There is nothing a TVophile loves more than the start of the fall season, and I am there, baby!

I am that dork who puts show premieres on my calendar so I don't miss anything by allowing my ADD to let me forget when a show is set to start. For shows that are already in our DVR playlist and which don't have any dramatic shifts in time slot, we are good to go, but the new shows are sometimes tricky to keep track of.

This week, Entertainment Weekly came out with their Fall TV preview issue:



There is so much awesomeness on that cover, I didn't know where to begin. Actually, that's a lie. I began with Once Upon a Time, which is easily my favorite television drama right now. Thank you, ABC, for the mini-marathon last weekend!

Once was very closely followed by The Big Bang Theory (my favorite comedy), then The New Girl (my favorite theme song), the The Mindy Project (one of my most anticipated new shows).

What will the Pop Culture Household (or at least two of us) be watching this year?

Returning Shows

Sundays:
Once Upon a Time (Sept. 30, ABC)
Family Guy (Sept. 30, Fox)
Dexter (Sept. 30, Showtime)

Mondays:
Bones (Sept. 17, Fox)
How I Met Your Mother (Sept. 24, CBS)
2 Broke Girls (Sept. 24, CBS)
Mike & Molly (Sept. 24, CBS)
Castle (Sept. 24, ABC)

Tuesdays
Private Practice (Sept. 25, ABC)
Happy Endings (Oct. 23, ABC)
Don't Trust the B— in Apt. 23 (Oct. 23, ABC)
Raising Hope (Oct. 2, Fox)
The New Girl (Sept. 25, Fox)

Wednesdays
Modern Family (Sep. 26, ABC)
Law & Order: SVU (Sept. 26, NBC)
Suburgatory (Oct. 17, ABC)
American Horror Story (Oct. 17, FX)

Thursdays
Glee (Sept. 13, Fox)
Up All Night (Sept. 20, NBC)
Parks and Recreation (Sept. 20, NBC)
The Office (Sept. 20, NBC)
The Big Bang Theory (Sept. 27, CBS)
30 Rock (Oct. 4, NBC)

Fridays
Whitney (Oct. 19, NBC)
Community (Oct. 19, NBC)

Saturdays
Saturday Night Live (Sept. 15, NBC) — the first host will be Seth MacFarlane with musical guest Frank Ocean. Yes, please.


New Shows (We will watch these until they suck or get cancelled):*

*indicates I have already watched the pilot on U-verse OnDemand—thank you Big Four networks for making that happen (well, some of you, anyway)!

Sundays:
666 Park Avenue (Sept. 30, ABC)
Call the Midwife (Sept. 30, PBS) — you had me at the title

Mondays
Revolution (Sept. 17, NBC) — blatant Hunger Games ripoff, and I don't care
Partners (Sept. 24, CBS)

Tuesdays
*Go On (Sept. 11, NBC)
*The New Normal (Sept. 11, NBC)
*Ben and Kate (Sept. 25, Fox)
*The Mindy Project (Sept. 25, Fox)

Wednesdays
Guys With Kids (Sept. 26, NBC)
*Animal Practice (Sept. 26, NBC)
Nashville (Oct. 10, ABC)— I'm a sucker for Hayden Panettierre's one-note acting
The Neighbors (Sept. 26, ABC)

Thursdays
Elementary (Sept. 27, CBS) — Sherlock Holmes and Lucy Lu? Yes!

Fridays
Made in New Jersey (Sept. 28, CBS)

So, yes, if it is not totally obvious, I watch a lot of television. A lot. This doesn't even count the shows I love on alternative cable networks, like Psych on USA, which has its own weird season. Now, I just need to go clear the DVR of old Bubble Guppies, Peppa Pig, and Sesame Street episodes [Season 43 premieres Sept. 24, BTW], so we have room for all the grown-up shows!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Okay, I suppose this isn't really about parenting, except to the extent that I'm feeling like a protective mama over one of my favorite shows; but after reading what feels like the 12,000th criticism and being asked by a pal if I agree with one of the more scathing ones, I felt I should weigh-in.

I'm probably going to get lengthy here [what?? Me, long-winded? No way!], so for those of you who don't want to wallow through it all, here's my short answer: I loved it, every bleeping minute of it! I thought it was better than the much beloved Madonna episode, and in fact may be -- gasp -- one of the best episodes to date.

Anyone who knows me or has read this blog, my former WTE blog or any of my tweets knows I love Glee. You may be wondering (or not), though, if I'm just biased toward this episode because of some Britney love. Maybe. You be the judge.

Britney and I have a checkered past. When she emerged, I was 22 years old and in my second year or law school. Hated her voice, hated her look, hated her hype, hated everything about her. I was six years older and in grad school (compared to her high school), and I didn't appreciate the immaturity of all the Britney hype. And I certainly didn't appreciate my then-boyfriend (also 22) and our other buddies from school drooling over her. It was creepy, like on the verge of pedophilia. And she wasn't that cute (still isn't).

Oddly enough, I was Team Christina. Even though they are the same age, Christina had this maturity about her. Her voice was certainly a million times better. Heck, I still get chills when I hear her hit high notes. Also, this was way before Christina entered her skank phase, and she was sort of an underdog. Pre-plastic surgery, no grown men I knew were drooling over this particular former Mousekateer. I wasn't really buying the rest of the teen pop sensations of the late-90s/early-00s either. I had no love of N'Sync (ironic given how much I love JT now) or the Backstreet Boys. Don't get me wrong, I love pop. I just wasn't loving that particular sub-genre.

Enter the Law Revue and Cabaret show.

After the popularity of the Spring show's Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls numbers [the latter was written by my roommate and I. We both liked the Spice Girls, and they get a pass, seeing as they are our age], there was a call for more pop tart numbers. So, I begrudgingly downloaded one of my least favorite songs and proceeded to write a parody to the tune of "Hit Me Baby, One More Time." Somewhere between the weeks of dance rehearsals learning Brit's moves and singing the parody over and over, I actually started to like the song. Still hated Britney, though, and I was not about to jump on the bandwagon.

Fast forward a few years, and Britney became a trainwreck. Now I was intrigued. Honestly, I think I was more interested in the cleanup than I was the wreckage itself. You can't help but root for a mom to get things together for the sake of her kids.

To make an already long story short, I discovered "Toxic," and it became the gateway drug into what is almost Britney fandom. I now own her last few albums and a few earlier singles, but I'm not jaded or tone-deaf enough to attempt to argue that she's a good singer. Heck, I won't even say she's a good dancer (she does have good choreography, though).

So, yes, I am a Britney Spears fan(ish). Is that enough to make me biased about "Brittany/Britney"? I don't know. All I know is that was the best episode of Glee -- EVER. Here's my argument:

THE GOOD:

1. It's (More) Brittany, Bitch.
Brittany S. Pierce [did we ever know her last name before?? Brilliant!] is one of the best characters on television. I can't call her "underrated," because I think most people are starting to catch on. She delivers classic one-liners with such quietness and earnestness ["Did you know dolphins are really just gay sharks?... Yeah, it's true."]. And, oh, what lines! Just from that one episode, could you pick a favorite from these? I couldn't.

- (in response to the question of whether anyone knows who Christopher Cross is) "He discovered America."

- (after admitting to rinsing her teeth with soda instead of brushing) "I was pretty sure Dr. Pepper was a dentist."

- (at the dentist office) "This room looks like the one on that spaceship where I got probed."

- "Please don't pull all of my teeth. When I smile, I look like a baby... but with boobs."

- "I would just like to say that from now on, I demand to have every solo in glee club. When I had my teeth cleaned, I had the most amazing Britney Spears fantasy. I sang and danced better than her. Now I realize what a powerful woman that I am.... I'm more talented than all of you. I see that clearly now. It's Brittany... bitch."

I can't believe this character almost didn't exist!! [Fun fact I learned from my friend... Brittney]

In addition to finally getting that Brittany fix that was so desperately needed, we finally got to see Heather Morris, the actress who plays Brittany S. Pierce, show off her amazing dance skills. Related to my fun fact above, Heather Morris was a former backup dancer for Beyoncé. She was brought in to teach the cast the "Single Ladies" dance. They liked her, so they created a character.

It is hard to watch the "Slave 4 U" number on "Brittany/Britney" without being absolutely blown away by Heather Morris. She is phenomenal! She's a million times better than the original Britney. And that body! I vote for more Brittany singing and dancing numbers!

2. John Stamos

Oh, Uncle Jesse... I hadn't even realized I had missed you until you popped back intro my life!

I've read several reviews saying that Stamos looks as good as he did on Full House. Are you kidding me? He looks better! For one, there's no mullet. But this man has just aged gracefully. Wowza! I have to agree with Santana that I have never seen a dentist that hot.

Beyond the eye candy that is John Stamos, I was just glad to see Emma Pillsbury moving on. Will Shue needs some time to get over his plethora of issues, and in the meantime she needs a better romantic prospect than the equivalent of another Ken Tenaka.

3. Moving out of the Auditorium

Even though I've read a lot of complaints about the dream sequences feeling inorganic, I loved it. I mean, was that really any more inorganic than randomly breaking into song, having a guitarist and pianist appear who know exactly what you want to sing, and your backup singers automatically knowing their harmonies and dance steps -- all without any practice? Of course not. In fact, a dream sequence is probably more realistic. I get that with musicals, you check reality at the door. That's part of the reason why I love them. But if you're going to willingly suspend reality for what takes place within the school, then you should be able to suspend it for the sake of a dream.

One of the reasons I enjoyed this detour into dreamland is that it allowed so much more creativity and sparkle than your traditional auditorium vocals. I mean, would that boa constrictor have had any proper place at McKinley High?

4. It's (the Real) Britney, Bitch

Another thing some critics have panned, which I absolutely adored was seeing the real Britney pop up for a few seconds in some of the fantasies.

Madonna and Lady Gaga take note: When a television show offers to do an entire episode devoted to you, the very least you could do is shoot a few promos for it. Britney not only did that, she made an appearance on the show and live tweeted about it. That is southern hospitality, ladies and gentlemen.

I thought her random appearances were cute. Who cares if it doesn't further her career (another complaint I read)? Kudos to you, Ms. Spears!

5. The Songs

Last, but certainly not least, I loved the songs. Sure, there were a couple different songs I would rather see performed, but overall, it was pretty solid. I only have one song complaint, which I'll detail below.

Generally, though, I have to say that minus the one blip, I think the song/character choices were perfect. I loved the recreation of the videos, and I couldn't wait to download all of the songs as soon as the episode was over. I even loved the one non-Britney song (Paramore's "Only Exception"), and I don't even like the original artist.

THE BAD

1. Missing Glee Club Members
Um... Where was Puck?? Where?? You cannot have a Puckless episode!

And the new guy who joined the club last week? They showed him in the locker room, but he was nowhere to be found during glee club practice.

And how did Quinn not utter a single line until that horrible scene with Finn at the end [more on that monstrosity later]?

Glaring omissions all around.

2. "Hit Me Baby, One More Time"Love the song (now). Love Lea Michelle. I was not, however, loving the two of these together. Sorry, it's just not her genre. I get that the whole point was supposed to be Rachel stepping out of her comfort zone, but did she really have to step into a zone that actually makes her vocals sound bad? I can think of other Britney songs Lea Michelle could have easily rocked while still getting the whole Rachel-wants-to-be-bad message across ("Boys," anyone?). This just wasn't the right song. Sorry.

3. The Britney Spears Sex RiotUsually, I love Sue Sylvester, but this whole thing was just weird and random.


THE UGLYThere was only one ugly of "Brittany/Britney," and that was the whole Rachel/Finn drama. I mean, seriously. The whole thing felt entirely forced. Rachel, who craves popularity more than anything and started her relationship while Finn was the star quarterback (and reveled in the status, as I recall) is now suddenly threatened by it? Hardly likely.
And sending Finn's recent ex-gf, with whom he thought for months he was having a baby, to "test" him? Sorry, that's too clueless and cruel even for a gal who sent a rival to "an inactive" crack house in the prior episode. And there is no way Quinn would have ever willingly agreed to that. What's her motive?
I get that there are studies that happy relationships kill shows [I don't agree with them, but whatever], but there is enough drama going on that Ryan Murphy and crew do not need to throw up character-inconsistent road blocks. I can easily think of fifteen different -- and consistent with the storyline -- ways that those two could fight/breakup. The first: Rachel is Rachel. End of story.
=-=-=Overall, the good of this episode outweighed the bad and the ugly. It was a great hour-long escape from reality and a welcome departure from the usual Glee format.
Do I want to see more artist-devoted episodes? Not sure. I've enjoyed the three that have been done so far, but there's got to be a limit. While I would love a Timberlake-heavy episode -- assuming, of course it's done correctly -- could I really stomach, say, a Jonas Brothers or Miley Cyrus episode? Goodness no. I'd rather have my eyes gouged out.
In any event, I don't think "Brittany/Britney" deserved all the flack it received. This was easily one of the better, if not the best, episodes. And when you look at the horrible "Grilled Cheesus" episode that followed it [Puck solo aside], it truly could have been worse.
On another note, I want to thank those of you who patiently waited for this repost. Last week, a friend mentioned that she was anxiously waiting to read the defense of "Brittany/Britney," and my response was "Me, too."
As most of you with young children have probably experienced, sometimes the only way to get in your "leisure time" (what blogging is for me) is to keep it confined to the palm of your hand. Most of my posts are written on my trusty smartphone, little bits here and there. So imagine my disappointment when my blogging app deleted all but the first three paragraphs of this original post. I've tried to recapture my instantaneous impressions of the episode the best I could [Would you believe the original post was even longer than this??]. I'll admit, though, that it was a little difficult doing so when I felt "defeated" by the whole loss of text. So, again, I thank you all for you patience while I got over myself. :)

Quinn goes into labor while the rival choir, Vocal Adrenaline, is performing. The song they are performing is Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Let me tell you, I’m getting chills right now just thinking about that scene. That’s how spectacular it was. And that’s how last night I decided that time during birth, I’m playing “Bohemian Rhapsody" in the labor room.
I really can’t even describe with justice how the scene went. “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a powerful song to begin with. But when you add to that amazing scene, Jonathan Groff’s amazing vocals and the story panning back and forth between the hospital and the stage… It was probably one of the most amazing, emotionally draining moments in television in quite some time. There were moments when the things Quinn shouted during birth overlapped with the lyrics of the song, and it wasn’t forced, it was amazing. Again, I don’t even know how to begin to describe it. You just have to see it for yourself.

It would be nice for the next time I give birth for it to be more peaceful than the last. My birthing plan was completely blown out of the water with my daughter. Of course, most birthing plans usually are, but it would have been nice if one of the things that had stuck was having music play during birth (and all of the labor, really). My husband and I had packed the iPod. I had even purchased new speakers that ran on batteries, so we could keep it charged and loud. The darn thing never made it out of the bag. Not next time, though!

Of course, I realize that even though “Bohemian Rhapsody” is probably one of the longest songs in history, it’s still not a long enough song for most non-fictional women to completely push out a baby in the 5 minutes and 55 seconds the song plays (yes, I looked it up). I was pushing for nearly an hour with Cait. I know women who’ve pushed everywhere between a few minutes and three hours. But I harbor no illusions that my next time will be that much easier than the last. I will need lots of songs playing during birth [and probably half of them will be from Glee or Wicked]. But I would love if we could arrange for “Bohemian Rhapsody” to be the last (especially if it’s the Jonathan Groff version I downloaded tonight), that would be awesome.

It's no secret that I'm a Gleek (a huge fan of Glee). Although I thoroughly enjoyed last week's episode (Chaka Khan, Weezer, Marky Mark, and The Parliament all in one episode?? Swoon!), I have to say that the dancing while pregnant number (well, numberS) led by the teenage single mom was (were) just weird. Weird.

The theme last week was "funk." Mr. Shue informed the New Directions kids that they were going to have to dig deep into their souls and come up with a funk number, teenage single mom Quinn announces that she's going to come up with a number, because she has soul and due to her life, she has a lot of anger. The result was the oddest dancing while pregnant scene I've ever witnessed.

Quinn does her intro and then is joined on stage by no less than half a dozen pregnant teen girls. And they are all dancing. And I don't mean swaying to the beat, snapping your fingers, getting into the rhythm kind of dancing while pregnant; I mean high kicks, pliés, getting down kind of dancing while pregnant. There were big, round bellies bouncing around everywhere. It was odd and oddly fascinating. Even odder? The wild dancing was to the tune of James Brown's "This is a Man's World." That is not the fastest song in the world...

One of the thoughts I had while watching all of this dancing while pregnant was "Really?! Is this even remotely realistic?” My belly during pregnancy never moved like that. Of course, I was roughly the size of a baby whale and ended up on bed rest at 34 weeks pregnant. And I've seen clips of an eight-month pregnant woman on Ellen, dancing like she is dancing for her life. So maybe under different circumstances I too could have done all kinds of crazy complicated dancing while pregnant. Then again, maybe not.

I mentioned there was more than one dancing while pregnant moment, didn't I? The second was less obvious, but in the final musical number of the show, The Parliament's "We Want the Funk," Quinn was shown boogying around, tossing herself and that belly every which way. The final number was not as disturbing as the previous one. Maybe it's because the final number involved only one fully pregnant belly as opposed to eight (or however many there were)? I'm not sure, but I do know that for days I was unable to get the visual of all of those bulging bellies boogying down out of my head.

**Warning: Spoilers Ahead (though, I don’t know why it’s called “spoilers” when the episode has already aired, but whatever)

I don’t know what’s been going on lately, but it seems like surrogate mother stories are everywhere. First of the surrogate mother stories was the one I’d heard on the radio where the surrogate mom sued for custody. The second of the surrogate mother stories was the storyline on Glee where Rachel is on her surrogate mother search (Best. Show. On. Television). And the third of the surrogate mother stories was a doozy of a story my friend told me about a “non-surgical”surrogate.Actually, there were even more surrogate mother stories than those three if you count the various callers to the Derek and Romaine Show this past week who wanted advice regarding surrogacy or to share surrogate mother stories. Of course, out of all the surrogate mother stories I’ve experienced lately, the Glee story is my favorite.
So for those of you who aren’t Gleeks and are wondering who this “Rachel” person is, Rachel Berry is one of the main characters on Glee. She was conceived via surrogate, and has never met her surrogate (biological) mom. Although the surrogate was also her egg donor, this is not a closed adoption scenario, because her dads actually had a surrogate mom contract, and they each donated sperm. The joke in the pilot episode was that Rachel thought it was sweet that no one knows which one is her biological father. If you don’t get why that joke is funny, it’s because her father are different races. Unless her surrogate mother’s genes are very strong [which, maybe i don’t want to paint myself into this corner given my daughter’s coloring and that of other biracial children I’ve seen…], you can generally guess which one of Rachel’s fathers is in fact the biological father.

So during an episode entitled “Dreams” (with NPH!!!), the glee club members are asked to write down their deepest, wildest dreams. Although Rachel writes down something fairly obvious (to be a star) she later reveals that what she really wants more than anything is to meet her mother. Some shenanigans ensue, and Rachel “finds” a recording of her mother singing. This leads to some fabulousness wherein Idina Menzel (playing Rachel’s mother – love her!!) and Lea Michelle (the actress who plays Rachel) have a duet that left me weeping. I probably could have died a happy woman at that moment. If they had sung something from Wicked and been joined by NPH and Kristen Chenoweth, I very well may have.

Anyway, Idina Menzel is an obvious choice for the surrogate mother story line here. She and Lea Michelle could easily be sisters in real life. There was a really sad moment where Idina Menzel explains to another character why she has to make Rachel contact her rather than the other way around. She explains how she signed a surrogate mother contract saying she would not contact her daughter, and how she only saw her for a minute after she gave birth, when one of the nurses was cleaning Rachel off.

This whole scenario got me thinking – what makes someone a mother? I mean, we all know that there’s more than biology that makes a family. And we all know that submitting 50% of someone’s genetic material doesn’t make you a parent. But what happens when contract law gets in the way of emotion? Apparently, Ryan Murphy (the creator/writer/producer of Glee) and I were on the same page, because he actually tackled that issue in the next episode.

So, at the end of “Dreams,” Rachel has heard a recording of her surrogate mother [a duet, which brought me to tears], her surrogate/biological mother is waiting for contact, and I’m spending the next week wondering about the legal, emotional, and ethical implications of surrogacy and what makes someone a mother, especially when the surrogate mother is also the egg donor. Luckily, some of my wondering was out loud to other people, so I ended up hearing a pretty hilarious court case relating to the use of a non-surgical surrogate (think about it). More on that later…

Rachel didn’t know who her surrogate mother was, even though she’d heard her voice on tape. Rachel and some of her cast mates go to spy on their rival team, Vocal Adrenaline (seriously), and it is at this moment that Rachel realizes the voice on the tape, her biological mother, is Vocal Adrenaline’s coach Miss Cochran (played by the fabulous, incomparable Broadway diva, Taye Diggs wifey, and Lea Michelle doppelganger, Idina Menzel). Rachel confronts Miss Cochran, and they have a very awkward exchange. Rachel points out how similar she and her mother are because they’re sitting, not looking at each other, in a completely overly dramatic fashion, and yet they are both very comfortable that way. When asked about how she feels about the situation, Rachel says that she’s “thirsty,” and then she explains that when she was little, her dads would give her a glass of water when she was sad, so eventually it got to the point where she couldn’t tell if she was sad or thirsty. It is at this point her surrogate mother announces, “I can’t do this,” and leaves. My husband and I were mortified. Imagine the emotional implications of finding a 16-year old girl who’s never met her mother, giving her the hopes of a mother-daughter relationship, and then just bailing on her!

We find out later that the water story is what made Miss Cochran realize that she is just a surrogate mother and not a real mother. Rachel’s dads had raised her. Miss Cochran could not have any other children, so in forging a relationship with Rachel, she was trying to get her baby back. Instead she realized that Rachel isn’t a baby anymore, she’s never going to get her baby back, and Rachel doesn’t need her.

I have to disagree with the idea that Rachel doesn’t need her [as evidenced by the Lady Gaga outfit she needed her mother to make her because her “dads don’t sew,” and their attempt at it was disastrous]. Personally, I think children always need their mothers. I’m thirty-mumble-mumble years old, and even though my mom wasn’t there for me a lot of the time when I was younger, there are many times now when I need her. Yes, I’m grown and have my own family; but just like I often need the love and support of my dad, I still need my mom, too. I think children always need their mothers.

But I also think Miss Cochran was right in a sense. Yes, she’s Rachel’s biological mother, but (as she said) being a mother doesn’t make you a mom. Rachel has parents, and Miss Cochran is not one of them. I’m glad the episode wrapped up the issue of surrogate mother v. biological mom that was running through my head all week, but I was still saddened by the whole issue. And I really hope it doesn’t mean that Idina Menzel won’t make any more guest appearances – particularly if they could arrange for her and Kristen Chenoweth to appear on the same episode again (but maybe sing together? Something from Wicked, perhaps?).

The Cases

The first of the surrogate mother cases I’d heard involved a surrogate mother who sued the parents for custody of the child. You’re probably thinking the mother just wanted to get her biological child back. Au contraire mon frere. What makes this different from other surrogate mother cases you may have heard is that the surrogate contributed no genetic material to the making of the baby. Both egg and sperm were supplied by the parents; the surrogate mother was simply a carrier. So what happened – was this just an issue of a woman who bonded with her baby during the nine months of carrying her? Sort of.

What happened was, the mother (the biological/contractual mother) has a host of mental conditions she had not revealed to the surrogate. I am not sure if this disclosure was actually a part of the surrogate mother contract, but whatever these mental problems were, the surrogate considered this nondisclosure a deal breaker. Actually, I guess it wasn’t the actual nondisclosure that was the problem, the problem was that the mother was in fact crazy. Very much so. The surrogate feared for the child’s health and safety, so she sued for custody. And in an odd twist on surrogate mother cases, she won. Turns out that the parents had resorted to surrogacy because they had been rejected by several adoption agencies, including some abroad. Yes, she is that crazy. This raises the issue of whether some people just don’t have a right to be parents? I can’t say the answer would be the same in all surrogate mother cases, but in this one, the court decided NO.

The second of the surrogate mother cases I’d heard about when I mentioned to my best friend how the surrogate mother story line on Glee got me thinking about the question of what really makes someone a mom. She told me a story she’d heard from someone who’s spouse is a family law attorney. Apparently, the attorney has a divorce case where the couple is splitting up because of the emotional fallout of using a non-surgical surrogate. Never heard of a non-surgical surrogate you say? Oh, that’s just a fancy way of saying that the surrogate didn’t want to go through surgery to be implanted, so the husband and wife agreed that the husband would just have sex with the surrogate as many times as it took for her to get pregnant!! What the…?

I’m sorry, but that is the craziest of the surrogate mother cases I have heard. Why on earth would anyone agree to that?? And worse still, they actually signed a surrogate mother contract to that effect!! I am not surprised they’re getting divorced.