TV Eye

Glee

I'm not going to lie. I'm not a big Glee fan. (Pause for horrified gasp.) The only character I really like is Jane Lynch's maniacal Sue Sylvester. Oh, and that high-pitched gay boy. I love him, too. But neither of them are on nearly enough to suit me. But I know a good time and a good cause when I hear one, so listen up, Gleeks. (Gleeks are Glee geeks. Get it?)

After a long, protracted wait (the show has been on hiatus since December), the second season of Glee returns on Fox April 13 (right after American Idol). But you can get a sneak peek of the first episode at a special screening at the Alamo Drafthouse South on April 8. Austin is one of nine cities on the prescreening tour hosted by Fox and Twentieth Century Fox Television. It's not free, but the admission cost will benefit the Grammy Foundation's Grammy in the Schools music education programs.

Now, back in the day, we had full music and arts programs in the schools. Not so much so today, especially in poor or rural school districts. The Grammy in the Schools programs help bridge the gap by bringing professional musicians into schools and offering music camps for students to attend outside of school and an assortment of other activities. Locally, I once participated in a daylong event where high school kids learned about various aspects of the music business, including music journalism (in which I've dabbled once in a great while for this very newspaper). In short: The cause is good, the need is great, and your participation is most welcome.

Admission is $15 per person, and it gets you in the door and in possession of some takeaway swag (a mini Glee poster, I'm told). No word on whether any special guests will be in attendance, but you never know. Tickets are on sale exclusively at www.ticketsforcharity.com (not at the Alamo Drafthouse website).

The special sneak peek of Glee benefiting the Grammy in the Schools programs will be Thursday, April 8, at 7:30pm at the Alamo Drafthouse South, 1120 S. Lamar.

If you miss the special sneak peek, Glee returns Tuesday, April 13, at 8:30pm on Fox.

For Sue Sylvester fans: Check out the hilarious clips of Sue speaking her mind in "Sue's Corner" (I watched them on www.fancast.com). Personal fave? When Sue shares her annoyance with "Sneaky Gays." It's a knee-slapper.

More Music-Related News

Well, kinda: Voting is now open for the 2010 MTV Movie Awards this year. Log on to www.movieawards.mtv.com to cast votes in 13 categories, including Best Kiss, Best Fight, and Best Villain. Two new categories have been added to the tongue-in-cheek awards show this year, including Best Ass Kicking Star and Best Scared-as-S**t Performance. Last year's new categories, Best WTF Moment and Global Superstar, are returning this year, with the global award open to a worldwide vote.

Voting for category nominees is open from now until April 9. Voting for a winner in each category starts May 11 and ends June 5, the day before the awards show. Best Movie online voting will stay open throughout the live show as the other Golden Popcorns are awarded. The 2010 MTV Movie Awards will air June 6 on MTV.

Thumb for the Road

Although the long-running At the Movies was canceled last week, Roger Ebert and his wife, Chaz Ebert, are planning a brand-new movie review show for television that will embrace new media as well as old, according to Ebert, writing in his blog at the Chicago Sun-Times site.

"I can't prove it, but I have the feeling that more different people are seeing more different movies than ever before," Ebert writes. "With the explosion of DVD, Netflix, Red Box, and many forms of Video on Demand, virtually all movies are easily available to virtually all North American moviegoers. This has created a huge potential audience. ... The disintegration of the old model creates an opening for us. I'm more excited than I would be if we were trying to do the same old same old."

The host or hosts of the new series are yet to be named, but according to Ebert's post, auditions were held in Los Angeles three weeks ago and we "know who we will use."

As always, stay tuned.