Blog Posts by Rachel Stein

While we're still trying to figure out whether "Glee" was actually ever good to begin with, we're positive about one thing: It isn't now. At this rate, we highly doubt Ryan Murphy can turn around his once-at-least-entertaining high school singing show. Therefore, instead of getting viewers to start believin' again, we present a handy guide on how he and his writers can make the series even worse. Our apologies in advance if you see any of these pop up in Season 4.

Make Brittany Dumber
She already believes in leprechauns and thinks Santa is real, so it couldn't hurt to have an entire episode (or three!) devoted to her forgetting her own name and how to dance, only to make everyone feel like BULLIES when they point out that she could not possibly be this inept… while gratingly referring to her by her full name of Brittany S. Pierce, annoying initial and all.

More Sugar
You know that character who is supposed to be stuck up, annoying, and generally intolerable? The one who is given

Of all the cast members who could get a spinoff on "The Office," we're not surprised that Rainn Wilson snagged the first one. Dwight Schrute has frequently gotten on our nerves during Season 8, though, admittedly, it's hard to conceive of a great episode of the show without including a subplot about the outlandish beet farmer. Still, if the documentary crew filming the office dwellers were to choose a new path to follow, we'd prefer any of the following spinoffs to something Dwight-centric.

'Table for One'
Instead of getting just glimpses of his home life as a lonely divorced dad through exposition, we'd like an up-close look at sad sack Toby Flenderson when he's not with his daughter, Sasha. A few months back, Paul Lieberstein revealed that they'd written (and possibly shot) a story about Toby visiting the now-incarcerated Scranton Strangler in jail. Let's see that, for starters.

'Kelly's World'
Mindy Kaling is actually already creating and starring in a comedy pilot for Fox (and

The latter half of the seemingly never-ending second season of ABC Family's "Pretty Little Liars" finally came to a close last night in trademark dramatic fashion with the revelation of "A's" identity, followed by the revelation that there is at least one other "A" pulling the strings. Of course, no viewer can reasonably expect the central mystery to ever be truly resolved before the series concludes, so fortunately, there are plenty of twists, crazy character developments, and bad fashions to divert us along the way. Here's our look at the best of these winter episodes:

Flashback to Halloween
Frankly, everything about "The First Secret" was pretty great -- Fat Hanna! Smokin' hot Jenna! Two Lady Gagas! "A" stalking Ali long before the other girls! -- but the tense scenes in the abandoned house with the baby-doll, burlap-sack, costume-wearing, potential-Liars-murderer was our favorite. It was perfectly scary and a fun episode handed to us in the middle of a five-month hiatus.

After seeing the pilot episode of NBC's "Fashion Star," we cannot remember what expectations we had of it, other than we thought it sounded vaguely like a "Project Runway" rip-off. Don't get us wrong -- it kind of is one, but we think it missed the mark so badly that we've gone beyond the wannabe zone and straight into the disaster phase. Here's why it can't possibly stack up to the O.G. of fashion shows:

Concept
On 'Project Runway': 15 or so contestants compete with one another to design, execute, and style the best clothes under various restrictions in time, materials, and theme. Their designs are judged by a panel of experts, and one or more designers are eliminated each week.
On 'Fashion Star': Instead of a contest to make the "best" garments, the challenge is to make an arbitrarily decided three-piece collection that retail buyers from Macy's, H&M, and Saks Fifth Avenue think will sell the most to a mass market. There's also a slew of celebrity mentor/judges such as Jessica

It was initially disappointing to find out that "Teen Mom 2" would take away precious screen time from our beloved "Teen Mom," but as it turns out, after two solid seasons, the second installment of "Look How Depressing the Lives of the '16 and Pregnant' Girls Are Now" gives "Teen Mom" a run for its money in several ways. If, however, you have room for only one teen baby mama drama in your life, here's how the two stack up:

The One Who Is Constantly in Jail
First and foremost, it's no laughing matter that "Teen Mom" star Amber Portwood attempted suicide. In general, it's not fun to see her or "TM 2" star Jenelle Evans constantly ruin everything in their lives and end up in jail (or "jell," as they pronounce it). But while Jenelle mostly just loves smoking weed, Amber is a physically abusive partner to the man-child that is Gary -- though, if you look at their respective rap sheets, each dabbles in the other's trademarked behavior.
Winner: Strictly in terms of the televised

This week, the absolute worst people on reality television were the ones with the least self-awareness. It's one thing to take your show seriously, but quite another to play the victim when it's obviously just for the cameras. You know the following reality stars are bad when they all beat out Dr. Drew and the ladies of the "Teen Mom 2" reunion -- though something tells us that lovely bunch will make this list next week. We also considered including Bethenny Frankel for constantly complaining about how poor she used to be, only to reveal that back in those days she was renting a $2,600-per-month apartment, but we're still trying to process that one.

Gayle ("Jerseylicious")
Her showdown with Cathy Giove at the latter's party was absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary -- it almost reached "Real Housewives of New Jersey"-level trashy to start a big fight in the middle of a celebratory shindig while at the same trying to poach her enemies' potential stylists. Cathy was crazy and

This week, the absolute worst people on reality television were the ones with the least self-awareness. It's one thing to take your show seriously, but quite another to play the victim when it's obviously just for the cameras. You know the following reality stars are bad when they all beat out Dr. Drew and the ladies of the "Teen Mom 2" reunion -- though something tells us that lovely bunch will make this list next week. We also considered including Bethenny Frankel for constantly complaining about how poor she used to be, only to reveal that back in those days she was renting a $2,600-per-month apartment, but we're still trying to process that one.

Gayle ("Jerseylicious")
Her showdown with Cathy Giove at the latter's party was absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary -- it almost reached "Real Housewives of New Jersey"-level trashy to start a big fight in the middle of a celebratory shindig while at the same trying to poach her enemies' potential stylists. Cathy was crazy and

Like everyone else, we're counting the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until the big-screen version of "The Hunger Games" finally arrives in theaters. To keep our minds off the excruciating wait (and because there's only so much fanfic we can read), we've imagined what the Games would be like if the male and female teen tributes came from today's TV shows instead of a future dystopia's districts. Which character would survive? Here's who we'd like to see in the arena and how we think they'd do. May the odds be ever in their favor.

District "Parenthood"

Tributes: Drew Holt, Haddie Braverman

Special Skills: Drew is capable of powering through any visual monstrosity, thanks to that one time he had to see his mom in bed with her boyfriend. Haddie's got Ivy League brains to boot.

Sponsor Gifts: Amber could get her new boy toy to pull a few political strings for her brother and cousin. Sadly, Haddie's involvement doesn't actually help the team out in terms of gifts, due to her