I haven't watched Glee yet but omg The Office. I almost peed myself watching the opener.

Okay, so long-time lurker, first time poster...in this thread anyway...but I just finished watching Glee, and while I loved it for the reasons I always love it (schmaltzy ridiculousness--and the Grinch scene cracked me up), was no one else bothered by Rachel and Puck's wholehearted embrace of Christmas? I mean, aside from two throwaway lines, they were all Jews for Jesus-esque.

Coffee: I love "Baby It's Cold Outside" and have always read the "something in this drink line" as the woman playing the expected role of "lady who would never admit she actually wants to stay." YBICOMV.

(Why are we spoiler-fonting this? Triggery?)

It was written for the songwriter's wife in the 40s and she considered it their song,

True, but Joan doesn't think that her husband did anything wrong on the floor of Don's office, either.

Pix, I was whitefonting as not to "ruin" it for anyone else, since a random blog comment made me look at the song differently, so I didn't want to spoil it for anyone else.

Pix, I wasn't bothered. I teach at a Modern Orthodox Jewish School in Manhattan, and even for my students, who are almost all completely kosher and sabbath observant and interact with very fews non-Jews in their normal life, Christmas is seductive. Many of them celebrate it to some extent, and even those that don't are clearly kind of open to the idea as a secular holiday - like me, they mostly think of it as an extension of Thanksgiving. If they were in a normal public school surrounded by Christmas celebrators, I'm sure the majority of them would participate to some extent, especially since at school it would tend to avoid any of the religious meanings. Like Rachel, they would probably eat Chinese food and see a movie on the day itself, but that itself has become a tradition for many of them, as strong in its own way as my Christmas traditions. And Rachel and Puck are certainly less religiously observant than my students.

I was so far behind in Glee I haven't been able to come in and squee over episodes in forever! I just have to say, I really like the way they're handling the bullying storyline. Not in that everyone is doing everything right, because they aren't, but in that they're showcasing it and making it a major plotline. If it even gets anyone thinking about how what is happening to Kurt is wrong, then it's effective. I don't expect television to give me easy answers and I don't expect it to be a training tool, I expect it to bring the issues forward and give me the opportunity to think and react to it. I've really appreciated the way it's gotten everyone in here to talk about the issue and I hope that's happening in a lot of households out there.

I find myself constantly skeeved by Schue, but still feeling sorry for him. Probably about the same way I feel about Don Draper in Mad Men. Something about those bad boys we think we can fix if we just fed them chicken soup, I guess. Good thing they're fictional characters!

Sooo happy to see Finn stand firm on breaking up with Rachel. She is so self-absorbed, I'm not sure even this major a clue-sticking will do any good.

Love the Artie/Brittany, they shouldn't work, but they do. They have the healthiest relationship of any on the show, even with Artie being so massively overprotective.

I ♥ Coach Beiste with a heart that grows three sizes too big every episode.

Sue continues to be the person I love to hate the most. She was perfect as the Grinch (and Becky as the Reindog was pure glee.) Her various diatribes against Schue's hair crack me up.

Now, I need to go hunt down the wedding episode, because for some reason my DVR didn't record that one and it sounds pretty pivotal to the bullying plotline.

I was so gleeful(heh) when Sue and Becky suited up but the actual song fell flat for me. I loved Baby It's Cold Outside even though I do usually fall into the "put on your coat and get out of there!" camp when I hear it . It is a little awkward getting Kurt into every episode now that he's at a different school but as he's my favorite character I'll deal and I'm used to the awkward way songs have been shoehorned in all along.

Re: The Office- I spaced who said upthread they missed the point of the episode. Did you see the very end, with Dwight talking about compassion? Besides that- how awesome was the TP deplyer?

Love the Artie/Brittany, they shouldn't work, but they do. They have the healthiest relationship of any on the show, even with Artie being so massively overprotective.

Emmett is shipping Artie and Brittany so hard. I must say it's a more interesting, more comic and more touching relationship than he had with Tina.

Now that I think about it, Brittany's had way more story time this year than Tina.

I think the whole point of BICO is that they are both pretending. Him, that he wants her to stay for her health, and her that she doesn't want to go. The subtext is that they both want the same thing, some action.

I think the whole point of BICO is that they are both pretending. Him, that he wants her to stay for her health, and her that she doesn't want to go. The subtext is that they both want the same thing, some action.

Yes! This is what I was trying to say, but Scrappy said it better.

Love the Artie/Brittany, they shouldn't work, but they do. They have the healthiest relationship of any on the show, even with Artie being so massively overprotective.

I ♥ Coach Beiste with a heart that grows three sizes too big every episode.

So much this!

Many of them celebrate it to some extent, and even those that don't are clearly kind of open to the idea as a secular holiday - like me, they mostly think of it as an extension of Thanksgiving.

I hear you, Gris. Christmas is a secular holiday in our household at this point, so I feel much the same way. I didn't mind the fact that R and P participated or even enjoyed it--I think it was mainly the fact that there wasn't even a mention of the fact until a good fifteen minutes into the episode--I just wanted some brief mention up front along the lines of "no, I don't celebrate Christmas but it's fun and the songs rock" from the Jewish students before they got all into saving Christmas and singing about how it's the most wonderful fay of the year. But eh, I'm probably overreacting.