Hana Chan

I could totally understand Chris feeling some frustration in how his character has been used over the past few seasons. Kurt really hadn't existed as a character in his own right with his own storylines and nearly everything that happens to him is used to support Blaine and Rachel's stories. His few successes (like winning Midnight Madness and his amazing first NYADA audition) were more about the very rare times that Rachel fell short (evidenced by the focus being given to Rachel's feelings afterwards rather than allowing Kurt to actually enjoy his victories). Having Kurt getting to perform before June Dolloway was more about engineering a way for Blaine to be connected to June and if it ends up being another slap to the character who's already been smacked down more times than I could count, so what? As far as the writers are concerned, Blaine was the important one there. I've always taken it that Chris's acting choices come from a storyteller's perspective. He sees Kurt's story as a whole which is why he adds so many layers to scenes where a weaker actor would just gaze adoringly. I think that we got a good sense of how Chris sees Kurt from the episode that he penned, where Kurt was finally given a voice to complain about how he's treated as a crutch by those around him (and ignored when it suited their whims) and that he wanted his own successes and not just to stand around to help Rachel and Blaine to their inevitable rise to stardom. And he dropped an interesting bit of dialogue in his most recent book where a character complained about being seen only as half of a joined pairing and not having individuality in her own right (and that being the worst thing in the world). He's been throwing a lot of shade about wanting to see Kurt having more independent storylines that don't immediately get tied to Rachel or Blaine and to have Kurt enjoying his own successes rather than just being happy for others.

It doesn't really matter what RIB does at this stage. Chris's career outside of Glee has begun to take off, with two lead film roles. His books are on the best sellers lists. He's gotten offers for guest spots on other shows (the episode of Hot in Cleveland airs next week). He's hinted at multiple other projects that are still in the works. Chris no longer needs to be featured on Glee in order for his extended career to get traction. What makes absolutely no sense is that the show has failed to take advantage of Chris's critical regard and popularity, instead deciding to spend seasons four, five and now six trying to make Darren and Chord happen (failing to do so and having the quality of the show suffering as a result). At this point Chris is just fulfilling his obligation with his usual professionalism and grace and in a few months, he'll be completely free.

Fortunately for Becca, she's not nearly as high profile on the show as Lea and Cory are/were so while there's a spark of initial interest, I don't think she's going to have to deal with the level of media attention that Lea did.

Props had some good moments. Seeing how some of the cast were reinterpreting other characters was highly amusing (Chris had Cory's "gassy baby" Finn expression nailed), but I absolutely hated the message that the episode was sending. That Rachel's goals were first and paramount for ND, and the aspirations for everyone else has to take a back seat. That one shouldn't expect a chance to try to earn a solo, but should quietly be a team player and wait your turn (which in the case of Kurt never happened). And it really took what had been one of the healthiest, most mutually supportive relationships and threw it completely under the bus. Tina could go out on a limb to enroll Mike in the dance program that he really wanted and try to get Mike's father on board with Mike's real career goals, but he then reprimanded Tina for demanding a chance for a solo, Will say that the name of the episode was appropriate, since it was made very clear that everyone in ND existed merely as props to Rachel's climb to her goals. The less said about Pot O Gold, the better. An hour of trying to make that block of wood named Rory happen. Meh.

The fact that the media pounced on this like a rabid rat on a chunk of cheese is nothing short of hysterical. Let's be honest here... after Lea, Chris is the one indispensable member of the cast. There is no way short of a gun to their heads that FOX or RIB would let Chris go at this stage. Not that I wasn't feeling a few seconds of breathless delight at the thought of Chris being free of this trainwreak.

A lot of what we're talking about is supposition because there have been no official statements from anyone at this point. We don't know how many episodes of Glee will be aired for this season, when those episodes may start airing, or when Glee will actually start production. The actors themselves seem to be in the dark as much as anyone else (going by their tweets and interviews as of late). The only thing that we know for certain is the statement from FOX that Glee would not be in the fall line up and would be airing as a mid-season replacement.

I think that given that we have no idea of when Glee is going to start production (the same for the actors and crew, who are still guessing when they will be returning to work), how many episodes are being ordered by FOX or any other particulars that things are still undecided. It is very possible that FOX gave their best offer and now RIB have to scramble and reorganize all their plans for the season because they are just not going to have the episodes/budget to handle the three show choir "vision". The fact that FOX isn't looking for Glee to be revitalized and is just running out the clock lends even more credence to the idea that they are not giving into Ryan Murphy's whims any longer. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the whole plan for the season is being re-written now to deal with the bitter new reality that is Glee's world. I also wouldn't be terribly surprised if negotiations were still ongoing as to exactly what FOX is willing to give at this point. It also would not be too far out of the realm of possibility that RIB and FOX cannot come to an agreement about how many episodes to film, the budget and a multitude of other issues and make a mutual decision to cancel the final season altogether.

You can have nice characters that have a bit of edge to them (which gives them some oomph) or you can have the beige paint drying on a beige wall that was Marley. The problem what that the things that they gave her that was supposed to give her character more than just the bland nice girl (the eating disorder & romantic triangles) just made her more bland and pathetic. Marley wasn't just the "nice" girl - she was a total doormat and there's no salvaging a character that just oozes blah. Marley was either the nice girl who couldn't say boo to anyone, or she was a victim of other people's assholery. Marley hit the trifecta of bland - boring character hobbled by bad writing and played by an actress who couldn't give her enough edge to overcome the overload of boredom. Tina in season one was basically the shy, nice girl of ND and she had miles more in the way of character than Marley did under the best of circumstances.

Ryan Murphy might have his grand vision of the choir room being the center of the universe, but it won't do a whole lot of good if the network isn't willing to pay for a cast to populate it. And they're talking about needing enough people to try to make three choirs operable. Even paying scale, that's a considerable chunk of change that I don't know if FOX is willing to swallow. And they can't just be extras to sit in their chairs while Lea/Darren/Matt since in front of them. They need to have at least some fleshing out (the way the Warblers were in season 2) so that the leads have something to work with. And they can completely forget about any big name guest stars that RM likes to trot out - this is going to be bare bones casting. Just as problematic is going to be paying for all those song royalties. I don't think we're going to see as many songs in the coming season, and they won't be the latest hits (which will be the most expensive). Glee is beyond a total mess right now. If they can't even announce how many episodes are being ordered (I believe that 13 is just an educated guess on the parts of those who offered that number) or when production might start so that actors and crew can get their lives in order, then nothing is set in stone yet. This is going to be a very unnerving summer for those in the cast who don't have anything to keep them distracted. I'm betting that a few are really praying that they have day jobs come fall.

And if the season is supposed to be Rachel/Blaine/Sam heavy, then they can't waste too much time focusing on a new crop of noobs (who will have even less time for development than the first lot (and we all saw how well they were received). With 13 episodes (at best), there is almost no time for any kind of story development. Depending on how big a time jump they're making, most of the original noobs are likely already graduated.

Even if it was being made clear that Blaine and Rachel were only going to be involved for a few months rebuilding their respective choirs, you're still taking a pretty huge chunk of time for two people. Especially if it's unpaid/volunteer. Odds are that Rachel is to some degree successful in her career so finances wouldn't be as big a concern, but she would have work requirements to juggle. As for Blaine, if this happens shortly after graduation, then his focus would need to be on getting work and building his professional career - not mentoring his old choir. And Blaine being in Ohio ties Kurt to Ohio and the last thing I want is to see Kurt dragged back there after he's finally escaped. This would be a hard enough needle for a competent team of writers to thread. The hacks at Glee, on the other hand... this is going to be a disaster.

There is no way that this storyline makes any sense or is in any way respectful of the journeys of any of the characters involved (with the sole exception of Sam, which I will explain). Rachel - From the pilot, Rachel has been a person of the most single-minded, goal oriented drive. To the point that not even the love of her life could compete with her ambition. To have to walk away from the career that she was willing to sacrifice everything for to lead ND is in direct opposition to everything her character has stood for. The only way to explain why she would suddenly be willing to drop everything for a high school show choir is 1) really be unprecedented and have her career flagging or 2) having her find that she just doesn't find being a big star satisfying and have give it all up for ND. The show has always treated performing arts teachers as something of failures - they're teaching because they can't make it in the profession. We saw that with Schu, Shelby, Cassandra - all of them are teaching because they in some way failed in their professional performance endeavors. The only one who isn't painted as some kind of failure was Ms. Tibideaux and even she was referred to by Rachel as a "has been". In Rachel's canon mindset, if you aren't performing, you are a failure. And if she is successful, having her swan into Lima to rebuild ND makes even less sense. For her to then shift gears to teaching would really fly in the face of five seasons of character development on her part. Even more so, Rachel has the worst possible temperament to be a teacher. Teachers have to think behind themselves and do what is best for their students. Rachel has always put herself first and even those that she loves a distant second - she would probably be the last person on earth to be happy guiding the further aspirations of others rather than focusing on her own. She would, at best, end up being too much like Schu at his worst - when he saw ND as a stand-in for his own thwarted ambitions and their success as a proxy for his own. Anything else would be too much a departure from her character. Schu - My feelings about Schu as a teacher and how he played favorites and manipulated his students to serve his own interests are hardly a secret. But to have him leading VA and competing against ND is really disrespectful for his character. I have huge issues with how he went about his job, but I don't doubt that he had a real passion for his choir (even if it was partly his own misplaced personal ambition). He's with VA because ND was shut down so to have him leading a choir against his old group is really cruel on the show's part. It puts him in an adversarial position, which he doesn't deserve. Either he is corrupted by the VA win at all costs mentality, or he's managed to change VA's culture and make it more about love of performing (which would eliminate a major part of the automatic audience instinct to root for the ND protagonists). Either he really works against ND, or he sacrifices his current crop of students for ND's benefit. It can't turn out well for him. Sam - Sam suffers the least here because it's not as if he's got any real professional ambitions. He's just stepping into Finn's shoes (and please Gods... let Rachel not be part of that deal) and fulfilling what RM had planned for Finn. Since his character is such a dim blank, he can be manipulated into the spot with little issue. Blaine - Blaine working with the Warblers is just as problematic as Rachel working with ND. Supposedly he's got professional ambitions and if he's successful, returning to Ohio makes no sense and like Rachel, the show will never allow him to have career problems. And to have him in Lima leading a choir while Kurt is away presumably working is really going to blow people's minds and give the impression that Kurt is more successful professionally (in that he doesn't have all this free time to devote to leading a choir group, which is really going to be an interesting proposition). And to have him working with the Warblers is problematic, as he was with ND longer than he was with the Warblers and competed against them with ND. The makeup of the Warblers, having a student council leading the group rather than a faculty advisor, would preclude Blaine having a place leading them. Of course, after the doping scandal, the team might now be required to have a faculty advisor to oversee them. Which leads to another issue... For Blaine, Sam and Rachel, there is a huge roadblock in them having positions as choir directors. None of them are teachers, nor have applicable credentials to qualify them as artistic directors. If the time jump is more than three years, they could stretch it out enough that Blaine would have graduated NYADA so would at least have an undergraduate degree, but no real teaching credentials. Sam showed no interest in college and Rachel dropped out after her freshman year. Whatever professional successes they may or may not have would not qualify them for instructor positions. They could act as volunteers (the way Finn did), but that would assume that they can afford financially to work unpaid for a full year to guide their respective choirs through the multiple competitions stretching out over the school year. The more you poke at it, the less plausible anything planned for season 6 becomes. The one good thing is that we've had absolutely nothing in the way of spoilers for how Kurt might fit into the season. Never did I think that I'd be so grateful for not having any spoilers or storyline for Kurt since it means that he won't have a major part in this unmitigated mess.

Especially when he left Dalton and spent two years competing with New Directions. Having him directing the Warblers makes no sense. ONTD has dubbed this season 666. I think even Satan would disavow this stupidity.

I've reached the point where for me, Glee officially ended with the season 4 finale. This way I can keep my happy head canon of Rachel actually given some real challenges before her inevitable stardom, Kurt never accepted Blaine's proposal and is still dating Adam and the never-ending pool of suck that is Blam never arrived to infect the NY storyline. Because what we've gotten since reads like poorly constructed fanfiction. Actually... I should ammend that last statement. I've read poorly constructed fanfiction that showed a hell of a lot more thought, attention to character and plot development than this crap. With the sole exception of getting multiple episodes with Chris Colfer losing his shirt and Adam Lambert, season five was a total waste and season six promises to be worse.

Rachel finding that the career she'd been steered towards her entire life isn't fulfilling could be an interesting story if it's told properly. I've believed for a long time that Rachel's dreams were engineered and encouraged by her fathers (rather than discovering a love for performing on her own) and it could make sense that she isn't really happy with the realities of the entertainment industry, whether we're talking about Broadway or Hollywood. I've always felt that she's been motivated by the acclamation and not performing itself (the old "I need applause to live" bit) so Rachel finding that the whole thing doesn't make her happy could make sense. The problem is this show and these writers. There is no chance of them handling this properly.

The problem with the lesson of the week treatment that Rachel was getting was that they never actually let her fucking learn anything! When the fuck did she ever actually deal with a real consequence of her behavior? She treats Kurt like shit and he makes sure that she gets her dream audition. She then spends weeks treating Kurt like shit in season 5 and he leads the efforts to support her before her opening night. She lies to her boss and blows off a performance and gets a tv development deal. My biggest beef with how Rachel (and Blaine) get treated by the show is that their crappy behavior gets rewarded rather than punished. We've seen it over and over again. Rachel acts like a self-entitled diva bitch, gets a smack on the hand, apologizes and the does the same thing next week. Wash, rinse and repeat. I wish that they would actually have her character grow up and show some maturity and consideration for those who she calls her friends and stop treating them as her step and fetch its all the time. She acts like a brat in her dance class and not only doesn't flunk but has the teacher who made her miserable just pass her because she's special. She bails on school, insulting the dean who gave her enormous support and of course her show is a hit. Rachel is learning that she can do whatever she wants and everything will go her way in he end. For those of us who want to see a more balance storyline, it's very discouraging. The treatment Rachel has been getting from the writers has been appalling. They've destroyed all the good things about her character that made you want to sympathize with her even when she was acting badly and instead we have this Special Snowflake Princess who gets everything and everyone kisses her ass no matter how she treats tem because she's just. So. Fucking. Special.

Rachel went from being the star at McKinely to the star at NYADA (being the first freshman ever to win Winter Showcase) to getting her dream role in less than a year with barely a hiccup to interupt her rise to the top? What challenges did she face? A nasty dance teacher who justifiabily thought that her dance skills (and attitude) were lacking and then turned around and became another cheerleader without any rational? Losing Midnight Madness to Kurt, only to have him hurry out to sign her up for the Funny Girl auditions because she was feeling too sorry for herself? You can't take your keystone character and give her a storyline that is basically little more than fantasy wish fullfillment and not have it negatively impact the show as a whole. Rachel wasn't the only one who got these treatment. Just the most glaring example. We had Mercedes who was able to score 2 recording contracts since graduation and have enough pull to shift production to NY despite not having a single album sold. Or Blaine, who manages what neither Kurt, Rachel, Elliot or Jesse St James managed - getting into NYADA on his first try based solely on his audtion (which we didn't see) and scores the big benefactor over Kurt. Sam goes from surfing on Kurt's sofa for months to winning a prime modeling job with minimal effort. It's not that characters are finding success outside of high school, but that so many of them are finding such outlandish levels of success so quickly.

The McKinely storyline was hampered by several things, and comparisons to the original cast was the least of their issues. I'll grant that being compared to Lea, Cory and Chris didn't do the noobs any good at all (nor did it help the effort of trying to make Darren, Heather and Chord into leads), but the biggest problem was the recycling of storylines that had already been done multiple times. How many times can we sit through ND going through the competition cycle without it losing any shred of drama (especially given that ND almost always wins against other far superior groups). Then we get dances/proms with the usual nonsense over who's going to be prom queen. They even recycled the prom queen gets trashed storyline (done far better the first time around with Kurt). And apparently at McKinley, only members of ND are qualified for prom queen/student body president/valedictorian or anyting else. Even the tribute episodes were recycled, and awful copies of what was done before. The one thing that the NY storyline really had going for it was the chance to really do something different. College/conservatory/adult life was a wide open field that they could have explored, but because RM was so set on trying to keep McKinley relevent and make the noobs happen, we barely scratched the surface. The idea that you could have Kurt and Santana in NY and not have them go to one gay bar before they had the group outing after Rachel's debut was idiotic. Rather than fast fowarding Rachel to stardom, they could have started her in the bottom rungs of the theater world and have her claw her way to the top. Let them start having adult realtionships and not forever be tied to their high school sweethearts (all of which were left behind for very good reasons). Let them figure out their lives and reassessing their aspriations. Shoving graduated characters who made it their life's mission to escape Ohio returning is beyond insulting to the audience who've been following them from the start.

Chris continues his efforts to be the most adorable person on the planet. He went to a book signing in LA to meet Hillary Clinton and waited on line for his turn with everyone else. There is something really sweet about someone who is as well known as Chris who gets all giddy over meeting someone that he admires. And Hillary seemed pretty pleased to see him too.

Generally when you are a regular in a series, you get paid for the season. If your name is listed in the credits, you get a check cut. Lea, Chris and Naya got paid for all the episodes that they didn't appear in during season 4, and got paid full salary for the episodes where they only had a single scene or one or two lines. With the noobs, they had a contract for the season. The show could have exercised their rights to fire them, but they'd still have to be paid for the remainder of the contract (or at least accept a buy out for the remainder of the contract). This is basic with entertainment contracts. Even given that the noobs were more than likely paid a fraction of what the original cast would command, it was still money wasted. They didn't this season. There was no real send off the way they've done in the past. I think there was an informal dinner with Lea, Chord, Darren and the crew (Chris didn't attend), but no proper end of season party. It's one thing to celebrate the close of a successful season. It's another when the ratings have gone straight into the toilet the way they did in season 5. That wasn't so much a celebration as a wake.

Looking at this strictly from a business perspective (which is how I imagine FOX is), spending money to promote Glee makes little sense. Not with the ratings Glee was pulling last season. Networks don't have unlimited funds and what they have they'll spend on the shows that are pulling in ratings (and big advertising dollars). The days of Glee doing that are long over. Not when its getting ratings lower than shows on the CW. FOX can and could decided to pull the plug completely at this stage. It also doesn't help that Glee is a very expensive show to films. Besides paying the cast and crew (and we can't forget how the noobs were elevated to regulars last season and got paid even though they were cut out of the last 7 episodes), they've got to pay for the rights for the songs that they perform weekly, as well as rental of auditoriums and theaters for things like the competition episodes, as well as the big name guest stars that they like to trot out. All of that is likely to be drastically scaled back. As far as promo is concerned, the only episode that I can see FOX willing to spend any money to promote will be the series finale and even that is going to be far less than they would if Glee was pulling in moderately decent ratings. To be frank, anything that Glee gets at this point is going to be a gift because FOX could certainly decide not to take any new episodes at all if RIB push too hard.

I'm saying it now... nothing for next season has been decided with any finality. Not the number of episodes, when those episodes might air or when production is due to start. The lack of any confirmation from TPTB (and they would have to know just how critical it is to have some concrete news in order to salvage what remains of Glee's buzz) and the two most high profile actors on the show doing other things this summer around the time when they would normally be in LA to start pre-production and publicity) is really damning evidence of just how bad things are BTS. I'll bet anything that FOX is playing hardball since the show runners don't have an iota of credibility left and the longer this goes on, the fewer episodes will be ordered. In the meantime, the last is left in limbo. For Chris and Lea it's not that big deal. Both of them certainly have enough to keep them busy and have enough in the way of prospects to keep them busy in the interim. Darren ad Chord, on the other hand, are probably praying that they still have their day jobs come fall.

I agree, caracas1914. RM fought against shifting focus to NY for as long as he could. He maintained his insistance that it was the show choir room that needed to be the centerpiece and that the characters were interchangable (in that it didn't matter what actors/students occupied the room at any given moment). He made it impossible for the NY storyline to get any traction, and the fact that some of the NY stories were as good as they were really is a tribute to Lea, Chris and Naya, who often had little (or nothing) to work with. The NY narrative really could have breathed new life into Glee had it been given a realistic chance, but RM's ego wouldn't allow that to happen. He'd rather recycle the same high school storylines over and over again with characters that are increasingly less interesting and less original than the previous incarnations. Another round of romantic triangles, anyone? With Glee off the FOX roster for September and coming back as a mid-season replacement, as well as having it stated outright that this is the last season, the network has no reason to fight with RM any longer. They're not going to invest any more energy into this shop so it doesn't matter if Glee is run completely into the ground. They're just running out the clock at this point.

Jezz.... this isn't kindergarten, where you get nominated because it's your turn. You either deserve something or you don't. Chord's contributions to Glee this season weren't exactly helpful or noteworthy. Not to say that he didn't have a few funny moments (loved him slut-shaming Artie), but for the most part he made me cringe in second hand embarassment. At least I don't need to pretend to be a 14 year old this year.

Whatever potential the NY storyline had of revitalizing Glee was lost when the show runners decided to extend the school year nearly 2/3rds into season 5 and pretty much stiffled any chance of really developing the NY location. We were left with only 7 episodes that were exclusively in NY (following a season where the NY storyline averaged around 10 minutes of screen time per ep and was completely absent from three episodes). I don't think it's reasonable to expect that full storylines for all the major characters can fully be developed given those time constraints. How the NY storyline played out also was very problematic and didn't allow for real development of stories. Instead of filling out the cast with proper recurring characters that could flesh out the stories of Kurt, Rachel and Santana (at that point, the three in NY), we had stunt guests who gobbled up focus and the stories became about featuring Kate Hudson and Sarah Jessica Parker rather than showing Rachel struggling at NYDA or Kurt finding a possible career path at Vogue. Kurt's band became about featuring Adam Lambert and Demi Lovato. We didn't get a proper NY-centric episode until Moving Out, and that was focused on (at that time) McKinely characters (Sam & Blaine). When we finally got to the completely NY episodes, they ended up being dominated with Rachel's Funny Girl story (told with the finger firmly on the fast foward button and allowed no real development) and an overload of Samcedes. They were trying to tell an entire season worth of stories in 7 episodes and nothing ended up working satisfactorily. As if to add insult to injury, no sooner does the show finally have a center again in NY (after more than one and a half years of a deeply uneven split focus) that they split up the cast again to multiple locations. With Rachel off to LA, Sam to Lima, Mercedes to everyone and Kurt and Blaine in NY, we're back to no real center of the show. The NY storyline never was given the chance to succeed.