This Week in Television - Mar. 7-11, 2011

Glee
I don't know if a lack of sex education is actually a problem in the U.S. or if they were just trying to point out how younger people are having more sex, but I think sex ed is supposed to be taught before anyone gets to high school. They taught us the basics of what sex is in elementary school, and then STDs, birth control, and genital anatomy in junior high. And anyway, word gets around so how could someone not know those things by the time they get to high school? Even Brittany would've moved on from the old stork story by then (does anyone even tell that to their kids anymore?). The thing about Brittany, though, is that she is supposed to be the Ralph Wiggum of Glee, regularly showcasing her severe naivete and lack of knowledge with stupid one-liners, but then whenever she talks about her feelings, like this week and the Britney Spears episode, she becomes fairly coherent and no longer sounds as dumb as a bag of misshapen rocks. While I understand that they probably want to develop the character beyond a few dumb lines, it doesn't feel consistent to me. I laughed during the "Afternoon Delight" number (mostly because of the pictures of desserts in the background), and when Mr. Schue referred to himself as "an expert at romance", because it was so cheesy and clearly designed to make the female viewers swoon.

V
LOL at Anna blissing Tyler. Now he literally is a tool! I hope they overthrow Anna though, just because I'd like to see what would happen, and it might make Anna more interesting if she had to fight her way back to the top. It would be funny if Diana was playing them and turned out to be even more evil than Anna. It's also funny how easy it is for someone to say "thousands/millions of people could die!" and then cut to Jack looking distressed because he's the priest.

Survivor: Redemption Island
I thought Russell would last a little longer at Redemption Island before going home, until I saw the promo for this episode where they said "Russell is at Redemption Island, and what happens will SHOCK you!" and then it was obvious. Every time they promise that something will be shocking, it makes it less shocking. Thanks for spoiling it, douchebags. "Loose cannon" is the perfect way to describe Phillip, though.

Fringe
As much as I enjoy seeing Jorge Garcia show up, the opening scene didn't really feel like Fringe (maybe it's just when Walter gets stoned, as the musical episode where he partakes in spliffs and special brownies also didn't feel like Fringe), but it served its purpose in pointing out Bell's office to Walter. Overall it was still a cool episode. At first I thought it was just going to be about gravity boots, but it turned out they were coming off onto the ground, not the ceiling. Never thought about fixing paraplegia by floating someone up and then weighing down their feet. Though I think they already did a "hurting people to find a cure" story. Or maybe that was something else I saw fairly recently, I can't remember anymore... Nina seemed less than thrilled about Walter going through Bell's things. I don't really trust her, she's seemed shady from the beginning and always seems to be withholding as much information as she can. Anna Torv trying to sound like Leonard Nemoy was funny, but I suppose it worked.

Hero of the Week: Most of the time this goes to someone from NBC's awesome Thursday comedies, but without them the pickings can be slim. I guess I'll say Miss Holliday (Gwyneth Paltrow) from Glee, because she would be a pretty cool teacher.

Douchebag of the Week: Dr. Krick (Alan Ruck) from Fringe. Probably should have at least asked his son what he wanted before spending all that time on a harmful cure.