Thoughts on..."Britney/Brittany"

So, clearly the "Week in TV" post for September 26 to October 2 never quite materialized. By the time I had time to think about it, it was Thursday, and I realized that many of the points could carry over to this week. I watched the pilots for both No Ordinary Family and Law and Order: LA, and thought both were solid, but feel no burning desire to continue on with either one. And I was curious to see where both Lone Star and My Generation were going, but as much as I liked/was intrigued by both, it's hard to mourn a show of which one has only seen two episodes. Lone Star could've been great, and for that matter, My Generation could've executed some major course-correction, but we'll never know for sure. Such is Fall TV.

Upon reflection, I realized that the only show I really had extended thoughts on for that week was Glee. (Hopefully, Lane's girlfriend on Mad Men wasn't a one-off and we can get back to her later.) I didn't really land on the "love" or "hate" sides of the Britney episode. There were pros and cons.

- While the whole device of characters hallucinating under the influence at the dentist was a little...implausible...I kind of liked that the show switched up the structure a little bit in terms of the way the songs were incorporated into the show. Usually Glee operates as a kind of hybrid between a backstage musical and a book musical, so it was interesting to see them try more of a revue. Songs presented largely independent of plot is where musical theater started, and I think Glee's loosely-structured enough to sustain episodes like this one every once in a while. Honestly, I'd love to see them tackle a week of performances with no plot at all, sort of Ziegfeld-Follies-style.

- I understand the impulse to draw upon the iconic video imagery in Britney Spears' catalogue, but I'd have loved to see some different song choices, maybe some non-singles. Rachel and Finn's storyline was begging for one of Britney's classic "I'm my own woman now and you can't tell me what to do" songs; my personal favorite is the underrated Oops!...I Did it Again track "What U See (Is What U Get)".

- There have been little odds and ends in Glee that are reminiscent of Ryan Murphy's prior high school show Popular, but none so much as Jacob Ben Israel, who's essentially the second coming of Popular's April Tuna. Murphy seems to have this affection for characters too strange to be real; in this episode, it worked for the increased focus on Brittany, but Jacob's off-putting manner was stretched a little too far beyond the limits of where the show can contain him. It's difficult to criticize any part of Glee for being excessive, but I feel comfortable in saying that the yelling during "Toxic" was too much.

- There has to be some occasion in the future where they have a dance-off between Heather Morris and Harry Shum, right? I mean, come on: