Fall back into Your Favorite TV Shows

Somehow in our crazy schedules, Pres girls find time to keep up with our favorite shows. Along with the beginning of the fall season comes the beginning of new seasons of our favorite TV shows: Gossip Girl, 90210, and Glee.

Thanks to the CW and Fox, we can once again follow the scandalous lives of Upper-East Siders, residents of Beverly Hills and New Directions members. What’s next for these seasons to come?

Gossip Girl

We last left the characters of Gossip Girl going into a summer bound to have plenty of surprises. Season Four brought an end to Chuck Bass (Ed Westick) and Blair Waldorf’s (Leighton Meester)’s back-and-forth relationship. Blair finally chose to let go of Chuck, her first love, who decided it was best to let Blair go if he wanted her to truly be happy.

Blair was engaged to Prince Louie (Hugo Becker), trying to fulfill her goal of having a happily ever after story. But before the scene ended, we saw a positive pregnancy test in her trash bin. Can this mean that Blair’s fairytale might be on the road to serious damage? And if she is pregnant, who is the real father? This coming season will bring the answers.

Meanwhile, Serena Van Der Woodsen (Blake Lively) headed across the country to LA to take on a summer job of assisting an A-List Hollywood director. Our gorgeous guys, Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford) and Chuck Bass, headed off for a wild trip around the globe.

Back in New York, Daniel Humphrey (Penn Badgley) had enough of Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szohr) and ended his friendship with his childhood friend, not knowing her plan of publishing a very private story he had written about his life and the lives of his socialite friends.

Season Five will bring a surprise visit to Serena in LA from Chuck and Nate, complications in planning a royal wedding and the consequences of a private story being released. You can also be sure that Serena’s cousin Charlie (Kaylee Defer) will be back to cause more problems in the lives of the Van Der Woodsen family. Starting Monday, September 26 at 8 pm, Gossip Girl returns to bring your favorite kind of drama back into your life.

90210

Season 3 of 90210 ended with the graduation of the close circle of friends from Beverly Hills High. Another celebration took place as Ivy (Gillian Zinser) and Raj Kher (Man

ish Dayal) decided to make the most of Raj’s time left to live (he has Leukemia) and got married. Their cultural wedding was thrown by Naomi Clark (AnnaLynne McCord), who found herself in quite the predicament when her boyfriend Max Miller (Manish Dayal) broke up with her, which caused her to have to break the news to him that she was pregnant. Whether you wished to believe this news or not, you’ll have to wait and see what this new season brings for Naomi and her future.

Annie Wilson (Shenae Grimes) and Liam Court (Matt Lanter) parted ways, as Liam took a fishing job rather than going off to college like Annie. Adrianna Tate-Duncan (Jessica Lowndes) found herself in an almost suicidal state after being rejected by her group of friends for pulling an unforgivable scheme to break up Silver (Jessica Stroup) and Navid Shirazi (Michael Steger)’s relationship.

Season 4 will kick off with the lives of these characters and their post-high school plans. Whether it’s heading off to college or starting their careers early, they will struggle to keep their friendships within the circle strong, as relationships will b

tested, and scandals are bound to arise. Don’t miss the season premiere, Tuesday, September 13 at 8 p.m.

Glee

The last time we left our favorite high school glee club, New Directions had taken a trip to New York to participate in Nationals. As they sang through Times Square, and faced the drama of coming up with new songs to sing at the competition, their teacher Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) faced the big decision of leaving his glee club to start a career on Broadway, or to continue teaching at McKinley High School and running New Directions.

Finn (Cory Monteith) took a chance and asked Rachel (Lea Michele) out again, but Rachel turned him down, realizing that she needed to put her dreams of a singing career first before the complications of a relationship with Finn. However, they did end up kissing in the middle of the final song they perform at Nationals.

Sadly, New Directions did not end up making the Final Top Ten at Nationals. Discouraged but happy for the friendships and relationships they made through Glee club, New Directions planned on trying at Nationals again next year.

New relationships formed, but will they last? Besides Finn and Rachel, there was a new secret romance stirring between Mercedes (Amber Riley) and Sam (Chord Overstreet). Will Brittany (Heather Morris) and Santana (Naya Rivera) ever get together? And now that Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Blaine (Darren Criss) have said the “L word,”what’s next for them? Watch the season premiere on Wednesday, September 21 at 8 pm.

The Glee Project is a show that has been looking for new characters to bring on to the show for the season to come. The winners include Damian McGinty, Samuel Larsen, Lindsay Pearce and Alex Newell, so be sure to look for them in their recurring roles as the season begins again.

So, yes, school has started, but don’t worry because soon your favorite shows will be right there recorded on your TV and waiting for you to finish that dreaded essay, hop on your comfy couch and let your mind slip away from all the stress of your own crazy lives to someone else’s.

Teen Shows Give LGBT Community a Fair Shake

Glee, Pretty Little Liars, Skins. What do these three shows, and many others, have in common? They all have “broken” the typical boy-girl romantic story lines and conflicts frequently seen on TV, introducing modern lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) relationships.

It seems that there have always been hilarious men on television shows who are obviously gay and it’s very common to see women having a “gay best friend” (GBF) to help them shop and talk about guys. Reality shows, especially fashion shows, such as What Not to Wear, Say Yes to the Dress, now off-air Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and others have promoted gays, but they didn’t stray far from the stereotypical gay male figure who loves to help women, and men, style themselves and their lifestyles.

Nowadays, however, gays on TV are breaking out of the GBF role with several dramas featuring more realistic characters who deal with confusing feelings and issues surrounding LGBT teens.

While Glee is perhaps not the best example of non-stereotypical gay characters given its song-and-dance focus, fan favorite Kurt Hummel has still managed to go beyond being the fabulous GBF.

Earlier this season, Kurt was constantly ridiculed and physically harmed by his classmates at McKinley High after openly announcing that he was gay. After transferring to their Dalton Academy, and joining McKinley’s rival glee club, The Warblers, Kurt fell head over heels for Blaine, the handsome lead singer. Recently on the show, Kurt and Blaine kissed for the first time. This was ground-breaking because never before has a real, intimate kiss been shown to viewers on a popular family television show. Especially since it was more meaningful thanthe typical peck on the mouth, it revealed the kind of acceptance that the American society should have for homosexuals and their relationships that are so similar to those of heterosexuals.

The relationship between Kurt and his dad, Burt Hummel, also represents a new, modern take on the struggle for teens to come out to their parents. It particularly shines light on what the ideal gay family should look like: accepting, helpful, and strong. Burt even went a step further by having the gay sex talk with his son, which has never been seen on network television.

Another popular show, Pretty Little Liars, brought something new to the air over the past year: a girl struggling with feelings of liking guys, liking girls, and trying to convince her mom, and herself, that it’s okay. In the first season, Emily Fields finds herself confused about who she’s attracted to. Having a boyfriend, but liking girl-next-door Maya, was almost too much to handle for a sixteen-year-old girl.

After breaking up with her boyfriend and taking another guy, Toby, to Homecoming, Emily realizes that her attraction to girls is much stronger than she thought. She finally opens up to her friends, parents, and school about being lesbian, and finds it all a relief except for one thing – her mom. Having accepted her sexuality but seeing her mom fight it so forcefully, is harder than the act of coming out was. After finally being comfortable with who she is and what she wants, Emily manages to help a new friend, Paige, with her own struggle to open up, in public, and especially her dad.

This portrayal of a girl fighting her lesbian and bisexual tendencies adds a fresh new perspective to network television. It provides future hopes of acceptance and diversity among homosexual and bisexual relationships that will continue to move audiences of all types. Breaking stereotypes has never been easy, but art and the media has proven to be one of the quickest and easiest ways to do so.

One of MTV’s most risqué shows, Skins, also dives into some of the challenges that lesbians and bisexuals face. Like Emily on Pretty Little Liars, Tea on Skins experiments with her feelings, and sexual tendencies, with another girl from school, Betty. They hook up at a dance club and have sex later at Tea’s place. This scene was definitely ground-breaking, showing them express what they were feeling and what they wanted.

Although Tea is an open lesbian, she doesn’t want a real lesbian relationship with Betty, as she also has some feelings for a guy from school, Tony. Along with her inner conflict, she also deals with keeping it from her parents, who don’t know that she’s a lesbian and urge her to go on a date with a family friend’s son.

As seen in both Pretty Little Liars and Skins, the idea of experimentation and fluid sexuality is becoming more prominent. It is refreshing to see more story lines on television with lesbians because the focus has been on the gay male relationship.

This increase of sexually diverse relationships on network TV has become almost the new “fad” among television shows aimed at teenagers. Our generation, being far more liberal than preceding ones, has been a major influence in changing views of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals in government policy and society in general. Acceptance of these “alternative lifestyles” will only expand with time and eventually, perhaps, they will not seem “alternative” at all.

Mariah Carey

Commonly known for her Christmas hit All I Want For Christmas is You, Mariah Carey released her second Christmas album called Merry Christmas II You on October 29 this year. Along with a new, more upbeat version of All I Want For Christmas is You, the album includes the traditional holiday songs Here Comes Santa Clause, O Come All Ye Faithful and Charlie Brown Christmas. There is no question that she is able to hit a note, but compared to her last album E=MC2, she sings with a much softer and more whispery tone. If you are a fan of her original style, you may not enjoy this album; however, there are some songs definitely worth listening too. She delivers a very energetic version of Auld Lang Syne and a snappy and upbeat version of Oh Santa! She makes both of them truly unique with her one of a kind voice. B+

Lady Antebellum

Following the release of their very successful album Need You Now, which also happens to be the title of their number one hit, in late January this year, Lady Antebellum came out with their Christmas CD, A Merry Little Christmas. Although they released a Christmas single, Baby It’s Cold Outside in 2008, this is their first full Christmas album. While this CD contains mostly traditional holiday songs like Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow! and Silver Bells, it also has some songs that not as traditional, such as Blue Christmas which was written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson. Elvis Presley’s performance of it in 1957 turned it into a rock and roll hit; now Lady Antebellum has now made it a country hit. It has a fun tune to it and it is always the song I listen to first. Lady Antebellum brilliantly delivers each song with their own twist, but still keeping it recognizable. I would recommend this CD to those who love country music and even those who do not.  A+

Now 4

Following the consistent release of a holiday themed collection, the Now albums have another member to add to the list. This year’s album is a perfect combination of modern holiday renditions and classic Christmas favorites. No matter what your type of music genre you prefer, there is a Christmas song in every style. With their wide variety of artists, one of your favorite singers is guaranteed to be there. Artists who recently came out with albums of their own and even those who have not been in the spotlight too much recently feature a song on the CD. Some of the performers include Rihanna, Colbie Caillat, Carrie Underwood, The Temptations, The Beach Boys, and yes, even Lady Gaga. Christina Aguilera displays the same strong and attention-grabbing vocals seen in her performance in Burlesque as she sings with in her version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Relive the 1970s push for peace with Maroon 5’s version of John Lennon’s Happy Christmas (War Is Over). With the great assortment and the artists’ talented and personalized versions of the songs, this will be everyone’s favorite CD during the holiday season.  A+

Glee

We have seen the cast of Glee perform almost every kind of song, so it seems inevitable that Glee would release their own Christmas CD. With a simply fabulous deliverance of each song, the Glee Cast unites each of their unique voices to make them sound genuine and truly fun to listen to. As you listen to each song, you can just picture the kind of scene that is going on, whether it is Rachel (Lea Michele) singing to Finn (Cory Monteith) or just the whole group singing together. In the group’s version of O Holy Night, you can clearly hear Michele’s strong and powerful voice hit all the right notes. The group also performs a unique version of You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch. Along with singing the song, they also include parts of the book, which gives it a clever and entertaining twist. If you enjoy the show, you will surely love this CD. Even if you do not particularly like the show, you may be surprised and enjoy listening to all Glee has to offer on their album.  A

Returning Fall TV Shows

Back to school blues still got you down? Take a study break instead with one of these exciting fall television shows. Whether you’re craving some comedy, romance, drama or just a mixture of everything, this season’s looking pretty promising.

Returning Shows:

Pretty Little Liars

Premiering its first show and season over the summer, Pretty Little Liars has gained popularity and viewers very quickly. Filled with suspicion, friendship and mysterious messages, Pretty Little Liars leaves its watchers on the edge of their seat. After finding out one of their best friends, Allison, was murdered, Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily constantly receive mysterious text messages from an anonymous stalker named A. There is a killer on the loose, and the girls and police are digging deep and finding clues that might hint at who it might be. The episodes were always thrilling to watch and I never knew what was going to happen next. Although many unexpected things took place in the season finale, neither A nor Allison’s killer was revealed. Pretty Little Liars has been compared to Gossip Girl but it definitely brings fresh plots and conflicts to the wide pool of television. Its fall season is coming soon and will air on Tuesdays.

Glee

Another popular show, Glee, did very well after its first two seasons last year and won an Emmy for “Outstanding Comedy Series” at the Emmy Awards 2010. With the leadership of Rachel (Lea Michele) and Finn (Cory Monteith), McKinley High’s “New Directions” glee club spends all of their free time rehearsing and trying to reach their goals of making it to regionals and sectionals. Glee episodes are filled with song, dance, humor and conflict, plus the hilarious sarcasm of cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester, played by Emmy-winning Jane Lynch. The season premiere will be on Sept. 21 and will air on Tuesdays.

Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl is returning again this fall for another season full of drama, hookups, and breakups. Serena, Blair, Nate, Chuck, Dan, Vanessa, and Jenny will be out on the prowl of New York City in search of love, popularity, connections, and a good time. The actual “Gossip Girl” is an anonymous blogger who receives scandalous “blasts” from the eyes and ears of alert New Yorkers and sends out mass text messages to every Upper East Sider just to stir up the social scene. Starting the season off by following Serena and Blair as they live the plush life in Paris, Gossip Girl will premiere on Sept. 13 and air episodes every Monday.

Bones

Bones also returns in late September with an exciting season at the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington, D.C. Forensic anthropologist Dr. Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and Special Agent Booth (David Boreanaz) work together to solve murders by examining the bone structures of bodies that come to them after being discovered dead. Their partnership and expertise in each of their fields helps them put criminals away. They’re accompanied by an eccentric–and ridiculously good looking–supporting crew of “squints,” as Booth calls them. Last season seemed to put an end to the budding romance between the two, and this season Booth’s new girlfriend (Katherine Wynnick) may–or may not–totally put the romance to rest. Catch Bones at its season premiere on Sept. 23.

Love Is In the Screen: Our Favorite TV Couples

We grow up believing that love is some sort of fairy tale (thank you, Disney movies) and the truth often comes as a nasty shock. While in real life things may not always work out for the better, we can always enjoy the ups, downs, and typically happy endings of our favorite couples on screen. In honor of Valentine’s Day, the Voice presents to you, in no particular order, five of our favorite current television couples.

Jim and Pam—The Office

Mr. Wang once told his honors chemistry class that Jim and Pam give him faith in humanity. While most people might not go quite that far, Jim and Pam have become the couple that everyone loves to love. We waited with bated breath while Jim tried his hardest to win Pam over and had to be resuscitated when; at long last, they finally realized that they belong together. Whether pulling pranks on Dwight or eloping from their own wedding, Jim and Pan give all of us, at the very least, something to look forward to every Thursday.

Will and Emma—Glee

Glee may center around the lives of high school students in a Glee club, but the one couple everyone seems to universally root for are the two sane adults: Will and Emma. From day one, you know that Emma is in love with Will. But only in the season finale does Will realize his love for Emma. Despite its newness, this not-quite-yet relationship has had its far share of obstacles, mainly caused by Will’s (hopefully soon to be ex-wife) Teri. But now that Teri is out of the picture, we can hope to see how an actual Will and Emma romance will play itself. What’s more lovable than a counselor with severe OCD and the Spanish teacher/Glee coach that can actually get her through it?

Booth and Bones—Bones

Booth and Bones are one of the only reasons many of us watch a show that deals with the examination and solving of incredibly brutal homicides. Though the show gives me nightmares, this couple is my favorite currently sharing the screen.  Both fear that their professional lives will be compromised should they admit how they actually feel about each other. But their incredible devotion to and faith in one another is unsurpassed by any other clear-cut couple on television. It’s worth getting past nightmares in order to keep up with them.

Lily and Marshall—How I Met Your Mother

By the time the show finally gets around to letting Ted meet his wife, the rest of the world will probably have stopped caring (if they haven’t already). But Lily and Marshall, the one stable couple on the show, are, as Barney Stinson might say, awesome. And High-five worthy. These two somehow managed to get married despite Lily’s unfulfilled desires to become an artist and Marshall’s often intense bromance with Ted. In a way, it doesn’t matter when Ted finally meets the mother, as long as we get to see more of Marshall and Lily along the way.

Chuck and Sarah—Chuck

Nerd likes Girl. Girl takes nerd on date. Girl turns out to spy for the CIA. A season or two later, and the nerd has managed to win the girl, lose her, and is currently trying to get her back. Sarah and Chuck’s relationship is both one of the best and most frustrating things about the show, leaving you rooting for Chuck as he tries in vain to deal with his feelings for Sarah but wondering at the same time if being in love and having emotion are a fatal flaws for a spy. Also, Chuck’s recent groveling is getting really depressing. Yes, Chuck, you love Sarah. We all have had more than enough declarations about it. Still, the nerd plus amazing girl formula is always amusingly lovable, especially when it involves spies. And Chuck.

“Glee” Takes the World By Storm

     During a time when every show on TV seems to focus on drugs, drama, and angst, it’s nice to have a TV show there that makes fun of it all. With the everyday stresses of homework, meetings, and tests, sometimes it’s more than just simply “nice” to get away from everything and take a break—it’s necessary. Thankfully for many students’ sanity, Fox’s new fall musical comedy Glee does just the trick.

     Although the pilot episode of the show was first broadcast in May of 2009, the season did not start airing on Fox until September 9, 2009. It gained a total of 9.5 million viewers for its first showing, a number which hardly decreased with the start of their first season. But with a show so rich in plot, characters, and heartwarming moments, Glee’s large audience is no surprise. Show creator Ryan Murphy stated that he picks all of the show’s songs himself, trying to keep a balance between the number of show tunes and pop songs to appeal to all audiences. His trick seems to be working so far: nine Glee songs are on the top one hundred of the iTunes playlist, including their iconic Journey cover song “Don’t Stop Believing.”

     The plot focuses largely on the trials and tribulations of the members of the Glee club at William McKinley High School in Ohio. Spanish teacher Mr. Schuester organizes his own Glee club in the hopes of restoring it to its former spot of honor. By the time the entire cast is organized together, 12 very diverse members make up the team. These members range from the quarterback of the football team, Finn, to the hated yet adorably ambitious, Rachel, to the head cheerleader of the Cheerios team, Quinn, giving the audience a slightly unrealistic, but nonetheless intriguing group to watch. Sue Sylvester, the highly eccentric and egotistical Cheerio club moderator, adds to the troubles of protagonist Schuester by doing everything in her power to stop the Glee club from functioning properly.

     At times, it appears that everyone and everything is out to get the lovable Mr. Schuester as the majority of his attempts to improve the conditions for the Glee club either go horribly wrong or end up causing someone, somewhere some form of trouble. It is these and other highly improbable situations that the characters tend to get into which have recently made critics unsure about a successful future for the show. But Murphy counters these critiques by reminding audiences that Glee is meant to be a fictional story that takes you out of the brutal realism of everyday life and instead immerses you into a relatively calming world filled with characters that one would actually want to meet in real life.

     Far from remaining stagnant throughout the show, each individual character shows his or her depth in each episode, revealing something new about their personalities. In fact, one of the defining characteristics of Glee is that while each character has the ability to put on a show-stopping number by themselves, they all work together seamlessly instead to create a truly cohesive show. The majority of the show’s female leads are given to Rachel Berry, played by Lea Michele, as she has one of the leading roles in the show, and true to her character, Rachel truly owns up to the challenge by appearing to be an obnoxious overachiever. Despite her status as a somewhat nerdy singer, though, Rachel does show that she has feelings outside of the realm of theater and musicals. In reality, some of the relationships between characters on the show stem from purely platonic backgrounds, while others stem from quite the opposite, creating a few disputes and several broken hearts for many of the show’s main characters.

     Without a doubt, Glee is of the most highly watched and loved shows this season, and with good reason also. If you haven’t already become a Gleek, it’s time to pull up a chair and start watching every Wednesday at 9 p.m. And that’s how Tanya sees it.