"The Substitute" includes a short "fantasy" moment. In it, Will sees the club members as kindergarten-aged children. Child actors were used to act out as the characters' younger selves. These included Jake Vaughn and Lauren Boles as young Finn and Rachel. The episode also includes the return of Gilsig. Gilsig had not been in several episodes of "Glee". Gilsig believed that Will's sickness let viewers see the couple in a positive relationship for the first time. She also thought that the addition of Holly "highlighted" a special bonding in their relationship. She said that while Terri is not "the most pleasant person", she is at least faithful to Will, while he has "a wandering eye" (has interest in another women) and treats Terri badly in "The Substitute". The main characters in this episode include glee club members Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr.) and Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet), Principal Figgins, school bully Dave Karofsky, cheerleader Becky Jackson (Lauren Potter), wrestler Lauren Zizes (Ashley Fink) and Kurt's friend Blaine Anderson.
"The Substitute" includes cover versions of six songs. Paltrow performs on four of these. She recorded them all in one day. The songs she recorded were "Conjunction Junction" from Schoolhouse Rock!, and a clean version of Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You!" entitled "Forget You". The producers of the series had wanted Paltrow to sing a Coldplay song. They chose to not do this. They wanted to use the song for a competition episode of "Glee". Morrison and Shum, Jr. sang a duet version of "Make 'Em Laugh" from the musical "Singin' in the Rain". Paltrow and Michele did a duet on "Nowadays / Hot Honey Rag" from the musical "Chicago". Morrison and Paltrow performed a mash-up of "Singin' in the Rain" with "Umbrella" by Rihanna featuring Jay-Z. The cast had to spend twelve hours filming for the mash-up in a tank of water.
All of the songs performed except "Conjunction Junction" were released as digital download singles. "Forget You" is featured on the soundtrack album "Glee: The Music, Volume 4" (2011). "Forget You" and "Singing in the Rain / Umbrella" charted both on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and internationally. "Forget You" peaked at number eleven in the US and number twelve in Canada. "Singing in the Rain / Umbrella" peaked at number ten in Ireland. Green's "Fuck You!" entered the top ten of the Hot 100 for the first time after the Glee cover. His sales increased 94% in a week.
When "The Substitute" was first broadcast on FOX, it was watched by 11.70 million US viewers. It had a 5.0/14 Neilsen rating/share in the 18-49 demographic group. This helped the episode to become the top-rated program of the night for adults aged 18–49. In the weekly rankings, the episode was the top scripted program for adults 18-49. Overall, it placed twentieth for the second season. Views and ratings were both better than the previous episode, "Never Been Kissed". It was watched by 10.99 million viewers and had a 4.6/13 rating/share. In Canada, viewership was also better than the last episode. It was watched by 2.29 million viewers and ranked ninth for the week. The last episode had 1.97 million viewers and ranked twelfth. In Australia, the episode was watched by 1.06 million viewers. This made "Glee" the seventh most-watched program of the night and nineteenth of the week. In the UK, the episode was watched by 2.55 million viewers-2.11 million on E4, and 439,000 on E4+1. It was the most-watched show on cable for that week.
The music performances got mixed feedback from music and television journalist. Anthony Benigno of the "Daily News" gave "Conjunction Junction" an "A". He had noticed the "ordinarily" (in a normal way) of the song. Benigno did not give a review for the song because of its short length. He only said "what a glorious ten seconds it is". Benigno and Poniewozik criticized "Forget You" for not having any profanity that was in the original recording. Poniewozik liked Paltrow's "deeper voice". He gave her cover a "A". Benigno liked the original version better. "Rolling Stone"s Erica Futterman believed the "clean version" of the song did not affect its success. She said that it was "charming and sassy". Megan Vick of "Billboard" called it "the most exciting number (song)" of the episode. Stack gave the song an "A+". He also said it was "one of the most memorable and energetic "Glee" performance(s) ever, thank in no small part to Paltrow". Green told MTV that we was "flattered" by the cover, mostly because he did not know Paltrow would perform it after he was allowed to be in the audience watching the episode filming. He called her performance "great". He also said that he did not know that she could sing.
Benigno and Stack gave a good review for the choreography of "Make 'Em Laugh". They gave it a "B" and "B+". These were lower grades than they gave "Forget You". Vick said that "Glee" covers songs from musicals to often introduce classic songs to viewers in a more modern way. He felt that "Make 'Em Laugh" did not do this. The "Chicago" cover did not get a positive review from many critics. Futterman, "The Wall Street Journal"s Raymund Flandez and "The Atlantic"s Patrick Burns all believed the choreography was "lacking". Kevin Fallon said that "Glee" should not be "overusing recreations". He said that they had done this in other episodes. These included "The Power of Madonna", "Britney/Brittany" and "The Rocky Horror Glee Show". Todd VanDerWerff of the "A.V. Club" said he did not like the performances. He said they were "outright plagiarism", not an homage (in respect)" to the original artist.
For the song "Singin' in the Rain/ Umbrella", Benigno and Futterman compared the songs as a better mash-up than the previous episode's mash-up. Benigno gave the cover a "B". He said that by using "Singin' in the Rain" as the chorus, the song lacked "catharsis". This was also seen by Flandez. He gave positive reviews on the costumes, props and staging, but had hoped that the cover had more "bite" and "attitude". Futterman said it was a "buoyant (cheerful) and catchy homage to the old and the new [that] perfectly captures "Glee"s musical spirit". Vick felt the song could not compare to the previous episode's mash-ups. She believed the staging was "implausible" (not believable). Stack wrote that he loved the mash-up. He gave it an "A-". Amy Reiter of the "Los Angeles Times" liked the choreography.
S Club 8
S Club 8 were a British pop group. They formed in 2001 in London as "S Club Juniors". They released their first single and album in 2002. They were renamed in 2003 and split in 2005.
Its members were: Jay Asforis (born 1989), Daisy Evans (born 1989), Calvin Goldspink (born 1989), Stacey McClean (born 1989), Aaron Renfree (born 1987), Hannah Richings (born 1990), Frankie Sandford (born 1989) and Rochelle Wiseman (born 1989).
Ian Brennan
Ian Brennan is a television writer, actor, and producer. Brennan is known mostly for creating the FOX television series, "Glee". He has written "all of the episodes" along with two other colleagues. Brennan's first written television series was "Growing" in 2006. He has also been in several theater performances since 1999.
He was nominated for two 2010 Writers Guild of America Awards for "Glee".
David Fincher
David Andrew Leo Fincher (born August 28, 1962) is an American movie director.
Fincher was born in Denver, Colorado. When he was two, he moved to San Anselmo, California. When he was in his teens, he moved to Ashland, Oregon.
He directed "Alien 3", "Seven", "The Game", "Fight Club", "Panic Room", "Zodiac", "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", "The Social Network" , "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Gone Girl". He won a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award for directing The Social Network. He also directed the first 2 episodes for the TV show "house of cards"
He has also directed music videos, including Love Is Strong by The Rolling Stones, which won a Grammy Award.
Sisyphus