Ok, I can't believe I am finding it completely unbelievable that they would not cast NPH as Javert with Will as Valjean. But, seriously.

And, how is it possible for two unrelated people to look as related as Idina Menzel and Lea Michelle?

Sorry for the play by play, but I am really sorry the writers didn't reseach actual wheelchair dancing, so the end could have been Artie realizing his dream, just maybe not he exact one he imagined. Rather than Artie, resigned.

Sophia, yes.

I had a whole post with links, but my iPhone died and ate it, and I have a migraine and need to eat and do other stuff, so:

Here is the perspective of an actual wheelchair dancer on the "Wheels" ep: [link]

Here are the Feminists With Disabilities' posts tagged Glee: [link]

One reason I'm frustrated is that this show has proven it can do sensitivity and nuance in Kurt's story. I don't think it's a coincidence that the creator is a gay white male.

The only thing in that whole blog and set of comments that actually made me really think is the comment on the writing of Artie: he's constantly written as somebody who wants more than anything to walk/dance/etc, which, as one of the comments pointed out, just doesn't seem like the mindset of many of the long-term disabled I've met. I'm not sure how long ago Artie's injury was supposed to have happened, so maybe that's the point they're playing to, but it doesn't feel like he should be in the same place as, say, Jason Street in the first season of Friday Night Lights or Joan's older brother in Joan of Arcadia, but that's where they seem to write him much of the time.

Otherwise, that post seems a little silly. I mean, yes, I suppose they could have hired a professional wheelchair dance choreography, but I don't know why we'd want to push for even LESS realism in a Glee musical number. I doubt there are a lot of wheelchair choreographers in Lima, OH, honestly, and if they were amazing with the wheelchairs it would have felt pretty unbelievable. I guess the advantage would have been that it would have exposed more people to the possibilities of wheelchair dance, which certainly would be a good thing, but I don't think it's necessarily a reasonable expectation.

Artie could still eventually start to learn about wheelchair dance, and even become pretty amazing at it. This episode doesn't make that impossible. The kid's 16 and the show is a hit - he has plenty of time to be exposed to new things in the future.

(Note: I completely agree that I wish they had simply cast a disabled actor as Artie, but you have to assume that they had already planned fantasy sequences like the one in this episode, plus "Dancing With Myself". That may be bad writing, but if the bad writing was always planned, then they didn't really have a choice in that casting decision.)

Looking at the Futon Critics schedule grid for next fall: Glee is on Tuesdays AND Wednesdays? I'm confused.

Fall 2010 schedule grid

he's constantly written as somebody who wants more than anything to walk/dance/etc, which, as one of the comments pointed out, just doesn't seem like the mindset of many of the long-term disabled I've met.

true, but it does seem like the mentality of a teenaged boy.

I mean, yes, I suppose they could have hired a professional wheelchair dance choreography, but I don't know why we'd want to push for even LESS realism in a Glee musical number.

But since the musical numbers are already unrealistic, in terms of the production quality (including the choreography and dancing) being much better than you'd expect from a high school show choir, it seems weird to insist on realism just for the wheelchair numbers.

Artie could still eventually start to learn about wheelchair dance, and even become pretty amazing at it.

I honestly thought that might be where they were going with this, and while I cringed at Tina and her "here's how we fix you!" books, I was expecting them to push back on that, not to go the direction they did.

he's constantly written as somebody who wants more than anything to walk/dance/etc, which, as one of the comments pointed out, just doesn't seem like the mindset of many of the long-term disabled I've met.

true, but it does seem like the mentality of a teenaged boy.

Yes, and they did that storyline in last week's Very Special EEpisode.

That link is taking me to facebook, sumi.