The Mind of Mr. M

Yeah, so tonight I gave into peer pressure and watched the TV show Glee. It was recommended by a couple people that said it was humorous and had great music. I had DVR'ed a few episodes but hadn't gotten around to watching it until tonight. The episode I watched opened with a young man and two girls dancing to Beyonce's Single Ladies, just for reference.

I have to say, the show is not for me. I will admit to sitting through the entire episode, actually in hopes that at some moment it would get better. It didn't. In forty-two minutes of television I witnessed a woman faking a pregnancy and getting advice from a friend that lying in a marriage was the only way to make it work. I watched a high school cheerleader tell her boyfriend she was pregnant with his baby, when in reality she had gotten drunk and given up her virtue to a friend from the football team. I listened to a woman ridicule and demean, homelessness. There were also several instances of glorified vindictiveness, blackmail and manipulation. All of this was couched in some popular music and dance moves as you can see in the top ten at iTunes.

My concern, is the popularity this show has among youth. I am not naive enough to think that kids don't go through a ton of garbage and run into awkward and trying circumstances at school, but creating a show that makes light of the decisions that they struggle with is not something I would consider a good idea.

Now, by no means am I a prude. I know what the world is like, believe me. What scares me and puts me off, is the presentation this show made of that material. They tried to make it funny and hide it in current pop-culture. If it was presented as obvious bad behavior, with some sort of moral at the end, maybe I wouldn't have felt so compelled to write this...but when my 14-year-old daughter comes home from school talking about it, having never seen it, I think I should be worried.

Anyway, I hope I don't offend anyone who is a fan of the show, but it has truly made me consider some of the other shows I watch too...I think I will have to consider other things with which I have been Gleefully Tempted.