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call in the cavalry
(Gif source: Tumblr, which I now have an unhealthy addiction to.)
Under single digits! Bright side: it has already been 52 days since a new episode and thus waiting for nine more is nothing. I have sympathies for people in Supernatural and Smallville fandoms; I would be punching television executives if somebody bumped the premiere of my show back a week because they wanted to air another show twice.
I found Community last night mostly unfunny and uninspired, and the episode also had a lot of really creepy aspects and I did not enjoy it at all, which was an unpleasant surprise for a show that I usually find pretty wonderful. Bones continued to make me wonder why I am still watching this show, though (despite knowing that it was coming) that thing that happened was delightfully sudden and shocking.
Day 01 - Your favorite male character
Day 02 - Your favorite female character
Day 03 - Your favorite group performance
Day 04 - Your favorite solo
Day 05 - Your favorite duet
Day 06 - Your favorite Rachel/Finn moment
Day 07 - Your favorite Finn-Kurt moment
Day 08 - Your favorite Quinn/Puck moment
Day 09 - Your favorite Kurt-Mercedes moment
Day 10 - Your favorite Santana/Brittany moment
Day 11 - Your favorite Sue Sylvester moment
Day 12 - The couple you ship the MOST
Day 13 - A scene/moment that pissed you off
Day 14 - A scene/moment that made you cry
Day 15 - A scene/moment that made you happy
Day 16 - Your favorite episode
Day 17 - Your least favorite episode
Day 18 - Your least favorite character
Day 19 - Your least favorite performance
Day 20 - Your favorite quote
Day 21 - Your favorite guest-star
Day 22 - Your least favorite guest-star
Day 23 - The character you most relate to
Day 24 - The character you would like to hear/see more of
Day 25 - Something that happened you wish hadn’t
Day 26 - Something that hadn’t happened but you wish had
Day 27 - Your idea for a future Glee episode
Day 28 - Your idea for a future Glee character
Day 29 - Your idea for a future Glee performance
Day 30 - Whatever tickles your fancy
AHHHH THIS IS A MISERABLE QUESTION. First of all, I'm really glad that Mike O'Malley is technically a regular now (even if he only pops up, like, every couple of episodes), because that disqualifies him from an already enormous field of options. Plus I'm not counting recurring roles like Romy Rosemont as Carole Hudson (though she would be the front runner if I were counting them), Lauren Potter as Becky, John Stamos, Dot-Marie Jones, Ashley Fink, Harry Shum Jr., or Chord Overstreet; I love all of them but really don't think of them as guest stars. I really don't think of Darren Criss as a guest star, either, given how many episodes he's appeared in and how many more are coming down the pipeline, so I am disqualifying him as well.
SO THEN. Less-permanent guest stars that I really enjoyed included: Josh Groban as himself (the willingness to mock himself endeared him to me more than I was already endeared, which was a hell of a lot), Neil Patrick Harris as Bryan Ryan (it was incredibly surreal watching him on Glee, but the performance was great and omgggg "Dream On"), Kristin Chenoweth as April Rhodes (bizarrely adorable), and Jonathan Groff as Jesse St. James. I am forgetting a bunch of people, too -- I liked Charice as Sunshine Corazon and Cheyenne Jackson as Dustin Goolsby in their all-too-brief appearances, and am looking forward to both of them coming back later this season.
All of these actors were very enjoyable, especially Chenoweth (I love April; she's probably my second favorite among the guest cast), but when I look at it in terms of (A) who was really talented, (B) who was fun, and (C) who had the most to do with the actual plot and actually interacted with the story in a believable way, I can't believe I'm even saying this given how opposed I was when I first heard this was happening, but I've got to say:
Favorite guest star: Gwyneth Paltrow as Holly Holiday
The second I saw her squeal, "Let's get some tacos!" on the "Forget You" preview clip, I knew that my cynicism when it came to her guest appearance was in trouble (that is such a lie; I knew I was going to love it the second that she skated across the buttered floor). She was integrated into the show really organically and it was fabulous to see a guest star actually fit in; I think she got better writing than any other guest cast member did, all of whom were shoehorned into the plot or only interacted with one or two characters. SUBSTITUTE TEACHER. How did they not think of that before, for any of their other adult guest stars??
All in all, I thought that Holly was tremendously charming. I honestly wanted Schuester to stay sick forever and for her to take over his job permanently. Paltrow proved her singing chops much better than I expected she would and I liked the character's flakiness, but more importantly, she was just fun. You could tell that she had let loose on-set and was having a good time, you know? I loved the loopiness of the character and the fact that she actually interacted with the kids, unlike most of the adult guest stars who just appear to prop up Schuester, and I'm kind of dreading her return this spring because I feel like they're going to take what was fun and light-hearted in her first appearance and just pile it on until I want to take a shotgun to the character.
But for now -- loved it; loved her.
Sliiiight spoiler in this ficlet; blink and you'll miss it, and it's about something that's in the previews for the Super Bowl episode, but I figure I'll mention it just in case. The rest is sheer speculation.
Brittany's the first one to notice that there's a new person in the chorus room (which is weird, because Brittany is rarely the first one to notice anything). Her mouth curves into an o and she cheers, "Ohhhh!" while trying to laugh and smile at the first time, which is when everybody else turns around and sees that Miss Holiday has just walked in.
"Hi guys," says Miss Holiday, and she waves.
Pandemonium erupts.
Everybody who was in glee last year laughs or cheers or starts talking excitedly; Finn says, "Nice" loudly. The new kids mostly seem confused, Sasha and Dan exchanging a glance and Whitney sitting there with her eyebrows furrowed, but Lauren almost looks amused -- which is a lot for Lauren, which probably means that she had Miss Holiday as a sub at some point last year -- and Blaine is laughing as he watches Kurt applaud feverishly.
"It's good to see you, too!" Miss H laughs, and the hubbub subsides a bit. "For those of you who don't know me, I'm Miss Holiday, and I'm going to be your substitute Mr. Schuester." She holds up an assuring hand. "Just until the real one comes back next week."
"Miss Holiday, I would just like to be the first to welcome you back to the open arms of the Glee Club," Rachel says, beaming from the front row as they all settle into their seats, and a couple people groan at the blatant brown-nosing but most are quiet, and Miss Holiday smiles.
"Well, thank you, Rachel," she says. "I'm glad to be back. Not that you guys need me; hello, last year's regional champions!" They all whoop and cheer and laugh, faces bright and still full of happiness from their big win of four months ago.
"I thought we could celebrate," Miss Holiday says, wagging a hand and grinning, "with a song that I'll bet Mr. Schuester would never let you guys do."
There's a cacaphony of "Ooooooohhh" and excited laughter, and Miss Holiday turns and points to the band. "Hit it, boys!" she exclaims, and as the band launches into the opener, she spins back toward the students in the seats, the red skirt of her dress flipping gaily.
"I make them good girls go," Miss Holiday sings. "I make them good girls go bad."
Santana says, "Oh snap," grinning with a whole lot of teeth, and a chorus of encouraging hoots and hollers fills the room.
"I make them good girls go, I make them good girls go," sings Miss H, and then she waves come on come on with both hands, and everybody chimes in on, "Good girls go bad!" which winds up sounding very different from the song's original autotuned hook. Mike times it perfectly to spring out of his chair on the word 'bad,' immediately starting to pop and lock; Sasha yells, "Get it!" and Miss Holiday beckons Mike on, her face lit up with her smile.
Santana and Brittany hop up, Brittany grabbing Tina as she laughs helplessly, and they dance through the musical break before the first verse kicks in. Artie wheels in and Dan gives Mercedes a gallant hand down off the risers, and so Miss Holiday has quite the group of back-up singers who echo with, "Your type" after she sings, "I know your type."
"You're daddy's little girl; just take a bite," Miss Holiday continues, flashing her teeth at Puck, who looks on from the back row with some bemusement and not a little obvious admiration. (He thinks Miss H is super hot.)
"One bite," sing the back-up group, whose numbers have been swelled by Kurt pulling a fierce face, Blaine pulling Quinn by the hand, Sasha doing a ridiculous, impossibly endearing Charlie Brown dance, and Whitney and Rachel singing in each others' faces. The only kids left in the risers are three of the boys and Lauren now, all of whom are perched in the back row of chairs.
"Let me shake up your world, 'cause just one night couldn't be so wrong, I'm gonna make you lose control," sings Miss Holiday. The fact that she's singing while cracking up at the five former Cheerios trying to teach each other how to dougie, and that she is surrounded by jamming-out students who are clearly not paying even a little bit of attention to the lyrical content, makes it slightly (slightly) less potentially creepy.
They all shout out the chorus. "She was soooo shy; til I droooove her wild!" Miss Holiday soft-shoes up and grabs Sam and Finn by the hands, pulling them down out of the risers and out among the rest of the glee club. Puck glances over at Lauren, who rolls her eyes but shrugs, and the two of them get up and step down into the madness. "I make them good girls go bad," everybody shout-sings, and Puck smugly points at himself with both thumbs; more than one hand smacks him. "I make them good girls go bad!"
They go nuts on the hook that would sound electronic if this were a recording; "I make them good - girls - go - bad! Bad! Bad! Bad!" Mike hits a different crazy frozen pose on every repetition of "bad," and everyone else jumps and pumps their arms and quits singing here and there for a couple seconds, several people at a time, so they can catch their breath and laugh.
"Whoo!" shouts Miss Holiday, beaming, and she lets Rachel and Santana fight over the lead as they launch into the next verse.
* * *
P.S. - And then one of the boys sang Leighton Meester's part (in "Good Girls Gone Bad"). THE END.
I actually enjoy a mash-up featuring this song much more than I like the original song. The mash-up is Cobra Starship's "Good Girls Gone Bad" (obvs), Lady Gaga's "Love Game," Sean Kingston's "Fire Burning," LMFAO's "I'm in Miami, Bitch," and Shakira's "She Wolf." But I figured that was a little much to assume that the entire group would be able to hop up and know all the words to!
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B) I think she's my favorite too, I listen to "Forget You" all the time on my phone.
C) Although I do love Kristen Chenoweth, so.
D) I can't believe it's coming back so SOON omg, it's already on my DVR.
E) I may not make it that long.
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C) The decision came down to Chenoweth vs. Paltrow for me, and Paltrow basically won out before I felt like her character was better integrated into the show and she actually got to interact with a big chunk of the cast, whereas with April, it was mostly just Mr. Schuester.
D) What is blowing my mind is that when I look at the 10-day weather forecast, I CAN SEE THE DATE. ksdfjlsdkjgskg
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1) Josh Groban, oh my God. Him, man. I love him as a human being. His sense of humor is hilarious and so in line with mine (his performance of all the theme songs at the Emmys a few years ago, "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck," everything he's ever done on Glee, the Kanye's tweets singing, etc). I just...actively can not stand his music. And it's not his voice, it's just the style. And I hate that so much because I'm like JOSH GROBAN, CAN YOU PLEASE SING SONGS I ACTUALLY LIKE SO THAT I CAN BUY YOUR CDs AND SUPPORT YOU AND SHIT? BECAUSE I GENUINELY WANT TO SUPPORT YOU. And no lie, as much as most people hate Sandy Ryerson (and I'm not too fond, either, though I don't hate him quite as much as other people seem to), my all-time favorite Glee quote if I ever did this meme is EASILY, "Who is Josh Groban? KILL YOURSELF."
2) NPH. Oh my God, everything he touches is magic. Somehow, he made me actually like a Schuester song. Their duet was amazing and it's one of the only performances Schuester was involved in that I will ever watch a second time. I could watch that for days. His voice on the end when it goes all high? JFC I BURN, I PINE, I PERISH.
3) CHENO. Like, I wasn't crazy about her second appearance (it felt too forced and like a rehash of her first) but that's not her fault, it's the writing. And she grabs what she's given with both hands and acts the hell out of it. It will forever grieve me that Pushing Daisies didn't have a third season, mostly because I would've loved to have more Cheno on my TV every week.
4) JGroff is kind of the same deal: He wasn't given much to work with, but what he did have, he really sold. He and Lea have effortless chemistry together. And bonus: he taught me that "melancholia" is a word!
But last and most importantly...I'm with you on the Paltrow. Every word of it. She was stunning. And I was not expecting her to be. I'm dreading her return for the same reasons--I feel like they're going to take something great and shit all over it--but at the same time, I think I've developed the same reaction to it as I have to Glee in general. It's going to be horribly written. It's going to piss me off. But God damn it, at the end of the day, I'm probably going to have a smile on my face anyway and overall, enjoy it. So bring it on!
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I think maybe I will add him to my list of Cute Boys Named Josh, though. Even though I do not find him all that cute.
Needy kitten just jumped on my lap and is making muffins. I think perhaps she says hello.
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Elevator music, basically. Which, you know, is fine, if that's what someone likes, because he does it really well and he has a nice voice. It's just not the type of music I personally like, which is a shame because I love him as a person so much that I wish I could support his actual chosen career.
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Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
#friends is a way of life
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I find that I prefer Josh Groban's Italian-language songs -- specifically, Oceano and Alla Luce Del Sole -- much more than I do anything he's sung in English. I don't know why, honestly. If you read them in translation, the lyrics for the Italian songs are about as trite as the English-language ones, but his voice seems much better suited for songs that aren't in English. It makes me wish he'd cut a CD without a single English-language song.
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