Terri Del Monico (formerly Schuester) is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee.
The character is portrayed by actress Jessalyn Gilsig, and appeared in Glee from its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009.
Her storylines have seen her experience a false pregnancy, attempt to adopt the baby of pregnant glee club member Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron), and become involved in a love triangle between herself, Will, and school guidance counsellor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays).
Gilsig has characterized Terri as being emotionally still in high school, and lacking the skills to make her marriage work.
She has explained that Terri feels threatened by her husband's commitment to the glee club, worried that it is pulling him away from her, and will stop at nothing to keep her marriage together.
The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has called her "the worst thing about Glee", and the show's "one big flaw".
Gerrick Kennedy of the Los Angeles Times, however, has praised Gilsig's acting in the role, and stated that his hatred of the character dissipated once her fake pregnancy was exposed.
[2] After she confides her deception in her sister Kendra (Jennifer Aspen), Terri approaches the recently revealed to be pregnant cheerleader Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron), with an interest in her baby.
She is fired as the nurse by Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba), however, after it is discovered that she has given the glee club members pseudoephedrine tablets.
[11] In "Funeral", Terri succeeds in sabotaging the club's travel plans to New York, but fixes the damage and tells Will that she has been promoted to manager for Sheets-N-Things at a location in Miami.
She joins in to attend a rededication to the McKinley's auditorium to the late Finn Hudson and enjoys the final performance by the New Directions of all generation.
Prior to her casting in Glee, Gilsig was an established actress in both the television and film industry, but had little theatrical experience.
In casting Glee, series creator Ryan Murphy sought actors who could identify with the rush of starring in theatrical roles.
I don't think she's learned that you can actually just have open conversations and talk about your fears and ask for your needs to be met in a direct, compassionate way.
[19] She described it as sad to shoot, as she and Morrison were so invested in the storyline,[19] and explained: "What I hope is conveyed is that you see the child inside Terri.
"[20] Gilsig commented that viewers had been wondering why Will was taking so long to discover Terri was not actually pregnant: "I think people have been asking 'How slow is this guy?!'.
Robert A. George of the New York Post has written that Glee has "the most unpleasant pack of female characters of any show in recent memory", and deemed Terri the "biggest culprit".
"[22] Variety's Brian Lowry commented: "Perhaps to foster a rooting interest (or at least sympathy) for a Will-Emma pairing, [Terri] (Jessalyn Gilsig) is initially presented as a ditsy shrew.
"[23] The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has called Terri "the worst thing about Glee", and opined: "As written by Murphy and played by Gilsig, the character is screechy, unfunny and deeply unpleasant.
It's as if Ryan didn't trust that the audience would get behind Will and the saga of his ragtag glee club and so saw fit to give the teacher the shrewish, nagging wife from hell.
[26] Robert Bianco for USA Today noted after the episode "Showmance": "Jessalyn Gilsig's self-centered, ridiculously strident Terri just needs to go, period.
Terri's fake pregnancy and Quinn’s real one started out a few weeks ago as an interesting way to insert some realism and tension into a delightfully surreal musical-comedy universe.
I’ll bet the actress didn’t initially sign on to have her character Terri become a shrill, lying nag whose main function is to bring husband Will — and by extension, us — down.
After hearing her say the marriage largely worked because Will didn’t feel great about himself, watching him walk out the door was both empowering and heartbreaking.