Did anyone catch Tuesday night’s Glee?

Wait.  Sorry.  Stupid question.   Of course you did.

Let’s start again …

Hey, wasn’t Tuesday night’s episode of Glee kinda … well, preachy?  It dealt with religion, faith, Christianity and, uh, a grilled cheese Jesus.  I don’t like my Glee‘s to be deep or profound.  I need fluff … mindless fluff that involves teenagers singing.  The Britney Spears episode from the previous week was so fluffy it was practically a labradoodle … covered with marshmallow crème.

I loved it.

This week had “very special episode” written all over it.  (Warning:  spoilers ahead.) First, Kurt’s dad nearly kicks the bucket.  (Major medical catastrophes are sooooo VSE.)  Then, everyone starts getting all Kumbaya My Lord.  (Again, typical VSE material.)  The only thing we were missing in this show was miscellaneous drug use or inadvertent arson.

VSE’s take me back to my youth.  You could spot a VSE a million miles away, because there was always that pre-emptive parental advisory message.  I’d immediately check my moral compass to see what direction I was headed in, which was usually South.

When Natalie was poised to lose her virginity on a VSE “Facts Of Life”, I was like, “You go, hoe!”  And the fact she was dating a guy named “Snake” made it just that much more lurid.  (Funny thing, it was supposed to be Blair who lost her virginity … but actress Lisa Whelchel balked because of her Christian convictions.  What a prude!)

“Blossom” was a prime example of a show that relied far too heavily on VSEs.  Every other episode had some sort of overly dramatic, complicated problem.  Blossom’s uterus falls out.  Joey catches an STD … from his brother.  Blossom starts dating Helen Hunt.  And the list goes on and on.  After awhile, I could not have possibly cared less, unless Blossom joined a commune and started praying to the Bhagwan while raising happy peas with Lisa Whelchel.

VSE’s stopped in earnest in the mid-90’s.  Mainly because viewer’s had become desensitized to just about everything.  They would have had to behead Rachel on Friends or something for viewers to get back on board.

I fully predict some sort of backlash to Tuesday’s episode of Glee.  When the show is light and airy, it’s light and airy.  But when it tries to tackle some melodramatic-teen-angst-coming-of-youth-right-of-passage episode … watch out.  No good can come of that … just sayin’.