Ratings "Blame It on the Alcohol" was first broadcast on February 22, 2011 in the United States on Fox. It received over 10.58 million American viewers upon its initial airing, according to the
Nielsen ratings. The episode garnered a 4.4/12
Nielsen rating/share in the
18–49 demographic, tied for the highest of the night with
NCIS. The episode's total viewership and ratings slightly increased from the previous episode, "
Comeback", which was watched by 10.53 million American viewers and received a 4.2/12 rating/share in the 18–49 demographic during its original airing. With its Canadian broadcast, also on February 22, 2011, "Blame It on the Alcohol" drew 1.89 million viewers and placed fourteenth in the weekly program rankings. This was an improvement on "Comeback", which aired the week before, ranked eighteenth and was watched by 1.75 million viewers. In Australia, the episode was watched by 1.02 million viewers on March 7, 2011, which made
Glee the sixth most-watched show of the night and twentieth of the week. In the UK, the episode was broadcast on April 11, 2011. It attained 2.53 million viewers—2.05 million on
E4, and 483,000 on E4+1—and was the most-watched show on cable for the week. Viewership was marginally down from "Comeback", attracting 40,000 fewer viewers.
Critical response Reaction to the episode was split. While the majority of reviewers were favorably impressed, some very much so, a significant minority were disappointed at the message the episode conveyed and the storytelling decisions. Among the former were Kevin Fallon of
The Atlantic, who described it as "
Glee at its best: cartoonish, outlandish, and loud—but still oh-so true to life."
IGN's Robert Canning gave the episode a "great" rating of 8 out of 10, and called the main storyline "comical and human". Candace Bulter of
ScreenCrave also gave the episode an 8 out of 10, and wrote, "This week's
Glee puts on the beer goggles to put alcohol-related issues in perspective. The result is humorous and ironic, but leaves something to be wanted." Emily VanDerWerff of
The A.V. Club, wrote that "the underpinnings of the episode aren't terrible, just overstuffed" and gave it a "B−".
MTV's Aly Semigran stated that the episode "left something of a sour taste", and added that while the show "always combines humor with serious life lessons, it seems there were none to be found here"; she called the episode "a wasted opportunity".
BuddyTV Jen Harper was also disenchanted by the episode, and concluded, "Geez Louise, Glee. What's happened to you?" Amy Reiter of the
Los Angeles Times saw the show's message differently from Semigran, and wrote, "Leave it to
Glee to tackle a potentially joyless, didactic topic like teenage drinking and somehow manage to entertain and surprise and get its important life lessons across."
Time Richard Corliss called it a "breezy, sharply written episode" and rated it in the "high-middle range" for the show. He concluded, "Last night’s hour of
Glee was of the level a superior series sticks in mid-season between its 'important' episodes. If this is coasting, take me along for the ride." The scenes that featured Rachel's party were acclaimed by most reviewers. Fallon called them "a parade of the funniest sight gags, most uninhibited acting, and—interestingly enough—most relatable scenes
Glee has produced in a while", and described Michele as "an
acting stand out" who "handled the entire arc like a seasoned comedienne". Harper wrote that the party scenes "left a lot to be desired", and Patrick Burns, the third reviewer from
The Atlantic, "waited for the Glee party to get out of control, or for someone to get hurt so that America's youth could be shocked and appalled by the dangers of drinking", but "the worst thing that happened was that Rachel tried to flip a gay guy". Semigran wrote that Kurt showed "an unflattering side of himself", and Gonzalez stated that she "was completely on Blaine's side here": Kurt "wasn't fair" and "was sort of unlikable" for once, though she did add that "he's allowed to be flawed". Harper, while she characterized it as a "really cute duet", said she was "not super-keen on seeing them pair up again". Berk was more enthusiastic about "Blame It" and gave it four stars out of five; he wrote, "This should be the song they sing at Nationals". Futterman, though she described it as a "very informed rendition", said that "the song was too clean-scrubbed to pass for a dirty club hit". Benigno gave the song an "A−", noted that Morris has a better voice than the original artist, Kesha, and the rendition was a case of "a bunch of really talented kids making a simple song better". it was at number fifty on the
Billboard Canadian Hot 100. The other two songs on the Hot 100 were "Blame It" at number fifty-five, which also made number sixty-one on the Canadian Hot 100, and "Tik Tok" at number sixty-one, which also made number fifty-six on the Canadian Hot 100. "Don't You Want Me" was also featured on the sixth
soundtrack album of the series,
Glee: The Music, Volume 5. "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" did not chart. ==References==