I Am A TV Junkie

Video -- Jane Lynch Subs for Rupert Murdoch at Tech Conference, Hilarious Truth Ensues

This should cement Lynch as front runner for Emmy hosting duties. She's amazing. If she does get the gig she'll be only the second blonde lesbian comic to host the show.

Yes I was being ironic.

Video : Glee's Chris Colfer is One of the Time 100 for 2011

For those of you who question the inclusion of Colfer in this rarified group, think about this: He's just a kid who by virtue of doing the thing he loves is changing minds, changing attitudes and not cowtowing to anyone in the process.

He is totally, completely, unabashedly himself.

Here's what his costar Dianna Agron said about him her introductory remarks at this link:

The honesty that he infuses into his Glee character, Kurt, leaves you reeling. Our cast is blessed to hear things like "Your character has helped me through this, or helped me do that," but none more so than Chris. To witness the power he gives to his audience firsthand? It's wonderful.

After the jump watch Colfer talk about the show and this honor.

This is My Favorite Thing That I've Posted on Twitter

As Cee Lo Green would say, "Ain't that some shit."

Glee Video -- Kurt and His Dad Talk About Sex

 

The only version I can find is this one from a Canadian YouTube user who posted the clip in it's mirror image, I'm guessing in an attempt to thwart copyright rules.

(Apparently Hulu no longer lets one define a clip from a full episode and post it. I don't know why.)

I'm working with someone at Fox to try to get an official version, as it's the first time anything like his has been on television. I think it's invaluable to people with gay kids, and everyone else, too. The fact that "you matter" in issues of sexuality, the idea that hooking up is so much easier when it's two humans with testosterone running through them, his tone ... a great tool for parents.

I'm sure there will be plenty of naysayers. They're wrong. This is great. Mike O'Malley deserves an Emmy, I hope this scene helps him get one.

There was also a great scene between Brittany and Santana, Naya Rivera acting up a storm, Heather Morris providing excellent support for her, great dialogue.

And there was Gwyneth Paltrow, too? Best episode of Glee yet.

Glee Preview Clip -- Tonight, "Think About the Power of Four Biebers!"

Sam (Chord Overstreet), already sporting the hairstyle, is the character that you can thank/blame for bringing the Biebs to McKinley High with his one-man band The Justin Bieber Experience.

Once he does the rest of the guys finally comprehend the power that comes apparently from singing very simple pop songs that don't challenge one's vocal range but have a simple message about the opposite sex.

(See what I did there? I just boiled the whole phenomenon down to one paragraph. That's all it is ... simple songs with simple messages sang earnestly by a nice kid that I'm starting to think might actually be as earnest as his lyrics. Having said that, of course, if you are an adult and you're walking around singing "Baby, baby, baby, oh ..." call the gang at the TV show Intervention and tell 'em to get a move on.)

There's a great Angry Birds (now available even for the PC!!!) joke in the clip. Those birds have reached a level of ubiquity not often seen by a game you play on your phone.

Clip from tonight's episode after the jump.

Video -- Katie Couric and Glee's Chris Colfer

I got nothing else, I just thought there might be someone who wanted to see this clip Katie tweeted.

Watch some behind the scenes stuff from tomorrow's post Super Bowl ep of Glee (I'll just never understand the thinking behind that) with Katie in another clip after the jump.

I can't get more excited about this. No, seriously, I can't get more excited. I can't.

Lotsa Clips -- So Much TV Tonight You Need a Professional Schedule Consult?

Not to worry, I've got it handled for you. Above is an image of my living room so I'm all set, but some of you might not have this set up.

First off, if you're watching football on the east coast today just dismiss this whole post. I can't figure out your optimal viewing strategy if you're committed to a show that has no definitive end time.

The big event is of course the Golden Globe Awards on NBC despite the kerfuffle with Dick Clark Productions and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and between the HFPA and the guy who came forward with allegations of wrongdoing in the organization.

By the way -- and you know I'm serious here because I haven't used the acronym btw -- it cracks me up that once again someone has come forward with allegations against HFPA. Duh, of course there's wrongdoing, we've kinda known that for a long time. Pia Zadora, remember? Sure these people may be lining their pockets and they are also hardly journalists and certainly not at the level of the the people who do that job here in the US. But the Globes is a Teflon brand, nothing sticks and nothing stays, and I think the reason is twofold: 1) The Globes ceremony itself a party-riffic event perfect for TV that NBC wants to hold on to without injury to it, and 2) No one really cares enough to do anything about the irregularities and the allegations of corruption.

Here is the west coast we are enjoying our second year of watching the Globes live (previously only the Academy Awards aired live here), which is fortunate because there is so much more tube to watch tonight.

More after the jumperoo, with clips.

Video/Pics -- First Look: Gwyneth Paltrow Next Week on Glee

I give you next week's preview even before I get to watch this week's show? I'm such a mensch.

Pics are past the jump. Click over for them.

Glee's Dianna Agron Responds to PTC/GQ Photo Controversy

We've talked about Dianna's Tumblr blog before, she mostly posts photographs of her own and some lovely prose and occasionally a poem. This is very different for her and it seems a somewhat difficult task to discuss one of the many situations that arise when an actor works on a series and is asked to do promotion for the show.

(I found the blog through Dianna's Twitter acct., which you can follow by clicking here.)

I don't think she would mind that I posted the entire text of her post here, so I have and it's after the jump.

I'm sure you know how I feel about this. Yes, they play teens on TV but these people are hardly underage, Cory Monteith is almost 30, in fact.

Glee will always be a show in the crosshairs of the conservative watchdog groups. It illustrates a worldview that is in direct opposition to theirs. That it's so popular with kids makes it even more dangerous to these people. They'll make every attempt to knock the show down. I encourage them to keep trying, I think it does wonders for the ratings.

Case in point ... I wouldn't have even known that the Dianna and castmates Monteith and Lea Michele were on the cover of GQ without the Parents Television Council telling me they were.

Dianna's comments after the jump. But please, after that click over to her Tumblr site and enjoy her other stuff, too. She has a very nice sensibility to her prose and her photos are lovely.

Oh, one more thing ... I guess it takes the ridonkulous folk at the PTC to get me interested in blogging again. Who's next? Sarah Palin? Ben Silverman? Someone on my "list?"

And, one more other thing ... do you think the PTC ever thinks about the the performers caught in the middle of these controversies and what they then have to deal with in their personal lives once they start with the torches and pitchforks? Apparently Dianna Agron could have done without their stomping around. In that aspect the PTC becomes a bit like the Westboro Baptist Church protesters.

I'm just sayin'.

Glee -- Watch Last Night's Britney Numbers Here Right Now (and that one from Paramore)

As I post this image from the Fox press site (by Miranda Penn Turin) I wonder how fast someone will photoshop their friends and themselves into it. Send them to me when you do, okay?

All the Britney numbers from last night's show, right here, just for you because I love you all.

Except you, yeah you with the ... I don't even know what that is on your ... oh, that's so wrong, turn off your damn webcam.

(Didn't know I could see you there, did you.)

They're all after the jump via Hulu. Though some of the clip windows use the same thumbnail (the default one) you can be assured all the clips are different.

Glee -- Heather Morris Trending at Twitter

Duh.

I'm all kinds of on the nose these days. I should be ready for a humbling just about ... now.

One more pic I haven't used yet and I'm out.

Her legs look a million miles long in this pic. Damn.

I expect a lot of jumping on the Heather bandwagon by tomorrow. Deserved, yes.

Remember where you heard it first. Tomorrow, after they post the show at Hulu I'll try and put together the musical clips in a post.

UPDATE: Wanna see one of the Britney cameos sprinkled throughout? This is my favorite one. This link.

Preview Video -- Glee's Brittany/Britney Episode

Two clips for you to consume after the jumperoo.

I know, I'm all about Heather Morris lately. Her body's amazing, huh? It's a shame that the California Legislature passed a bill preventing me from dancing, even alone in my room (they got webcams in there, spies under the bed, the whole shebang), it keeps you in amazing shape.

Preview the Hour of Television That Makes Glee's Heather Morris a Star

Right? RIGHT? RIGHT?

Of course I'm right.

One more pic, just 'cuz. 

Gotta wait til Tuesday for the Britney episode, is it killing you?

 

In Vanity Fair, Photos of Glee's Dianna Agron, At Tumblr Photos BY Glee's Dianna Agron

Very nice set of pics of Glee's Quinn at this link at VF (I was there for my previous Boardwalk Empire post).

But more important is Dianna Agron's Tumblr blog where she posts her images. I like them, I like her eye, I like that her pics tell you something about her and her interests.

Oh, and she takes pics of her co-stars. Are you in now? I thought so.

I'm stealing this one image and the text from her because I figure that I'm doing a good deed by posting it and she won't mind too much. Dianna, if you do just gimme a shout on Twitter (it's how I found your blog) and I'll take it down.

Her Twitter link here. That image after the jump

Glee Video -- This Season, a Very Formidable Female Nemesis for Sue

Uh oh, there's a new woman at McKinley High and she takes no shit from anyone. Not even Sue Sylvester.

And ... she's the new football coach. Yeah, football coach. And she is not Goldie Hawn in that Wildcats movie. Not at all.

Meet her on video, it's after the jump. But first ...

They really chose well, huh? They could be brother and sister. Or even more related to each other than that.

Gleeks, Especially Gay Gleeks, Best Photo Ever Right Here (via Rolling Stone)

Is there an Emmy for outstanding performance by an actor in a still photographic? Chris Colfer would totally win that award.

Rolling Stone photograph by Robert Tractenberg. More images from his Fall TV feature at this link. The header on the slideshow says, "Fall TV Special: Meet the season's best characters and most memorable scene-stealers."

Starts at this link with Chelsea Handler. Yeah, I know, she's not on my list of best anything. She's spewing fire from her sizeable mouth, just like Godzilla!

Why is that lunatic Minesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachman part of the group? She is a character, I'll give you that. She's also a bigot and a batshit insane.

Better photo? Handler and Bachman stuck in an elevator together with a bottle of vodka and a bible.

Glee Season 2 Photo Album: Get Slushied!

Slushied? No. No, no no. Oh, no. You click that link at your own peril.

Anyhow, I've been told that no Slushies (the drinks that come out of machines at convenience stores) were harmed in the making of the above photographic collage.

More of Glee's season two photo gallery after the jumperoo. Photos by Miranda Penn Turin/FOX.

Includes Chord Overstreet, the guy that purportedly will play Kurt's boyfriend this season.

Gleeks! Check Out This Twitpic From Britney and Brittany!

I'm now so much more excited about seeing Brit and Brit on Glee.

Man, Heather Morris is gonna blow up this season.

Breaking: Jane Lynch Will Host SNL October 9th

Live from New York, it's Jane Lynch hosting SNL. Long overdue, but happy to see it happening now.

There was a Facebook page dedicated to making this happen. Why didn't anyone send me a link to it?

The date is October 9th, the network NBC, the time 11:30 eastern. Hat tips to Movieline and The Advocate.

I got nothing else. That's why the picture is enormous. It is, however, very big news for me.

I love this woman's work, I'll even watch a Two and a Half Men rerun if I know Charlie's going to his psychologist, played by Lynch.

Okay, one more Jane-esque piece of info. Party Down season one is available on DVD. And season two (pre-order) as well (Amazon.com links).

Video -- Glee's Chris Colfer, Emmy Nominee, Gets Around!

You might even say that Chris is a little bit of a celebration slut.

That's right, I said it!

I mean, he talks to The Hollywood Reporter about his Emmy nomination (LINK) and then ... he turns around and does the same with the Los Angeles Times (LINK).

And ... E! News' Kristin Dos Santos (LINK).

And TV Guide, but at least this time it's part of a group thing ... wait, a group thing? Like I said, SLUT! See that one at this link.

More, including a Kurt Hummel lookbook, after the jump.

Video/Pics -- Who Looks Great With Glee's Heather Morris on Their Arm? EVERYONE!!!

No, Heather is not an accessory for your next circuit party, but she'd certainly be a great one if you could get her. You could dance for hours with the former Beyonce backup dancer who struck gold this year on Fox's Glee and who's star will shine even brighter (than those be-you-tee-ful blues) this season as we get more Brittany per exec prod Ryan Murphy.

Here, Heather and Naya Rivera talk about Brittany's and Santana's chemistry from their panel (LINK).

Fan clip from the autograph sessions at this link. More after the jump.

(Pics from Kristian Dowling and Frank Micelotta/FOX.)

Clip Bonanza -- Glee's Jane Lynch on Fans, Fame, Films, Future

Jane (above, with cast members at The Grove in Los Angeles) in two clips, first from the Hollywood Reporter talking about the fan response to the show (LINK) and then Time magazine where she talks about her career and the call that landed her in Vancouver on the set of Best in Show (LINK).

And just for good measure, here's Jane and Jennifer Coolidge (love her!) from that film (LINK).

Oh, what the hell, here she is talking to Katie Couric for Katie's web show (LINK). Four clips? I'm such a mensch.

That last one isn't really a clip, per se. It runs over 30 minutes. Haven't even finished it myself.

What's Jane doing this Summer? Well first you'll get to see her on the season finale of the Starz series Party Down reprising her season one role of Constance Carmell (image above left).

After that one imagines she'll take a short break and enjoy her new spouse and her child until Glee starts shooting season two and she goes out to promote the new Simon Pegg - Nick Frost movie called Paul, about two scifi/comic geeks from the UK who run into something in Area 51 during a cross country trip after Comic-Con.

Video -- Katie Couric to MSG's FanCam: "It's Called a Gleek. Do Your Homework, Dude!"

Katie schools MSG's Alex Iglesias, and, impressively, looks like she's standing in line to get in like everyone else, not getting the VIP side door treatment of making that call to whoever to get special access.

Of course I don't know that for sure but I don't think the guy (Alex) from MSG gets to interview at the VIP entrance to Radio City Music Hall.

Also in this clip, a guy who really needs to learn the lyrics to Lean On Me, which he butchers. Dude, they're right here (LINK). I even found you the Glee cast version lyrics.

See the press images for tonight's first season finale, Journey, after the jump.

Click here for a preview, here for cast reaction to shooting the season ender.

Congratulations to Glee Star Jane Lynch and Dr. Lara Embry on Their Wedding

It happened over the Memorial Day weekend in Massachusetts, possibly so that they could watch the season finale of Lynch's breakout hit Glee as married people.

(Watch Jane as Sue Sylvester in a clip from tonight's Glee finale by clicking here.)

Okay, possibly not for that reason.

You know a lot about Jane. Dr. Embry is a clinical psychologist based in Florida whose work with children and couples is very well regarded.

Video -- Every Gay Man's New Dream Best Girlfriend? Glee's Heather Morris

Am I right or am I right? I'm right.

Meet her via Hulu by clicking this link. Do you love her now? Well, you'll lurve her after you watch this and hear how she landed this gig with a bit of Beyonce magic.

Also more about that in this clip from Live Starring You at YouTube.

I know we're all looking for more Brittany coming this Fall. A lot more Brittany. Best of Brittany clip from misstruevamp at YouTube by clicking here.

Video & Pics -- Glee + Gaga = Gold

I was just looking at this image above and wondering what would have happened if I decided to cruise the hallways of Valley Stream Central High School wearing the minstrel costume from Once Upon a Mattress.

I think my books might have been not only knocked out of my arms but would have then been set afire and the ashes force fed to me.

Ah, high school. What a character building experience that was. Glad it's over.

You gotta figure this will be one of the highlights of the show's first season, the music is way over the top great for a show choir and the costumes and the issues raised by the issue of theatricality ... I'm certainly tuning in.

Watch a preview of the episode by clicking here. Only this episode left before the season finale.

I'd also like to note here that I totally called the plot points surrounding Rachel and Shelby, the New Directions leader (Idina Menzel). 

Because I'm just that kind of guy. You know, the kind of guy who loves being right about stuff.

Ask anyone in my high school class.

Post-Super Bowl Slot Goes to ... @GleeOnFox? And, Preview the NPH Episode

Well that seems somewhat ... out of the box, huh?

I would have thought maybe one of the returning dramas or ... even more out of the box a gift to their FX Network by slotting an episode of cablers Sons of Anarchy or Justified.

I would suggest a Finn-centric episode but I don't think that's the way Ryan Murphy's brain works ... I expect he'll be pushing the envelope to breaking point with the crowd that holds on after the game.

And he should ... forget about who you might be able to wrangle into the audience and just do the best work you can.

In the meantime I guess it's time for me to catch up with last week's ep on the DVR before tomorrow night. Having said that I'm posting a trailer for this week, which is the Neil Patrick Harris (left) episode without watching it (spoilers, those damned spoilers) and you can watch by clicking here.

In the episode, Will's old rival returns and Rachel reveals a cassette tape of her mother. Will that mother look like Mr. Shue's counterpart at Vocal Adrenaline? Someone we're used to seeing green?

And where are her two gay dads, anyway? I wanna know those guys.

Clip Bonanza -- New Glee Tonight After Idol at 9:28 Eastern (DVR Timing Alert)

Yes, they are back. Sure, sure, visit the White House (clip) and Oprah (clip) and whoever else you want on your off time, just get back in time to suck from that American Idol ratings teat while building to your season one finale.

Starts tonight at the interesting time of 9:28 eastern, make sure your DVR and cable grid have the right specs or you'll be missing tasty morsels.

And, considering who's been added to the mix, it should be a good one. My girl Idina Menzel, lookin' all hot and busty here below gets into the action quickly (you'll see, no spoilers here) and Jonathan Groff (Broadway's Spring Awakening, one of Zach Braff's favorite shows) playing Jesse St. James, a more confident male version of Rachel getting all musically and romantically up in her business, but maybe not in a good way.

And Sue. Back from Boca, refreshed and resurgent, she has her two Cheerios playing fast and loose and lesbianic on poor flustered Finn at what looks like an Olive Garden (can't be sure, could also be Applebee's, they all look the same to me).

Will's got his own entanglements, too with a new one (no spoilers) on top of Emma, and they seem to be preventing him from getting ... on top of Emma.

Yes, a lot of it's a reset ... it is the first episode back, though, and you need to get back into the swing of the show. The musical numbers are solid if maybe slightly uninspired, but keep to it because next week we get all Madonna tracks (remember her ... older woman, used to be American but I think she's British now or maybe something else ... was relevant for a long time until we got a look at her veiny, twisted up hands and everyone started thinking of her as old) with a preview of such tonight as Jane Lynch stars as Sue Sylvester in what I hear is a shot-by-shot remake of the Vogue video (click here to see the original).

Watch a musical number from tonight's show by clicking here. Don't forget to check your DVR if you use one.

Sue Sylvester from #Glee: "You Could Be Sitting Next to a Sneaky Gay Right Now!"

Sue's latest TV spot. She gets around for a cheerleading coach, huh?

Want my opinion on Sue? As Mary Richards once said, "Methinks tho dost protest too much."

Watch it by clicking here.

I'm "swishing it up" as you read this.

I Never Said I Was GOOD At Predicting Award Winners

I got four out of eleven, great if it's a batting average, terrible if it's pass completions, but amazing considering how much I suck at it.

And, if I would have thought about it for more than a heartbeat I would have gotten Lithgow ... I must have just overlooked his name on the nomination list.

Good show, it's always good when caution gets thrown to the wind and at some point Gervais realized he'd never be asked back and only if that happens do you get something like the Mel Gibson intro, which was brilliant.

Check out Ricky's best bits by clicking here.

The Hollywood Foreign Press has a YouTube channel with all the press room activity during the show, it's at this link.

Check out the Glee cast (seen above) talking about their win for Outstanding Comedy at this link.

Oh, they gave movies awards, too. Check out the LA Times' coverage at this link.

Glee Star Jane Lynch on Equal Rights for LGBT Americans: "Obama Won't Do It, He's A Huge Disappointment To Me"

Today the Guardian UK, where Lynch is promoting the premiere of Glee on the E4 digital channel (the people who created Skins) which starts this Monday:

Lynch herself barely thinks about being an openly gay actor in Hollywood. "I think if I were an ingénue – if I were Kate Winslet – it probably would hurt my career, but because I'm Jane Lynch and I'm a character actor, the world isn't projecting their romantic fantasies on me."

They are, however, projecting their values on to Lynch's private life. This past year saw a nationwide rejection of legalising gay marriage, stripping gay Americans of their hope for equal civil rights. "Shouldn't there be safeguards against the majority voting on the rights of a minority?" Lynch wonders. "If people voted on civil rights in the 60s, it would have never happened. It took somebody like [President] Lyndon Johnson going, 'F all of you! I'm going to do this.'" She pauses for a moment, then says, "Obama won't do it. He's a huge disappointment to me."

Fortunately, this backwards step hasn't impacted on Lynch professionally, or personally. For the first time in her life, she's in a committed relationship. She admits that, in the past, she bailed from relationships, but has "finally found one where I want to stay", and tells me that she's remodelling her Laurel Canyon home to accommodate a family.

I hear ya, Jane. I'm disappointed as well. Jane's been committed to the cause for a long long time and I feel the same frustration that she does. Listen to her speak at the HRC National Dinner this past year at this link.

Check out her spoof of the anti-gay Gathering Storm ad that's posted at Funny Or Die at this link.

And, more on the issue from The Task Force at this link.

Finally, feeling a bit Glee deprived? Here's a quick fix, watch Lea Michele (Rachel) open sectionals and then sing with her glee club colleagues at this link.

Is Glee's Sue Sylvester Ryan Murphy's Analogue For The Republican Party?

On my way through Southern Orange County today I was listening to Randi Rhodes on KTLK AM 1150 Progressive Talk, a station I can just hardly get in my new neighborhood in North San Diego County and she was talking about how last night in the middle of the night the Republicans in the Senate decided to attempt to filibuster the military spending bill so they could bring the legislative body to a standstill and thus hold up the health care bill.

(Yes, I have problems with that bill as it reads currently, a lot of problems, but that's neither here nor there for this discussion.)

Washington Post:

Part of that effort played out on the $626 billion spending bill for the Defense Department. If the filibuster on the defense bill succeeded, Democrats would have to scramble to find a way to fund the military operations because a stopgap funding measure expires at midnight Friday. Such an effort might have distracted from the health-care legislation for a day or two, disrupting the very tight time line on health care.

"I don't want health care," Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) said in explaining his support of a filibuster. He is a member of the Appropriations Committee, which crafted the Pentagon funding bill.

Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Richard C. Shelby (Ala.) and Christopher "Kit" Bond (Mo.) admitted they support the spending bill but acknowledged they were considering opposing it because of the health-care debate.

Democrats were furious. They believed they had a deal with Sen. Thad Cochran (Miss.), the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee, to support the bill, but by Thursday night Cochran was saying he was unsure how he would vote.

Cochran, even after getting all his earmarks, still voted against the appropriations bill, without which our soldiers literally wouldn't have gotten their next paychecks. Def. Sec'y Gates had to spank them in letter form entered into the public record it was so evil.

McCain tried to say it was the earmarks that he opposed. $44 million of those earmarks were expressly for Cochran's congressional district.

Republicans -- using your fighting men and women as pawns in their twisted desire to prevent you from getting affordable health care and to save all those campaign contributions they get from the insurance companies and Big Pharma.

Right Joe Lieberman (above left)? Douche.

Anyhow I started to think about Republicans and how what they do is obstruct and prevent and block discussion and an accurate dispersal of the facts and ignore science and invoke conspiracy theories as valid debate points.

I flashed on a face, the face here to the left, Glee's Sue Sylvester. How she is driven to make sure Mr. Shue fails and Glee Club dies so she can get the budget dollars back to her Cheerios cheer squad, which already gets so much cash in alumni donations it doesn't even matter.

And I thought about how Sue opposes anything that has to do with Glee, leaks their set list for Sectionals to the opposition, forces Figgins (above right) to follow every technicality when supervising Shue's kids but look the other way when Sue's cheer squad accepts free swag and even sold their Cedar Point tix on eBay and kept the cash!

She's consistently breaking the rules while breaking Glee's ass over a stack of mattresses of marginal quality that they didn't even ask for or technically accept ... she battles reasoned debate with name calling and vitriol, gets in Shue's face, uses intimidation and fear to control Figgins.

She's the Republican Party.

I knew I really hated Sue for a reason. Usually when someone I love as much as Jane Lynch plays a baddie I can find a way to like the character a bit. I can't with Sue, I just can't stand Sue Sylvester.

And now I know why.

Honestly, there was one moment so far in the series that I've liked Sue, and of course it's when she visits her developmentally disabled big sister Jane who lives in a care facility.

I found a different analogue there. Regarding the question of gay people coming out, the argument's always been (and I agree) that coming out is critical to mass acceptance because when straight people once biased against gay people in their own lives who get to know them most often find those biases fall away.

Sue accepted Becky Jackson onto the squad because she loves her sister with Down's Syndrome.

Dick Cheney doesn't take an ultra-conservative stand on same-sex marriage because he loves his daughter Mary and his granddaughter who has two mommies (just like Heather).

If you're out at work and you're a good person and a productive team player, the people you work with will consider the positive interaction with the gay person at work when considering supporting legislation like equal marriage rights for all.

And like that.

That Ryan Murphy, bringing us song AND a subtext. Thank you, Ryan. Looking forward to Idina's first episode, soon.

Video -- Glee Casts The Remarkable Idina Menzel (Thank You, Ryan Murphy!)

You can always tell when I'm really happy about something I'm posting because I use a REALLY big photo at the top of the post.

I'm kvelling, right now, right here in my chair. I may have to mop up afterward.

The Hollywood Reporter tell us that the one, the only, the extraordinary Idina Menzel will appear in the final nine episodes of Fox's Glee.

No, not playing Lea Michele's biological mom as many predicted (just look at the pic, left, to figure out why they thought such, so did I) but as the director of the highly vaunted Vocal Adrenaline, the top show choir team in Ohio.

But, how about this? That we find out sometime in those final nine episodes that she her character is ALSO the biological mom of McKinley High's Rachel!

Because I just have a sense ... don't you?

And what of Kristin Chenoweth, Menzel's co-star in Wicked getting back to the show for another guest shot during that stretch? Do you want that to happen or will you die if it doesn't? Because (as Rachel Zoe would say) I would "die."

I know, I'm soooo gay. Well, I am.

More after the jump. You hetero guys who visit this blog for my sci-fi posts can move on to the next one if you like, I don't even care. This is too damned good.

Clip Bonanza -- True Blood is TV.com Readers' Show Of The Year

I had to post this pic because Alexander Skarsgard is looking at me like he wants me.

And he does, of course (yeah, he's way into TV bloggers that are timing out of the prime demographic, it's a fetish of his; he's into the gray hairs in my eyebrows that grow toward magnetic north, what's up with that anyway).

52 percent of TV.com readers chose HBO's sexy vampire drama for the win, beating out Glee at 30 percent and Mad Men at 17 percent. A pay cable drama taking the prize is a big deal, HBO doesn't reach anywhere near the homes of the other two.

One has to give it up to the Glee gang, though. It's their first season. For what it's worth, Glee did win the Coolest Cast on Campus award, beating out Gossip Girl and ABC Family's Greek (which is a show Craig Ferguson watched by accident 37 times in succession one afternoon -- you gotta be a Craig fan to get that joke).

Modern Family took the best new show prize from the TV.com readers and Olivia Dunham's explosion on Fringe out of the multiverse, through her windshield and onto a NYC street took the prize for Best Explosion. 

See the complete list of winners at this link.

Hollywood Reporter Video -- Big Bang's Parsons, Glee's Michele Recount The Auditions That Got Them Hired

I grabbed this off the Hollywood Reporter website because watching it confirmed to me that these are two young people who are really serious about their craft. I mean, look at Jim Parsons in the image above, really listening to watch Lea Michele has to say about her Glee audition. So often you watch actors being interviewed and one of them is talking and the other is just sitting there with some ridiculous grin on their faces as a cover for them repeating in their head over and over what THEY'RE gonna say.

These two are different and it shows in their performances on the tube. I can't remember the last time an actor in a comedy has broken out the way Jim has on The Big Bang Theory and from the moment I heard the first word and first note out of Lea's mouth on Glee I knew she had it. The bright part of her voice just gave me chills, she has major comedy chops, and she's great at the physical humor, as Parsons is as well.

Watch the clip by hovering your mouse right here at the filmstrip graphic from Apture.com and the clip will pop up for your viewing pleasure.

I'm embarassed to say that I'm currently backlogged by four or five episodes on Glee, but I have plenty of time to catch up. American Idol starts in January and begins to wreak havoc on the Fox schedule. After this Wednesday Glee won't be back until April 13, but I'll have "new to me" episodes for a little while. Strange move on Fox's part in my opinion since the most recent

(Fringe is also being given a hiatus, btw, not that I'm happy about that. I don't think it serves a show with serial elements to pull it from the schedule. Didn't we learn that from a show that was once a hit and will probably now just drift off into the sunset ... what was it called ... Heroes, was it?)

Check out a slightly Bye, Bye Birdie-esqueclip from that Fall finale of Glee right here and ... instead of a preview, let's try to find a Best of Sheldon fan compilation clip from The Big Bang Theory for us BBT geeks, and place it right here.

I'm pretty sure we'll be hearing both their names come December 15 when the Golden Globes nominations are announced. The ceremony (for the first time ever not time-delayed on the West Coast this year -- Yea!) will be held on my sis' b-day, Jan. 17, with festivities (and alcohol pouring) starting at 8 eastersn, 5 pacific on NBC.

Let the drunken thanks commence.

Video (for the less than wealthy) -- Glee's Lea Michele Sings On My Own at HRC Dinner

Ah, Les Miz, love that show, love the music, love this particular song.

Of course, you would never find me at the HRC National Dinner, it's way too pricey a proposition at $250. I have about $500 to $700 for all my non-HIV gay donating each year and let's face it, one's money doesn't go very far at HRC (which for years some of us have been referring to as the Human Rights Champagne Fund because only the hoitiest of the toitiest show up, and in full formal dress, and the out of towners have to get hotel rooms on top of that.

The Goddess of Blogging, Pam Spaulding, had this to say recently about the sitch at her fine weblog, Pam's House Blend:

For those out there offended by my use of the term A-gays, perhaps you should think of a better shorthand term for me to use. What I am referring to here is the class and access distinction between most of the LGBT community (who cannot afford the $250 and up ticket price to see the President or pay thousands to captain a table at other events). The divide is very real and troubling on several levels. These are often a sea of gay white well-to-do men with a sprinkling of lesbians, plus media and anyone lucky enough to scrape money together or are sponsored by their organizations to attend. It doesn't mean attendees are just schmoozing or have no sense of activism, it just means there's an inconvenient truth no one likes to talk about and that makes it uncomfortable when it is raised.

Well, I never wanted to sit in a room with David Geffen and that Hormel guy and listen to the President speak, anyway ... Geffen got me mad with all his opposition to letting people use the beach near his Malibu compound a few years back and ... I hate Spam (not the email issue, actual Spam, from Hormel).

I don't even know if either of them were there, actually, but that's the kind of crowd they get. The A-Gays: trust fund babies, private schoolers from wealthy stock who made connections and ended up at the right hedge funds and law firms, overpaid entertainers ... and Bravo's Andy Cohen.

Pam suggested at her blog that Obama should have spoken at the March to "even things out." I concur. He didn't do that, though.

Okay, enough about all that,  click over the jump and listen to Lea sing that song I love.

I don't have to tell you that Ryan Murphy's Fox hit Glee airs Wednesday at 9, but what you don't know is that there's going to be a big break in its schedule during the opening week's of the Idol juggernaut ..you know, the very mean-spirited opening weeks where they make fun of all kinds of unfortunate souls.

(I wonder if Ellen will skew it less mean-spirited? We'll see. Hey, there's someone who can afford the HRC dinner, I wonder if she and Portia were in attendance?)

I'd rather be watching reruns of Glee during that time. Hell, I'd rather watch a test pattern during that time.

Clip Bonanza -- Get Glee Tonight at 9 on Fox and Watch Matthew Morrison Rap

Watch Matthew Morrison rap? You mean Matthew Morrison the Broadway star of South Pacific and singer of show tunes?

Yes! Stop being that way. And watch the clip. Except for you, Kanye. You'll probably just complain about ... well, you always find something now, don't you.

After that, watch the Hulu clip from Chris Colfer's NYC Glee Promo Tour, but first ... read this profile on Colfer from today's Los Angeles Times, which includes:

Colfer, a community theater actor from Clovis, Calif., wasn’t just looking for his first professional job. He was face-to-face with the television writer he most admired — standing in his office, surrounded by “Nip/Tuck” props and photographs, and all he wanted to do was ask him for spoilers for the next season. Instead, he dropped his script pages, scattering them everywhere.

“I was thinking, ‘I can’t do this. I can’t sing and dance in front of this man. I idolize him so much,’” said Colfer, now 19.  “So I immediately peed a little. I’m horrible at auditions anyway. Maybe that’s why I never got anything. It’s my Achilles' heel. Is that who it was — Achilles? Just checking. It could be Aries or Hercules and some scholar’s gonna write me a letter.”

(snip)

“He’s never been formally trained and I just thought he was so talented and gifted and unusual,” Murphy recalled. “I’ve never seen anyone who looks like him or acts like him or sounds like him. You’d think he’d been at Juilliard for six years but he hasn’t.”

Still, Colfer didn’t get the part. Not that part anyway. Murphy recognized something else in the unknown performer, something that inspired him to invent a new character: a bit of himself.

And, I'm really trying to resist posting another Lea Michele clip, because there are other people in this show besides him but I just love her. Oh, what the hell, three clips after the jump.

Preview Video -- Twit-ty Fringe and Glee Reruns on Fox, May it Never Happen Again

You know how I think Twitter is a massive stupid time suck? Well, combining Twitter and my favorite massive time suck which is TV doesn't make it any better.

I really wanted to watch the episode of Fringe that they aired on Thursday, but the damn Twitter feeds covered up almost half the TV screen.

Regarding Glee, I was only tuning in really for the two musical numbers, and I managed to watch them ... well, not really watch, but I did listen while I averted my eyes.

Not that I don't enjoy the performing of Amber Riley, I just don't enjoy her Tweeting. Because I don't care what she was thinking when she was doing X, Y and Z. Why would I? I didn't even know she existed before I saw the damn show. And I don't need to know how long or where or the funny thing that happened while they were rehearsing the Don't Stop Believing number.

The Fringe people were, honestly, a bit more interesting, but it's still not anything I need to know to enjoy the show more. In fact, sometimes the more you tell me the less I enjoy.

More reaction and clips from the new season of each show after the jump.

Fall Preview Video -- In Which I Take On TV.com's Five Most Promising Shows of the Fall (and how they missed one)

Okay, first things first, Tim Surette is apparently TV.com's editorial king of the hill, he gets to choose two. I'm just sayin', not trying to rile anything up (though Richard Lawson is getting to be my favorite writer there).

Lying, I love stirring up office politics where people I don't even know work.

Also, they missed one show, but we'll get to that later.

Okay, five shows that TV.com thinks will make it, and I agree with four of the five -- Modern Family (Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet pictured left), Cougar Town, Flash Forward (top of post, Joseph Fiennes and John Cho in action) on ABC and Glee on Fox (Lea Michele below right) -- and I could be convinced of the fifth,The Good Wife with Julianna Margulies on CBS, I have a soft spot for her, if CBS would send me screeners like they used to.

Ahem. Throat clearing very loudly. Cough. Cough. Hacking cough.

(Then again, ABC isn't really forthcoming with their stuff, either. Cable channels love me, broadcast not so much.)

Of course we've all seen Glee, though you get another chance Thursday night at 8, if you can stand to have a crawl of Twitter messages from the cast, creators and others (fans?) running under it the whole time.

I can't.

Can't watch the Twit-ty rerun of the first season finale of Fringe for the same reason. Of course, I can just throw the DVD in the machine.

About Glee, Lawson says:

Glee is wickedly funny in the same gonzo way that Popular was, with strange cutaways and almost-cartoonishly manic characters who will stop at nothing to get what they want. Oh, and it has musical numbers! Big, beautiful, clear-voiced pop numbers sung passionately and without any of that irksome irony that's been laid on too thick in most of the things people deem “smart” these days. The cast, led by Broadway vets Matthew Morrison (South Pacific at Lincoln Center) and Lea Michele (Spring Awakening), is attractive and majorly, earnestly talented. And hey, it's nice to see that it’s so gay-friendly, considering that it’s on Fox.

Yeah, what he said, Sean Hannity. And you too O'Reilly you lying sack.

Sorry, can't ever resist the opportunity, you know.

If there was one show I think they missed, it's Joel McHale's Community on NBC. Hey, that gives me an idea -- if you'd like to see either a) the NBC Fall Preview Show which includes clips of Community or b) yet another show where Joel McHale introduces TV clips, you can kill two birds with one stone and watch the NBC Fall Preview 2009 hosted by McHale.

It's the Hulu embed after the jumperoo. Click over, enjoy the lush self-promotion. I'll also include the video widget from the ABC Flash Forward website that you can click around on to find a bunch of clips from and about the show.

Just one more week until actual real Fall TV shows start. Not to diss the Summer stuff, but there just isn't the sense of urgency about Royal Pains and Burn Notice for me that there is about Fall shows.

Don't you think?

Video -- Glee's Jane Lynch Guests on Reno 911 Season Finale Tonight on Comedy Central

And I have a clip after the jump, but first ...

Jane Lynch is leaving the Starz series Party Down so that she can devote more time to the Ryan Murphy Fox series Glee where she plays cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester.

Not a surprising move, but it certainly does make the Starz series much less attractive an option.

Tonight on Reno, "Wiegel needs someone to join her in couple's therapy because her insurance for personal psychiatry ran out.  Raineesha Williams gets stuck with her."

And, let me just say that Reno 911 continues to make me laugh in their sixth season. Bet you never thought it would last that long. It might be the longest running show on the network besides The Daily Show, in fact.

Free iTunes Download -- Watch the Glee Pilot Episode All Summer Long!

One quick note ... between the rough cut and the final they edited out Matthew Morrison's solo, which I mentioned in a previous post. Honestly, although it was a great song and performance it fell at an awkward place in the episode which is now tighter because of its omission.

But everything else is here in the free iTunes download of the pilot episode.

Here's the link to iTunes.

I Have Obtained Glee And It is Glorious and Funny and You Will Love It

It's a TV show. On Fox. Premieres after the first night of the American Idol finale, May 19, at 9 (8 eastern).

I got a screener.

(You didn't think I was transcendentally meditating or that I hooked up with some brain draining cult, did you? Because I'm not that easily swayed, unless it involves baked goods and Tyson Beckford.)

It's about what happens at McKinley High in this Ohio town a teacher who used to be a student here decides to step up and do something for himself and the kids in his charge by taking over their flailing glee club and return it to the prominence it enjoyed when he was part of the group.

I can't say too much because what I saw was a rough cut and I was asked not to write a review, per se, because of that, but a few comments I'm sure would be fine, especially considering how much I enjoyed it.

(Can't imagine Kevin Reilly would mind a little kvelling over his show, even if he doesn't know what kvelling means.)

Lea Michelle, who plays the very annoying at first character Rachel Berry (above left), this girl is perfectly cast and has one of those voices that gives you gooseflesh. You'll think of a young Idina Menzel.

Matthew Morrison (Will) sings and plays guitar during the pilot and has one of those rubbery comic faces that he can activate at any moment.

You'll enjoy Jessalyn Gilsig, who is quite different from her Heroes role and creates quite the plot point/dilemma for the show's hero, Will, in this pilot.

Jane Lynch as the cheerleading advisor seems ready to explode with something inappropriate at any time, with very funny results. The rest of the teaching staff and administration including another Heroes vet, Jayma Mays, are also great and add to the environment.

The jock who gets hoodwinked into joining the glee club, Finn (Cory Monteith) may be the most surprising find, and you'll really take notice when he opens his mouth to sing. Also, Amber Riley (a Long Beach native) has pipes like you wouldn't believe.

And there's so much more but I don't wanna say too much. Go watch as many clips as you can get your hands on from the Fox Broadcasting YouTube account and if you like this kind of thing get ready to be blown away. Perfect companion for Idol, I have to say, and nice to see people singing and dancing on TV again. Without Simon Cowell there telling them what they did wrong, that is.

I know there are those of you who have a problem with people breaking out into song in the middle of your shows. I just can't imagine you'll have a problem with that here. Unless you're just a downer. And you're not a downer, no one who reads here is a downer.

Thank you Ryan Murphy, I'm really going to enj0y this. I would love to come down to the set if you're inviting.

UPDATED: Video -- Cast of Fox's Glee Treks to Long Beach CA's Cabrillo High for Photoshoot

UPDATE: I finally got embed codes from Fox, so the clip is here, after the jump for you homepagers.

From Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch blog (Tim Stack):

I have seen the pilot of Fox's new series Glee, which premieres May 19 after American Idol, and I am officially obsessed. I've watched it all the way through twice and have re-screened the performance numbers more times than I can count. It's becoming a little ridiculous. I may have to join some kind of support group. The series, which centers around a outcast-filled high school glee club, completely won me over. But it's the performance scenes that truly keep me coming back.

Check out a bunch of performance clips from the show at this link and this one and this one, all YouTube.

I'm trying to get a screener of this from Fox so that I can bring you some non-spoilery goodness from the pilot.

Jane Lynch goes network prime time? That's just the best news all year.

LOVE Jane.

Jane was one of the driving forces behind that The Gaythering Storm parody ad on Funny or Die that I posted a couple days ago.

Clips are all going after the jump today, as the page is loading slowly right now and I don't wanna disappoint anyone.

(Lots of traction on that US Fidelis clip from the Today show might be slowing down server response? I'm not entirely sure -- and I'm not entirely a tech geek, though I fake it really well.)

Glee is from Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck) and as I was a chorus geek in high school I'm chomping to get my hands on this before the Tuesday May 19th premiere. It's being given a plumb after Idol timeslot.

Also stars friend of the blog David Lawrence's friend Jessalyn Gilsig, Matthew Morrison, who was the guy with the outstanding vocal AND bicep development in the recent Broadway production of South Pacific with Kelly O'Hara, and Canadian actor Cory Monteith (recurring on Kyle XY and the not-picked up US pilot of Mistresses).

I'm still waiting for embed codes from Fox Publicity, but I promise that I'll post the clip here when I get them. In the meantime, you can click over to it at this link but come back.

Always come back. I miss you when you're gone.

No, I'm Still Not Really Here

These are just pre-loaded posts that tell you that I'm at the Fox TCA session.

I'll be back much later.

Though I'd bet that I'm still hedging on the party. Even as I write this 24 hours before.

Oh, and this is a pic from Glee, which is upcoming from Ryan Murphy in 2009.