White hair chronicles XXXIV - A gleek not too glad with Glee

I like Glee. Not just its music but also its effort to foster tolerance of gays, minorities, unwed moms, and (musical)  geeks. Filipinos have added reason to like it with the entry of Charice.

I am surprised that not a whimper has been raised by some sectors on the oversexed themes of late. I thought the show got away with it last season. Now it pushes the envelope further.

I am no prude and I have no problem with the mature theme - if the show is about adults or at least college life. There is a wealth of comic material in oversexed characters. I love the adult characters and situation in The Big Bang Theory and How I met Your Mother. But Glee is about high school although the actors are definitely beyond their college years. Our high school students are 12-16 years old. Are we saying that the Glee culture is acceptable behavior for our high school kids?

Glee finale nails it

The first installment of the back nine episodes of Glee season 1 was great. I raved about it in an earlier post. But the succeeding episodes were to me a letdown, perhaps because I had expected too much. I just consoled myself that the producers were setting us up for a grand finale. We know that a season 2 was ordered so I anticipated the New Directions to win regionals. It was the condition set for the glee club program to continue. Season 2 could then be their road to state championships.

But the show producers found a way to inject more drama than I anticipated. That's why they are creative series producers and I am a civil servant. They simply have a way to make shows like this interesting. The New Directions sang a medley of Journey songs in the regionals. Vocal Adrenaline (particularly Jesse) did a solid Bohemian Rhapsody version while Quinn delivered her baby. The Queen classic became a child birth metaphor.

Josh Groban and Olivia Newton John were two of the celebrity judges along with Sue Sylvester. In a plot twist, Sue was the only judge who voted for New Directions to win. Josh and Olivia pounded on New Directions in a comical way. The New Directions lost but they still got another year to prove themselves.

The final episode nails it. It more than makes up for the boring, crammed-up episodes 15-21. With it, the New Directions and the series deserve another run.

White hair chronicles XXVII - white haired Gleek

The age again shows when I tend to like certain episodes of American Idol over others. Just like when they had a Sinatra feature with Harry Connick, Jr. as the Idols' mentor. I thought that was a high point for the show. Harry Connick is still the best Sinatra impersonator, much better than Michael Buble, who is just an impersonator of an impersonator.


While I thought the Sinatra episode was very good, reports say it did not rate as high as the Lady Gaga night that followed. Sinatra's time is past. It is now the era of a Madonna impersonator.

And then there's Glee. I really like the way they use old songs into the story line. I have been humming Neil Diamond songs since the Hello episode. But after that episode, I find the succeeding ones a bit boring. Maybe the producers are building up momentum for the finale. They successfully used Lady Gaga to raise the show a notch. Next stop is supposed to be the Regionals according to Will Schuester but then there must be another episode before that as there are supposed to be 22 episodes in all.

Watch Glee Season 1 Episode 15 online - The Power of Madonna

Synopis: Mr. Schuester is concerned that the girls in the glee club are being disrespected and bullied by the guys. Looking to Madonna and her musical message of equality as inspiration, he challenges the entire team to choose Madonna songs as their next assignment in the hopes that the girls embrace her strength, independence and confidence and that the guys will see the error of their misogynistic ways. The glee club takes the assignment to heart as they perform some of Madonna's greatest hits, including "Express Yourself" and "Like A Prayer." Meanwhile, Kurt and Mercedes give Sue a vote of confidence with a makeover that is definitely in "Vogue"Source: FOX

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Watch Glee Season 1 Episode 14 - "Hello"

I like Glee. It has become one of my favorite shows, maybe because of how they seamlessly intertwine different songs into an episode's theme. The newest episode is titled "Hello". Fitting, perhaps, because of several month hiatus from the last episode. The songs in this episode have the word Hello somewhere in their titles: “Hello, I Love You” (The Doors), “Gives You Hell” (All American Rejects), “Hello” (Lionel Richie), “Hello, Again” (Neil Diamond), “Highway to Hell” (AC/DC), and “Hello, Goodbye” (The Beatles).

Episode summary: Finn and Rachel are finally a couple, but for how long? Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff), lead singer of Vocal Adrenaline, catches Rachel’s eye and sways her heart, but what are his real intentions? Looks like he and his coach (Idina Menzel) are up to no good. Will gets to kiss two women, but somehow ends up alone. Sue Sylvester is back as an even more conniving coach of the Cheerios. Quinn being out of the picture, Heather and Santana do her "dirty work". (Source: FOX)

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