Family TV Review: Glee

glee-poster-1 Show: ‘Glee’
FCC Rating: TV-14 (L, D)
Airtime: Tues., 9PM ET
Ok for Ages: 14+
Hot Spots: Lots of sex talk, suggestive behavior and some language

When ‘Glee’ premiered last year, I was excited for a lot of reasons. For one thing, I love musicals, and the early teasers of the cast singing Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believin” made me giddy. Yes, I thought, I HAD, in fact, stopped believin’, and maybe it was time for me to dig back to those days when I actually believed and start believin’ again.

Another reason I loved the thought of ‘Glee’ is that it seemed like a great show to watch with my kids. Here’s a show about high school kids who don’t fit in with the "popular" crowd. Kids who get Slushies thrown in their faces and tossed into dumpsters by football players. But they’re determined to follow their dreams anyway. The message? It’s OK if you’re not a cheerleader or a football player. It’s OK if you love Broadway show tunes. Be who you are and don’t shy away from it.

glee-1 Does ‘Glee’ deliver in these areas? Well, yes and no. While it’s a show about following your dreams and not fitting in, the first episode revealed that this wasn’t ‘High School Musical: The TV Show.’ We learned that Rachel got the previous glee club teacher, Sandy, fired for inappropriate touching.

When Will ran into Sandy at a store, Sandy revealed that he was thrilled to be out of the school, since he’s making more money re-selling medical marijuana to other teachers. He slips Will a sample, saying, "First one’s free." Then Will uses the sample to blackmail footballer Finn into joining glee club, telling him that that the pot was found in his locker.

Sex plays a major role in the overall storyline, too. Quinn, the president of the celibacy club, gets pregnant, then lies about who the father is. Even worse, Finn thinks he got her pregnant via his sperm floating around in a hot tub. We also learn Finn’s method for not achieving orgasm too quickly — dredge up a memory involving a car accident. Try watching that with your 12-year-old daughter!

And the list goes on. There are plenty of other shows that feature more adult themes on TV right now, but keep in mind that while ‘Glee’ is rated TV-14, L, D (which, according to the FCC, means it may be unsuitable for kids under 14 and also includes "intensely suggestive dialogue" [D] and "strong, course language" [L]), it airs at 9PM ET, meaning there’s probably a lot of kids 10 and older who are still awake and watching TV, at least for another hour or two. I wish the show aired at 10PM ET. That would give parents a little more leeway on whisking younger kids off to bed, then sitting down to watch ‘Glee’ themselves.

I’m not totally sure I agree with the TV-14 rating, but it definitely doesn’t fit into the next rating up, which is TV-MA (mature audience only). What do you think? At what age should kids be allowed to watch ‘Glee’?

Images: Fox


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