'Glee' Stars Too Racy In GQ Photo Spread?

Adult Stars Pose as High Schoolers in Magazine; Some Critics Asking if They Went Too Far

(CBS) - The hit TV show "Glee" is set in a high school, but some of its actors are looking and acting a lot older than their characters on the show in a racy new photo spread. The actors ARE older than their characters. However, the photo shoot has some loyal viewers outraged.

The new photo spread is raising some eyebrows, CBS News correspondent Betty Nguyen reported on "The Early Show."

It has shots of "Glee" stars Dianna Agron and Lea Michele scantily clad, in next month's GQ magazine.

PICTURES: "Glee" Goes Wild for GQ

Jim Moore, GQ creative director, says, "We wanted to make it GQ. We wanted to make it sexy. We didn't want to make it raunchy or anything."

But did they go too far? The cover of the magazine shows a fully-dressed Cory Monteith with his hands on his co-star's backsides and the behind-the-scenes video shows that things got a little wild, and very sexy.

Moore said, "They were definitely up for playing and turning up the heat a little bit."

"Glee," which airs on Fox and follows students of a fictional high school, is watched by more than nine million viewers -- many of them children and adolescents. And that has critics less than "gleeful."

Melissa Henson, director of communication of the Parents Television Council, says, "All of these are really encouraging and promoting a mindset that it is OK to fantasize about teenage girls in this way."

Agron and Michele are not teenagers -- they're both 24 -- but their "Glee" characters are.

Henson said, "These young stars are known really only for their roles on the show. They are portraying high school-age characters."

Mothers and daughters wondered if the photo spread was too titillating.

A mom said, "I think it is very inappropriate for representing high school students this way. It's too edgy. I don't like it at all."

One girl told CBS News, "My little sister watches -- she's 8. If she saw this, what would she think?"

Another girl said, "They're a little bit shocking, but they are older than I am."

For more on the spread from Ian Drew, senior editor of US Weekly, and on the issues raised for parents, from Dr. Jennifer Hartstein, "Early Show" contributor and child and adolescent psychologist, click on the video below.

The controversial edition of GQ hits the newsstands October 26.

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