episode had a lot of great examples of how good the show can be.  One thing the writers have managed to do is create really authentic moments between its characters.  Whether it was between Kurt and his father, Finn and Kurt’s father, Finn and his mother, or Mercedes and Quinn, the episode offered some really good stuff.  BUT I’m not sure how we got there?  The moments were all authentic, but the storyline was really inorganic.  The stories were all jammed in without any actual growth.  The point of Kurt getting his father and Finn’s mother together was so that he could get closer to Finn, right?  But the story didn’t even begin to address that at all.  I’m not even sure where the Will story arch came from.  At what point has he become lonely?  When he was making out with the OCD counselor, trying to have sex with her, or when he was making out with Idina Menzel’s character?  Hey, I’ll take any opportunity I can get to hear Cheno sing a couple songs (especially Home from The Wiz because it’s amazing), but again the storyline felt jammed into the episode.  The only story which really made much sense, and its no wonder that it was definitely the strongest, was the Mercedes one. (UPDATE: Just wanted to note that at the very least Time.com’s James Poniewozik disagreed with me on which stories worked and which didn’t and makes me feel as if I might have been a little too harsh.)

Alas, I’ve still got high hopes for Glee, but I hope the show gets back to being more organically serialized and less forced by the music.  

(For the record, I expect to listen to Home at least a dozen times tomorrow.)

(UPDATE: I forgot to give credit to Shawn Ryan for the daring move that was the “One Less Bell to Answer”/”A House is Not a Home” medley between Will and Cheno.  The two songs, which have to be relatively unknown to most of the show’s audience, lasted close to 5 minutes and was a beautifully moving scene.  This is why I watch the show.)

Does anyone not agree with this take?     

I think I’ve previously written about my disdain for the Globes.  They really should be irrelevant (at least on the movie side of the industry).  However, since I have to comment, I will comment on two things that I did like.

1. GLEE!  I’ve got to say, I am shocked that they won, but not at all disappointed.  An truly inspired choice.

2. Cecil B. Demille award for Scorcese.  This was the actual highlight of the evening for me.  Scorcese is definitely my favorite director, hands down.  I could watch that montage over and over again.  In fact, I probably will.

Ok, have a great MLK, Jr. Day everyone!

Oh wait…. actually I will mention Robert Downey Jr.  In what was a really staid ceremony this year, RDJ delivered a solid speech (regardless of whether or not he deserved the irrelevant award).

Yep that pretty much describes my own glee after just watching my tivo’d episode of Glee from last night.  While I thought the episode was only middling in the funny department (but with surprising character depth this week), I’m more ecstatic over the preview for next week.  First, they teased that we will be hearing Queen’s “Somebody to Love”.   You can never go wrong with Queen.  But, and most importantly, Kristin Chenoweth will be on the show!!!!!!!!!!  It’s as if they have been reading my blog (and somehow timetraveled back to when they filmed this episode months ago) and answered my prayers.  They had better let her sing.

More Glee!  Looks like Fox is picking up the entire season, according to EW.com’s Ausiello. This is great news.  1.  I am verily enjoying this show.  2. It gives the writers 9 more episodes to work both Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth into the cast at some point.  Excellent!

Speaking of whom, lets be honest, this was the non-NPH-related highlight from last nights Emmys.  I love her.  She’s great.

…just might be Fox Wednesday nights at 9PM.  I loved Glee.  Thought this was even better than the Pilot.  Loved every song performance (well except for the Disco song because, let’s be honest, disco is dead).  Was a lot funnier than I remembered the Pilot being.  Jane Lynch is brilliant.  This won’t quite replace Pushing Daisies for me, but it will come close.  Hopefully we can get a Cheno sighting sometime this season. Hoorah for Glee!

Up tonight:  nothing.  Well football probably.  The only thing new on tonight seems to be the Vampire Diaries which looks way too Stephanie Meyer and not nearly enough Charlaine Harris.

…last night was Flashback central.  (I think I show my naivete with my title….can you be a recovering LSD user?  How does that work?  I don’t really know….maybe I should have made the title something about Vietnam vets, but that seems in ill taste).  So in case you didn’t happen to see my numerous tweets regarding the greatness of Tuesday night on The CW, I really really enjoyed both 90210 and Melrose redux.  Maybe it’s because it brought me back to a simpler time (read: early 90’s), but damn if all that trashiness wasn’t fun.  Anyway, it’s fair to say 90210 has definitely rebounded from the slow start it had last year, and Melrose got off to a nice quick start.  Count me in.  CW, I adore.

Up tonight: The 2nd episode of Glee.  Loved the Pilot, all those months ago, should be interesting to see where we can go with this show.  Oh, So You Think You Can Dance starts again, but I’m not sure I’m committing for the fall season.  Too much scripted television to get to.