Glee school shootings episode tackles gun violence

"Glee", the musical dramedy that's never afraid of tackling the big social questions -- coming out, suicide, physical and mental disability -- has taken on one of the hottest of hot-button topics.

In Thursday's episode, "Shooting Star," the students of McKinley High are sent scrambling when they hear shots fired inside the school.

Although the shooting ends up something of a false alarm, the setup provided for harrowing scenes set during an extended lockdown and Brittany -- standout Heather Morris -- stuck in the bathroom.

The students and staff are forced to grapple with getting the word out, imagining the worst, and dealing with the fallout.

Although the episode avoids setting up the kind of hell-bent rampage like the massacres at Sandy Hook Elementary, Virginia Tech or Columbine, a victim's advocate for Newtown warned viewers to avoid the episode or watch with caution.

"According to someone who blogs for an Internet site that is a TV spoiler site, the TV show, 'Glee' that airs tonight on Fox is going to depict a school shooting from the vantage point of the students hiding in the dark," the Newtown Action Alliance warned in an email. "He said it is extremely harrowing and it even freaked him out and he's not from here. I would suggest if you do watch this TV show to either not watch it tonight or watch with caution."

Glee airs on Fox Thursdays at 9 p.m.