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TV is the New Reading

POSTED:Sat, November 14, 2009 @ 4:40PM

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Bursting into song

This past week’s entry for “Glee” kept the tension building between Finn, Quinn and Puck, and between Quinn, Finn and Rachel (and of course there was Puck making an overwritten and not especially convincing pass at Rachel as well). It also threw open a huge window of insight on Sue’s character, and made her win-at-all-costs attitude a little bit easier to understand.

What’s been going on is that although married to her and sharing a bed, New Directions glee club adviser Will hasn’t yet figured out his wife, Teri, isn’t pregnant. Quinn still has feelings for Puck, the actual father of her real baby (who Teri plans to swipe as her own when it arrives) but is still shaking Finn down for prenatal care. Rachel helps Finn get a job but he has to pretend to be in a wheelchair to keep it.

Yes, the Glee clubbers all took a seat this week when it was determined that wheelchair-enabled, electric guitar-playing Artie would need a special bus to participate in sectionals and the school didn’t want to pay for it. Artie said it was OK, his dad could drive him, but Will saw that he was hurt.

So to build more solidarity with the rest of the team, Will picked up some wheelchairs at a nursing home and put together a routine to the song “Proud Mary.” (rollin’ rollin’ rollin’ down the river -- get it?) The team got used to the chairs pretty well and actually put together a not-terrible presentation, given that the actors all had to get themselves up and down ramps in clunky wheelchairs in time to a song and in the presentation of a dance number.

There was a lot of movement on that stage. There were also a lot of camera angles and quick cuts, which suggests a lot of takes and a lot of material ending up on the editing room floor. I suspect this episode -- it was called “Wheels” -- is probably going to be mined the most heavily for gag reel material and indeed may be worth the price of a DVD compilation on its own.

Adding a bit of depth and some character shading it was nice to see Kurt sacrificing the lead vocal in “Defying Gravity” to protect his dad from having to endure any more anonymous “Hey, your kid’s gay” phone calls than he’d absolutely have to. Also, when Sue opens the Cheerios to a girl with special needs, Will is worried that she’s just planning to torment this girl. In fact, Sue has a big sister with special needs and I can just see it now -- Sue as a child excelling at some school function or another but her parents having a handful with her older sister and not being able to come or not seeming to care too much. So with maybe not so much approval or pride or support from her parents, she’s always basically had to be there for herself, and despite being a winner, it’s also made her a harder, colder person than she might have been otherwise.

And I was saddened by both Artie and Tina. Artie had worked up the courage to approach fellow Glee-clubber Tina essentially because of her stutter, he saw her as damaged somehow like he was. When she revealed that she developed the stammer as a way to distance people from her, it had the effect of distancing Artie. But she could’ve closed that distance instantly. In that she didn’t, they’re both at fault. But then if everyone got their happily ever after, what would there be left to watch?

In the end, after Puck saved the day with his munchie-inducing cupcakes raising some $1,200. Artie decided to do the noble thing and get a ride with his dad and put the money toward wheelchair-accessible ramps. The show ended on a high note and I look forward to seeing where they go from here.

'The Prisoner'

In other news, lots going on heading through November sweeps into winter break, but a highlight for this weekend’s premiere of AMC’s reboot of “The Prisoner” starring Jim Caviezel as No. 6 and Ian McKellan as No. 2.

I saw the finale of the classic version last night on IFC and I’ve got to say WOW did that end badly. After 17 episodes of Patrick McGoohan wandering around a strange Village unable to escape, he has what looks like an acid trip in the backlot of “The Avengers” -- I wouldn’t have been remotely surprised were John Steed to have swooped in and rescued No. 6 with the hook of his umbrella.

There was shrieking, running about, bicycles left over from Benny Hill, sped up film, mask upon mask, I think hey-hey we’re the Monkees came running through at some point and two things: No. 6 chasing himself through a basement that became a rocket and flew away, and escaping from himself in a cage from a zoo mounted on wheels, singing “Dem Bones, Dem Bones” while being driven toward London by a little person, hopping into his tiny car and driving away, far away, possibly far enough away from ever again being associated with "The Prisoner."

I guess what I’m saying is that I find I can get enough of "weird for the sake of weird," and I do hope the AMC remake is an improvement.

The high-profile remake of “The Prisoner” as a six-episode miniseries premieres Sunday at 8/7c on AMC, and “Glee” airs at 9/8c Wednesdays on FOX.

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