"Glee" anybody?

[Jeff Wrangler]

Jane Lynch is doing a fabulous job as Sue Sylvester, though I have to admit that I quickly get bored and depressed with characters as relentlessly mean spirited as Sue. I know that's the point of her character, but I still get over characters like that very quickly.

Actually, I really like Jane/Sue in the scenes with Sue and her sister. I understand that the "job" of the character is to be the principal antagonist, but perhaps the scenes with her sister show the "real" Sue Sylvester. Maybe if the show lasts long enough, some day they'll go into why Sue is the way she is with everybody else.

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

Warning: this post contains spoilers.



http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/teenage-dreams-and-nightmares-talking-never-been-kissed-with-ryan-murphy-of-glee/?hp



Teenage Dreams and Nightmares:
Talking ‘Never Been Kissed’ With Ryan Murphy of ‘Glee’
By DAVE ITZKOFF
November 10, 2010, 7:00 am

Click for video:


In the first part of an interview published on Tuesday, Ryan Murphy, a creator and executive producer of “Glee,” talked about why he chose to take on the subject of gay bullying in Tuesday night’s episode, called “Never Been Kissed.” In this second installment, Mr. Murphy answers questions raised by the episode, in which Kurt (Chris Colfer) meets Blaine (Darren Criss), a gay student in a rival singing group, and stands up to a bully who persecutes him for being gay, while his fellow glee-choir members learn they’ve been tormenting Coach Bieste (Dot Jones) without realizing it. (One last warning that if you haven’t watched the episode yet, this interview will give away plot details.)

Q.
In this episode we were introduced to Blaine, who becomes a kind of role model to Kurt. Aren’t you giving yourself and the story an easy way out there? Doesn’t this avoid the subject of gay teens who feel alone because they don’t know anyone else who is gay?

A.
I think that that character is fascinating, because he is incredibly strong and, based on the [music] we’ve released, that “Teenage Dream” song has gotten hundreds of thousands of hits. People really seem to be taken by that character and they don’t even know him yet.

But I also think that he’s tormented because, as he says to Kurt in the storyline, “I ran.” I put my tail between my legs and I left my situation and I regret it. I don’t think he’s some big white knight who walks in and does the “We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it,” thing. He has great self-loathing and wishes he would have handled himself differently, and those things will play out over the course of the season – trying to rectify what he perceives as weakness and wrongdoing on his own part. I didn’t write some sort of heroic, Clark Kent-like character.

Q.
We also learned that Kurt’s bully has been antagonizing him because he is conflicted with his own sexuality. That certainly happens in real life, but again, doesn’t it avoid the issue of people who are simply bigoted or intolerant?

A.
The turn that character takes is based on someone in my life that I know who did that. Somebody who regularly and routinely beat up other gay kids and called them [slurs] and hit them, and the truth of the matter is, he came out of the closet in his 20s and had to get himself to a psychiatrist to deal with the hell he put so many people through because of his own issues. I will say that’s not the only bully or homophobic character that will arise from that storyline this season. I don’t think you can just present the person picking on somebody else because of their own secret, sad agenda. There are just people who hate gay people and pick on them because of their prejudice and hatred, and those characters need to be explored as well. I think we have done that on the show and we will continue to do that.

Q.
Did you specifically include the subplot about Coach Bieste, who is teased behind her back by the male singers in the glee choir, to show that bullying doesn’t have to be overt to damage someone?

A.
Yeah, we really wanted to do an episode about it, but not obviously, where everybody was shoved into lockers. There are different forms of cruelty that people get away with. That episode is completely about accountability. If you can change any young impressionable minds and make them aware of the consequences of their actions and all different forms of cruelty, I think that’s a great, great gift.

Q.
As the audience for “Glee” continues to grow, are you concerned that some viewers won’t want to follow storylines about a gay character?

A.
The Kurt storyline has been heavier this season, but it’s not like 100 percent of our storylines are gay stories. There’s one gay character in that group and when we’ve chosen to concentrate on him in the A story, there are B, C and D stories. There’s been a lot of heterosexual love stories told on our show this year. In fact, 90 percent of the story lines are about those characters – Finn and Rachel, or Chord [Overstreet] and Dianna [Agron], or Tina and Artie, or Artie and Brittany or [John] Stamos and Jayma [Mays]. It is a show about a show choir. It’s not a show about pro wrestlers or repo men.

Q.
You’ve said the bullying storyline won’t be contained to just this episode. How will you work the other characters into it?

A.
At the beginning, it is about the Chris Colfer character, certainly. But as we get deeper into the episodes, it will be about how all the other kids are tortured and bullied. The kid in the wheelchair. The Jewish girl. Because they stick up for Kurt, they will all get increasingly tormented. So it’s not just about gay bullying – it’s about all different kinds that happen in schools. And how really, also, it’s about how educators struggle with what to do and when and how to do it. That’s something we are spending a lot of time and energy exploring – the teachers’ culpability and how, hopefully, we’ll shed a little light on the stress and struggles they go through, that in so many school districts, their policies are wrong.

[Shakesthecoffecan]

http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,14006.1130.html

This is a link to the video where Blane is introduced. Man when that kiss happened I did not see it coming. I was all fired up because Kurt was standing up to him and WHOA! 

[CellarDweller]

I'd only seen one Glee episode, "The Power Of Madonna". 

Last night decided to watch due to the storyline topic, and really enjoyed it, so I will be back next week.  I guess I'm officially a "Gleek" now.

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

http://www.deadline.com/2010/11/glee-to-promote-darren-criss-to-regular/

'Glee' To Promote
Darren Criss
To Series Regular
By MICHAEL AUSIELLO, TV Columnist
Wednesday November 10, 2010 @ 12:14pm PST

EXCLUSIVE: Darren Criss is hitting all the right notes with his new Glee  bosses. Hot on the heels of his well-received debut last night as Kurt's gay role model Blaine, the actor/singer/songwriter is in talks to become a full-fledged series regular. The promotion for Criss - who initially came on board the Fox hit as a recurring - would likely kick in at the start of the show's already-greenlit third season. This would mark the first regular TV gig for Criss whose biggest pre-Glee  TV role was an arc on ABC’s short-lived Eastwick.  He first found fame on the Internet as the star of YouTube viral hit A Very Potter Musical.  Here is Criss performing Teenage Dream  on last night's Glee  episode.  

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn8IkrxLOfY&feature[/youtube]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darren_Criss

Darren Criss
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Darren Everett Criss (born February 5, 1987) is an American television actor, singer-songwriter and Internet personality. He is probably best known as Harry Potter in A Very Potter Musical  and as of 9th November 2010, plays Blaine, a Dalton Academy Warbler, on the television series Glee.


Early life and education
Originally from San Francisco, California, Darren Criss is half-Filipino and half-Irish . He attended Stuart Hall School for Boys and St. Ignatius College Preparatory High School and went on to the University of Michigan, graduating in 2009 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performance, Acting.


Career
Criss is part of the theater production group Team StarKid, formed by theater students at the University of Michigan. His most popular role with Team StarKid was as Harry Potter in the YouTube viral hit A Very Potter Musical ,  and A Very Potter Sequel.  Both productions are musical-comedies based on the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.  He is credited with writing half of the songs in A Very Potter Musical  and all of the songs in A Very Potter Sequel.  He is also the primary songwriter for Team StarKid's upcoming show, StarShip,  to be performed in February 2011.

On November 9, 2010, Criss is slated to join the cast of Glee  as Blaine, a gay student at a rival school. Glee  creator Ryan Murphy stated, "Darren has a major, major arc...He sort of becomes Kurt's mentor and then maybe love--he had to leave his own school because of bullying and goes to an all-boys academy and finds acceptance because that school has a no-bullying, zero-tolerance policy. So Kurt really admires him and respects him. He plays someone who's one year older than Chris' character, so he's the old pro."

His work outside of Team StarKid and Glee include his stint as Josh in the television series Eastwick  and a guest-starring role in Cold Case.

He also released a self-produced EP Human  on iTunes in the summer of 2010.

Darren Criss as Harry
A Very Potter Musical
Act 1 Part 1

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmwM_AKeMCk&feature=related[/youtube]

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

Katy Perry - Teenage Dream

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3-yr4jv32s[/youtube]

You think I'm pretty
Without any make-up on
You think I'm funny
When I tell the punch line wrong
I know you get me
So I'll let my walls come down, down

Before you met me
I was a wreck
But things were kinda heavy
You brought me to life
Now every February
You'll be my valentine, valentine

Let's go all the way tonight
No regrets, just love
We can dance until we die
You and I
We'll be young forever

You make me
Feel like
I'm living a
Teenage Dream
The way you turn me on
I can't sleep
Let's runaway
And don't ever look back
Don't ever look back

My heart stops
When you look at me
Just one touch
Now baby I believe
This is real
So take a chance
And don't ever look back
Don't ever look back

We drove to Cali
And got drunk on the beach
Got a motel and
Built a fort out of sheets
I finally found you
My missing puzzle piece
I'm complete

Let's go all the way tonight
No regrets, just love
We can dance until we die
You and I
We'll be young forever

You make me
Feel like
I'm living a Teenage Dream
The way you turn me on
I can't sleep
Let's runaway
And don't ever look back
Don't ever look back

My heart stops
When you look at me
Just one touch
Now baby I believe
This is real
So take a chance
And don't ever look back
Don't ever look back

I might get your heart racing
In my skin-tight jeans
Be your teenage dream tonight

Let you put your hands on me
In my skin-tight jeans
Be your teenage dream tonight

You make me
Feel like
I'm living a
Teenage Dream
The way you turn me on
I can't sleep
Let's runaway
And don't ever look back
Don't ever look back

My heart stops
When you look at me
Just one touch
Now baby I believe
This is real
So take a chance
And don't ever look back
Don't ever look back

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

Darren Criss Glee Audition Tape Monologue
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23iPb4HiWM8&feature[/youtube]



Darren Criss Glee Audition Tape 'Lean On Me'
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4NjI030Edk&feature[/youtube]

(Obviously--they called!    )

[CellarDweller]

I loved his performance of "Teenage Dream", and would really enjoy seeing him as a love interest for Kurt.

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

I loved his performance of "Teenage Dream", and would really enjoy seeing him as a love interest for Kurt.

Honey, I'd like to see him as a love interest for me,  but I guess that's not going to happen.


 

[Shakesthecoffecan]

Honey, I'd like to see him as a love interest for me,  but I guess that's not going to happen.


 

Well he don't know a good thing then!