But, things are settling down. There’s been a break in the workload, and when it starts up again, I’m going to be used to it. So here’s what’s happening.

I’ve found that even five shows is a little much for me, so if anyone wants to take The Good Wife or Trauma, please contact me, I’d love to give them away. If no one takes them, they’re just not going to be covered, period.

So, yes, I do realize I have quite a lot of catching up to do when it comes to Glee and The Vampire Diaries. Like I said, there’s been a break in my schoolwork, so I will be posting the reviews I missed over the weekend.

Thank you to those who have been reading! I’m amazed I’m still getting any hits at all, lol.

But Terri surprises Will with the news that she’s pregnant.  This makes Will finally quit to become an account…much to the disappointment of Emma, the school guidance counselor who quietly loves him even though he is married.  Emma convinces him to stay through videos of the school glee club in its former glory, and how good it can really be.

The real stand-out feature of Glee is its brilliant use of very subtle comedy.  There were never any direct jokes meant to get a cheap laugh, except maybe when a glee club member in a wheel chair crashes into the wall.  The fired teacher Sandy, though obviously gay, mentions to Will that his long distance girlfriend almost broke up with him because of his dismissal.  Before joining the glee club, Finn is about to have his football buddies dump eventual club member Kurt in the dumpster…but allows Kurt to take off his designer jacket first so that it isn’t ruined.

Also, Sue brags that the cheerleaders get most of the school budget because they attract huge media outlets like “Fox Sports Net,” and then mentions that she’s going to give an interview on her iPhone. Okay, maybe that was more innocent shameless promotion, but you have to love the mention of the network itself and a huge sponsor in just one scene.

But Glee impressed me the most through its outstanding creativity and interesting characters.  One of the best scenes was Rachel’s introduction to club.  Her character background and complex personality is amazing.  She explains how she was born to two gay men who combined their sperm so that no one would know who the father was, and were very selective in picking the best mother possible.  Rachel grew up with her parents signing her up for class after class in the hope that she would become a competitive performer.  And she is – she has every confidence in her dancing and singing abilities.  But yet she is still considered a loser, and it hurts her.  Her status as an outcast makes her want everyone to think she is as special as she knows she is even more.

So yeah, if it isn’t too obvious, I totally loved the Glee pilot.  However, while the pilot was great, the show now has the task of keeping up that level of excellence through the whole season.

I know, I was surprised too. Though I did watch the first showing in May and briefly thought of the movie, a second viewing revealed how much more depth Glee really has.  While it involves musical numbers, a jock turned singer, and a funny montage of audition clips, Glee is a dramedy that far outshines the popular Disney movie.

 For one thing, Mrs. Darbus would never plant marijuana on Troy Bolton, then blackmail him into joining the drama club.

 Yes, Glee is definitely not for your typical Disney audience.   The pilot opens on the school’s prestigious cheerleader squad practicing, then coach Sue Sylvester yelling at them through a megaphone that cheerleading is nothing compared to water boarding.  Cut to Will Schuester, who takes over the glee club when the former coordinator Sandy is let go – and it’s revealed that Sandy has no hard feelings, as he’s making a fortune selling “medical marijuana.” Each of the glee members sign up, accompanied with their own voiceover self-introduction (minus Finn, who hasn’t been blackmailed yet), tries out for the glee club and makes it…despite their audition. 

 After Will tries to recruit more members through the football team – who laugh in his face –  he overhears Finn, who is showering after practice, singing.   Will plants some of Sandy’s marijuana on Finn, and gives him the option of detention or glee club.  With that, Finn becomes a reluctant part of the group.  Female lead Rachel automatically begins crushing on him, though Finn has a girlfriend – who Rachel purposely points out as the “president of the celibacy club.” Finn resists at first, but realizes that singing is his passion and he can’t leave his new friends.

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(Sorry for the two parts, but these reviews are going to be pretty long, about 700 words.)

If you’re new to the series (don’t worry, I’m in the same boat) it’s the tale of Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrey), a 17-year-old who recently lost her parents in a car accident, and has movied in with her aunt Jenna (Sara Canning), and her drug addict 15-year-old brother Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen).  Popular and a great student, but now trying to hide her grief, Elena attracts the attention of new student Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley).  Stefan is a vampire who fell in love with someone a century ago who happened to look just like Elena.  But just like last time, Stefan’s dangerous, aggressive vampire brother Damon (Ian Somerhalder) is determined to drink Elena’s blood.  Meanwhile, Elena hangs out with BFF Bonnie (Katerina Graham), her “frenemy” Caroline (Candace Accola), and ex-boyfriend Matt (Zach Roerig).  And Jeremy is wondering why Matt’s sister Vicki (Kayla Ewell) seems to prefer his enemy Tyler (Michael Trevino) over him.

(You can find out more, and watch some videos, at the official CW site).

Here’s a sneak peek of the pilot episode:

Rather than  go on rant about how much this made me roll my eyes, I’m going to hold back and wait until the premiere.  The cliched concept and typical overdramatics might not bother me so much if I like the characters or dialogue.  But I will say that I have the same problem with Elena as I did with Bella – based on the promos and write-up at least, she seems to be way too much of a Mary Sue.  For those unfamiliar with fanfiction terms, that means that she’s a tragic character who’s liked by everyone no matter what, and has everything just happen to her through no fault of her own.  The parents’ simultaneous deaths in particular is a Mary Sue trademark. 

For the record, I read the first Twilight book and felt no desire to read the sequels.  Hopefully The Vampires Diaries will not have the same effect.

According to the unsold show’s IMDB page, the earlier attempt at a remake was in 2002, and was going to be on FOX.  While the 2009 version features completely new characters, the cast list reveals that Alex, Sukie and Jane were going to be featured characters, but instead played by Kelly Rutherford, Lori Loughlin, and Marcia Cross respectively.

So, that brings up the question…which concept would have been more successful?  Obviously, the revamp with new characters won out.  But what would be better for current TV – an Eastwick with new or familiar characters?  As for me, I’m glad they started fresh and are advertising Eastwick as a totally new thing and not mentioning the movie in every promo.  While it’s a known film, there are still that many more people who haven’t seen it and wouldn’t have given this show another thought.  This way, fans  of the movie can take comfort in the similar premise and plot, but at the same time, newcomers don’t feel lost.

After three long years since Charmed comes Eastwick, a show that revamps the original 1987 movie that starred Cher, Susan Saradon, and Michelle Pfeiffer.  Three women, different characters not in the movie, find out they have the gift when the mysterious Darryl Van Horne (played by Paul Gross instead of Jack Nicholson) comes to their town of Eastwick.  Joanna Frankel (Lindsay Price) is a reporter who’s single and interested in newspaper photographer Will (Johann Urb), and best friends with Penny (Sara Rue).  Registered nurse Kat Gardner (Jaime Ray Newman) is married to lazy, unappreciative Raymond (Jon Berthnal) and cares for her five children.  Completing the trio is artist Roxie Torcoletti (Rebecca Romijn), a single mother of teenager Mia (Ashley Benson) who is looking for a new love. 

Actress Veronica Cartwright makes the transition from movie to series – her original movie character Felicia Alden has been recreated in the form of the series character Bun, head of the Eastwick Historical Society and very close with Roxie.  Bun is supposedly going to channel some of Felicia’s role and receive a message that Darryl is bad news.

Here’s a sneek peek at the pilot: 

Honestly, I didn’t love the original movie, and only watched it once for the sole purpose of this blog post.  But the series is definitely supposed to be a modern version.  The main characters of Roxie, Kat and Joanne are so close to the original Alex (Cher), Jane (Sarandon) and Sukie (Pfeiffer) that you can actually tell very clearly who’s who.  Both Roxie and Alex are the artists, Joanne and Sukie are the reporters, and Jane and Kat are the caregivers.  

Eastwick also keeps the name Darryl Van Horne, but while the character is supposed to be unattractive in the film, he’s a demonic hunk.  Someone please correct me if in posts down the line I accidentally call him Cole (the demonic heart throb in Charmed).

However I don’t think this will be much like Charmed when it comes to plot and magical involvement.  Sure, they both have three witches discovering their powers.  But, if the movie is any indication, I predict that the magic will be much more…subtle, and come secondary to their relationships.  Personally, I prefer more magic than romance, so hopefully both genres are given equal screen time.

For more character descriptions and videos, go to ABC’s offiial Eastwick site.

Glee: Wednesday, September 9 at 9:00/8:00c. FOX.  Rerun of Pilot episode, September 2.

The Vampire Diaries: Thursday, September 10 at 8:00/7:00c. CW.

The Good Wife: Tuesday, September 22 at 10:00 ET/PT. CBS.

Eastwick: Wednesday, September 23 at 10:00/9:00c. ABC.

Trauma: Monday, September 28 at 9:00/8:00. NBC.

Also found that you can follow Glee on Twitter,  It updates with promos and cast interviews.

It figures.  Disney has already proven that anything with teenagers and singing is likely to be a huge money maker.

So what is this already-popular show about?  Glee stars Broadway vet Matthew Morrison as Will Schuester, a high school teacher who is sure he can turn the school’s small glee club – once award-winning, now a dumping ground for student outcasts – into one that can win the national title.  While most of the group are only fit for back-up, two of the students easily take center stage: pretty, confident, yet largely ignored Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), and Troy Bolton wannabe Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith), who shocks his football team when he finds passion for musical numbers.  Most think Will is nuts, and maybe he is, for taking on this group, including his wife Terri (Jessalyn Gilsig) and the school cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch).   He does have one supporter in another teacher, Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays).  For a more lengthy description, go to the official Glee site at FOX.

I’m going to review the pilot when it airs again September 2 (however, that is only speculation based on this IMDB thread).  But for those who can’t wait:

WATCH GLEE PILOT ON HULU

(Sorry for not knowing how to embed Hulu videos.  Anyone know how and willing to explain it to me?)

And a promo for the season.  The second episode airs September 9th, again according to that IMDB thread:

I actually did enjoy the pilot when it aired- comedy, music, what’s not to like?  My only worry is that it might get old after a whole season, so here’s hoping they keep the plots  fresh.

Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot
Original Air Date—22 September 2009
Alicia helps a woman who is charged for killing her husband, as her first case as a junior associate.
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Season 1, Episode 2: Crack
Original Air Date—29 September 2009
Alicia takes on the second chair of a rape case: a civil suit involving the abuse of a prostitute who may have been hired by her husband.
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Season 1, Episode 3: You Can’t Go Home Again
Original Air Date—6 October 2009
Alicia defends the son of former friends, who have ostracized her since the scandal, on a charge of felony murder.

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Interesting how they mix the prostitution scandal with her cases, rather than keep the two as seperate plotlines.