After last year's glut of teen shows, it's nice to see grown-ups regain a little power, even though they spend most of their time lamenting how powerless they are. Jessalyn Gilsig stands out as the stoic but dedicated Social Studies head, Chi McBride makes a pragmatic principal and Joey Slotnick brings humanity to the tortured teacher everyone lives to ridicule. Though Sorkin has yet to make her a regular on the Wednesday night Emmy-winning program, it's only a matter of time. She adds another layer of dimension to the already-outstanding program by breaking the tension in a scene with a simple request or by letting others have it when she is upset. While they don't have the sophistication of the Waltons or the patience of the Bradys, the Wilkerson's have the stuff reality is made of life, embarrassments and all.
Life is like that.
In a genre that portrays most high school girls as sex kittens, Grossman is quite the cat woman - with the cackle of a comic book villain and the furs of an endangered species. The twenty-something actress auditioned for the part of queen bitch Nicole, only to woo creator Ryan Murphy into writing a character just for her. But Grossman has taken the part beyond the Christian Southern belle who first showed up at cheerleading tryouts into a full-blown diva with family issues and a mind as scheming as it is irrational. It's an obvious choice, but no show did more this season to change the landscape of television. The timing was perfect for the show.