Due to the absence of Will Schuester at McKinley High, this week's Glee practice was almost cancelled. Overlooking the fact that Will has been MIA for the better part of the year, Sam and Blaine saved the day so the New Directions wouldn't have a week off from regionals practice.

The assignment of the week? Everyone had to perform their "Guilty Pleasures."

When Blaine discovered that Sam was hiding his pretty awesome talent for macaroni art portraits, he was inspired to make this week's theme all about exposing hidden passions. Sam and Blaine went with one of the classic guilty pleasures acts and kicked things off with a little Wham! Can I get a couple of "jitterbugs?" 

Sam continued to express himself when he admitted that he's a hardcore Barry Manilow "fanilow." I've seriously not seen such a hardcore "fanilow" since Ethan Embry's character in Can't Hardly Wait. Remember the guy who was obsessed with Jennifer Love Hewitt's character and thought "Mandy" was a sign he should talk to her? Well, while I appreciate Trouty Mouth's willingness to put himself out there and throw on a ruffly mariachi jacket, there's already a classic performance of "Copacabana" out there in the TV universe.  

It belongs to Rachel Green in her Pepto Bismol bridesmaid dress in Season 2 of Friends.

The thing about all of these guilty pleasures is that they're not so guilty after all. Well, either that, or I'm too open about my embarrassing entertainment preferences. Either way, let's assess. Spice Girls?? Ummm... who didn't perform "Wannabe" during a childhood talent show. I was Baby Spice, there are photos.

Phil Collins? I'm pretty sure it wasn't embarrassing when one of his songs was chosen for the Risky Business soundtrack and played during one of the sexiest scenes of all time. 

Truth be told, the 80s was just an embarrassing decade. I'm sorry, but it's true. What was really embarrassing wasn't that Kitty loves all of the Bring It On movies, duh, but that Jake didn't realize Bobby Brown had a really sordid and awful past. Bobby Brown vs. Chris Brown, who do you think Jake should have been more embarrassed about?

Let's face it, it wouldn't be an episode of Glee without some political or moral agenda. However, I personally hate Chris Brown so I doth protest too much. I will, however, back up Jake's point that there are plenty of singers they perform in Glee club who are terrible role models. In addition, what kind of role model is "Bad Gal Riri" when she just ended up getting back together with the guy who beat the crap out of her?

Off in New York, Rachel was nursing her broken heart over her Gigolo boyfriend, Kurt was ordering boyfriend pillows on Ambien, and Santana...was just continuing to be awesome. Can we all agree that bringing Santana back was one of the best decisions Ryan Murphy has made in years?

Your boyfriend wasn't a cater waiter, he as a gigolo. Like Magic Mike with happy endings, for money. | permalink

So what's your guilty pleasure song? I'll let you guys in on a little secret about one of mine: Will and Finn weren't "sick" this week, they've just been trapped in my apartment doing repeat performances of NSync vs Backstreet since last week's phenomenal performance that was my own personal teenage dream.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, it's your turn. Hit the comments! 

NOTE: Glee is off until April 11. Check out the promo for its return now: