Preggers

"Preggers" is the fourth episode of the American television series Glee. The episode premiered on the Fox network on September 23, 2009, and was written and directed by executive producer Brad Falchuk. "Preggers" sees glee club member Kurt (Chris Colfer) join the football team and come out as gay to his father, Burt (Mike O'Malley). Cheerleader Quinn (Dianna Agron) discovers she is pregnant and tells her boyfriend Finn (Cory Monteith) the baby is his, when in fact the father is his best friend Puck (Mark Salling). Faculty members Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) and Sandy Ryerson (Stephen Tobolowsky) team up in an effort to bring down the glee club, luring away a disillusioned Rachel (Lea Michele), who quits when club director Will (Matthew Morrison) refuses to award her a solo song. This episode features the first appearance of O'Malley as Burt Hummel. "Preggers" features covers of two songs, and several dance performances of Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". A studio recording of Michele's cover of "Taking Chances" was released as a single, available for digital download and features on the album Glee: The Music, Volume 1. The scene in which Kurt comes out to his father was based on the personal experience of series creator Ryan Murphy. Murphy's intention was to move away from previous shows he has worked on in which gay characters have not been given happy endings, by allowing Kurt to succeed and be accepted. The episode was watched by 6.64 million United States viewers and received mixed reviews from critics. Shawna Malcom of the Los Angeles Times praised the show's fast pacing; however, The New York Times's Mike Hale felt that key characters were not given enough screen time. The football team's performance of "Single Ladies" and Kurt's coming out to his father were...