Season 6 of FOX's musical dramedy Glee may have only premiered last Friday, but sadly the end is already in sight, thanks to the shortened episode order the network gave to the ratings-challenged show. You'd be forgiven if you don't know exactly how many episodes are left in Glee's final season — the number of episodes per season has been all over the place lately, complicated by the fact that the season had a two-hour premiere. So when exactly is it all coming to an end?
Seasons 1-4 had the normal-for-network 22 episodes each, but the show's fifth outing was cut to only 20 episodes mid-season. Whether that was due to production delays following the tragic death of star Cory Monteith or the program's precipitously declining viewership depends on whether you believe the network's publicists or common sense. After that shortened season, few were surprised when FOX announced that Glee Season 6 would only consist of 13 episodes.
So after the premiere, we should have 12 episodes left, right? Sadly, no. The two-hour season premiere wasn't one 120-minute episode — it was technically two separate episodes aired back-to-back, which means there are only 11 left. FOX will also air the season's final two episodes back-to-back on the same night, giving the show a two-hour finale. But since those are also technically two episodes, that means that Glee's 13-episode final season is actually condensed into 11 short weeks, with the series finale airing on Friday, Mar. 20.
(Excuse me while I go cry about how quickly those 11 Fridays are going to fly by.)
At least Glee fans don't have it quite as bad as Parks And Recreation fans. NBC also gave Season 7 of their beloved comedy a shortened 13-episode order... and they're airing episodes back-to-back every single week, which means the final season for Leslie Knope & Co. will be over in a mere seven weeks. Why are the networks taking our favorite shows away from us so fast, when all we want to do is savor every last drop? We should revolt.
Images: Eddy Chen/FOX; gifs4you, randomgifsarerandom/tumblr
