Spoilers for past and potentially future Glee episodes
I’m not all caught up with Glee and still haven’t seen this week’s show. After the disjointed Brittany Britney episode I gave it a pass for a while, but I’ve finally seen Grilled Cheesus, last week’s episode, and I was won over again. Glee really needs to focus on the storyline like it did last week and not try to accommodate guest artists’ ideas that vary so much from the regular format.

Anyway in this week’s episode Puck, played by Mark Salling, is sent away to juvie. Rumor has it that producers are trying to marginalize his character after Salling violated his contract by recording a solo album. “Someone” (aka Salling’s people) leaked to E! Online that this isn’t the case, though, and that Puck’s absence doesn’t mean that he’s getting pushed off the show.

Our source adamantly says Mark’s absence from the show does not have anything to do with his album. Anyone notice Jayma Mays gone last night too? And no one’s making a fuss over that.

“Mark would never prioritize anything over the show, he respects the executives and his cast too much to do that,” spills our Glee insider.

“People forget that he’s been doing music for almost a decade before Glee,” adds our source. “He just has a target on his back because he’s the first of the cast to do a solo album.”

Which, by the way, we hear the cast is totally supportive of.

“A lot of the cast are planning solo albums as well, they are celebrating Mark’s release, not creating drama out of it,” ‘fesses Deep Gleek.

And if you remember, Glee fans, Dianna Agron was absent from a few episodes in the first season when she was pursuing her movie career, so this isn’t all that strange.

So never fear, Puck lovers, we’re told hottie Mark will be back steaming up the small screen ASAP.

“He’s still a series regular,” adds our studio insider. “Mark will be back soon, Mohawk in full force, with a major bad boy comeback.”

[From E! Online]

Would anyone really care if Puck was off that show? I wouldn’t. It’s not like he’s central to the plot. I would like to see Rachel, Lea Michele’s character, marginalized too. In many ways Lea is the star, but they’re making her character so one-dimensional, self-centered and annoying that it’s like they’re trying to push her out anyway.

I would say that Salling should stick to his day job, but there are plenty of much less talented kids who are making it on their own, with The Situation, Sooki and any random Jenner-Kardashian coming to mind. If Salling can crank out a hit or two he may be successful in making a name for himself outside Glee.

Salling’s first solo album, Pipe Dreams, is out on October 26th. AOL is featuring a series of video interviews with him in which he talks about his love of music and his new endeavors. He’s serious about it, I’ll give him that.