'Glee' to Get the Coveted Post Super Bowl Slot in 2011

[Brian Damage]

http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/the-b...-fox-5083.html

Glee will get post Super Bowl slot in 2011

[TMC]

http://www.avclub.com/article/ones-a...tvs-bes-214120

3. Glee, “The Sue Sylvester Shuffle” (Super Bowl XLV, 2011, 26.8 million viewers)

Glee earned a reputation for being goofy and inconsistent, when it was actually goofy, inconsistent, and elaborately plotted. The show’s heavy serialization put it in an awkward position when Fox executives chose it for the post-Super Bowl slot at the height of its popularity in its second season. Instead of going about stage business as usual, Glee‘s producers went as broad as possible in a bid to convert those slow on the remote-control draw into loyal Gleeks. The polarizing result demonstrates why the slot can be a blessing and a curse. It was Glee’s most ambitious production yet, culminating with an elaborate, zombie-themed halftime show at a high school football game. Fox spared no expense, reportedly spending as much as $5 million on the episode, more cash than goes into many drama pilots. But the same story choices that made “Shuffle” a good primer for newbies also made it alienating to existing fans, rehashing the “everybody hates glee club” plots the show had begun to grow out of. Though it proved polarizing, the episode took full advantage of its coveted position, especially in a meta-story featuring cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) lobbying to fire a student out of a cannon during a routine, potential decapitation be damned. It’s all about the spectacle, after all.

MVP: Katie Couric, appearing as herself to interview Sue after the cannon scheme, which gets her voted Loser Of The Year “behind Brett Favre’s cell phone, 9 percent unemployment, and Sparky Lohan, who is Dina Lohan’s dog and, apparently, also a loser.” [Joshua Alston]