Glee (TV series)

The series centers on a high school show choir, also known as a glee club, in the fictional William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio.[11] Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) takes over the glee club after the former teacher Sandy Ryerson (Stephen Tobolowsky) is fired for inappropriate contact with a student. With a rag-tag group of misfit teenagers, Will attempts to restore the glee club to its former glory while tending to his developing feelings for his co-worker, guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays), as well as defending the glee club's existence from the conniving cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch). A major focus of the series is the students in the glee club: their relationships as couples, their love of singing and desire for popularity coming into conflict due to their membership in the low-status club, and the many vicissitudes of life in high school and as a teenager.

The first season features the fictional high school show choir New Directions competing for the first time on the show choir circuit, winning at the Sectionals competition (episode 13) but losing at Regionals (season finale/episode 22), while its members and faculty deal with sex, relationships, homosexuality, teenage pregnancy, disabilities, acceptance and other social issues. The central characters are glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), Will's wife Terri (Jessalyn Gilsig), guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays), and glee club members Rachel (Lea Michele), Finn (Cory Monteith), Artie (Kevin McHale), Kurt (Chris Colfer), Mercedes (Amber Riley), Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz), Puck (Mark Salling), and Quinn (Dianna Agron).

The second season follows the club through wins at the Sectionals (episode 9) and Regionals (episode 16) competitions before losing at the Nationals competition in New York City (season finale/episode 22), while its members and faculty deal with relationships, religion, homophobia, bullying, rumors, teenage drinking, death and other social issues. The season's stories revolve around the same Glee club members as first season, with Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera) and Brittany S. Pierce (Heather Morris) added to the main cast, along with Kurt's father Burt (Mike O'Malley).

The third season follows the club through wins at Sectionals (episode 8) and Regionals competitions (episode 14), before they win the Nationals competition (episode 21) in Chicago. The characters deal with gender identity, adoption, domestic abuse, teenage suicide, bullying, disabilities, texting while driving, college and other social issues. Glee club members added to the main cast were Mike Chang (Harry Shum Jr.) and transfer student Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss), while Jessalyn Gilsig as Terri Schuester was written out of the series and Mike O'Malley as Burt returned to recurring status. The McKinley High class of 2012 graduates at the end of the season.

The fourth season continues in Lima with a new generation of students but also follows some of the McKinley graduates from the third season, notably to the fictional New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts (NYADA) in New York City. The season follows the club through a loss at the Sectionals competition (episode 9) and subsequent reinstatement when the winning Dalton Academy Warblers were found to have used banned substances (human growth hormone) (episode 12) before winning at the Regionals competition (episode 22), which meant they would be attending their third consecutive National show choir competition. In the meantime, Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel navigate NYADA and their lives as aspiring performers, plus their relationships with Finn and Blaine. Issues during the season include sex, bulimia, gender identity, child molestation, dyslexia, school violence, and pregnancy scares. Former main cast members Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays) and Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron) were credited as guest stars, while previously recurring glee club member Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) was promoted to the main cast.

The fifth season, unlike previous seasons, continues the school year begun in the previous season. The season shows the reigning champion glee club finishing second at Nationals competition (episode 11) before the club is permanently disbanded by Sue Sylvester, now school principal, for budgetary reasons (episode 12), leaving the focus on graduation. The show then jumps several months forward in time and deals entirely with the alumni's lives in New York City for the remainder of the season, including Rachel's successful Broadway debut. Throughout this season, the club and its alumni deal with relationships; death and mourning; body image, gay bashing, intimacy, and other social issues. Several main cast members dropped to recurring guest stars as of this season: Amber Riley as Mercedes, Mark Salling as Puck, Harry Shum Jr. as Mike and Heather Morris as Brittany. New main cast members included glee club members introduced in the fourth season: Melissa Benoist as Marley Rose, Alex Newell as Unique Adams, Blake Jenner as Ryder Lynn, Jacob Artist as Jake Puckerman, and Becca Tobin as Kitty Wilde. Actor Cory Monteith died during summer before the fifth season was shot; his character, Finn Hudson, died off-screen in the season's third episode, "The Quarterback".

The sixth and final season focuses on Rachel Berry, who returns to McKinley after her television pilot fails. She decides to reconstitute the glee club with all-new McKinley students and with Kurt's help. Will Schuester is now coaching rival club Vocal Adrenaline, while Blaine is coaching the Dalton Academy Warblers. All of the new main cast members from the fifth season have returned to guest star status in this final season when they appear, as well as Naya Rivera as Santana and Jenna Ushkowitz as Tina; Amber Riley as Mercedes rejoins the main cast, and Dot-Marie Jones as Coach Beiste joins the main cast for the first time. The cast members deal with gay marriage, gender identity, transitioning and other social issues. The newly reconstituted club wins the Nationals competition, Sue is fired as principal and Will is hired to be the principal of a McKinley High repurposed as a magnet arts school, with Sam as the new director of New Directions. The finale jumps five years into the future: Rachel has married Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff), wins a Tony Award, and is a surrogate mother for Kurt and Blaine (who are themselves Broadway stars). Artie has directed Tina in a film, Mercedes is a highly successful recording artist, and Sue has just been re-elected Vice President of the United States. The McKinley auditorium is renamed after Finn.

In casting Glee, Murphy sought out actors who could identify with the rush of starring in theatrical roles. Instead of using traditional network casting calls, he spent three months on Broadway, where he found Matthew Morrison, who had previously starred on stage in Hairspray and The Light in the Piazza; Lea Michele, who starred in Spring Awakening; and Jenna Ushkowitz, who had been in the Broadway revival of The King and I.[12]

Matthew Morrison was cast after Murphy spent three months observing actors on Broadway.

Actors without any theatrical experience needed to demonstrate, during their auditions, that they could also sing and dance. Chris Colfer had no previous professional experience, but Murphy wrote in the character Kurt Hummel for him.[12] Jayma Mays auditioned with the song "Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me" from The Rocky Horror Show, while Cory Monteith initially submitted a tape of himself acting only, and was requested to submit a second, musical tape, in which he sang "a cheesy, '80s music-video-style version" of REO Speedwagon's "Can't Fight This Feeling".[12] Kevin McHale came from a boy-band background, having previously been part of the group Not Like Them. He explained that the diversity of the cast's backgrounds reflects the range of different musical styles within the show itself: "It's a mix of everything: classic rock, current stuff, R&B. Even the musical theatre stuff is switched up. You won't always recognize it."[12] Jane Lynch was originally supposed to have a recurring role as Sue Sylvester,[13] but was made a series regular when a Damon Wayans pilot she was working on for ABC fell through.[14] The cast is contracted for a potential three Glee films,[15] with their contract stating that "[The actor] hereby grants Fox three exclusive, irrevocable options to engage [the actor] in up to, respectively, three feature-length motion pictures."[16] Murphy said in December 2010 that he wasn't interested in doing a Glee movie "as a story", and added, "I might do it as a live concert thing."[17] Glee: The 3D Concert Movie, filmed during the 2011 Glee Live! In Concert! tour, was released on August 12, 2011.[18]

Cory Monteith portrayed glee club member Finn Hudson.

Glee has featured as many as fifteen main roles with star billing, after starting with twelve. Morrison plays Will Schuester, McKinley High's Spanish teacher, who becomes glee-club director and hopes to restore it to its former glory.[19] Lynch plays Sue Sylvester, head coach of the "Cheerios" cheerleading squad, and the Glee Club's nemesis.[14] Mays appears as Emma Pillsbury, the school's mysophobic guidance counselor who has feelings for Will,[20] and Jessalyn Gilsig plays Terri Schuester, Will's wife whom he eventually divorces after five years of marriage and the discovery that she has faked being pregnant instead of revealing she had suffered a false pregnancy.[21] Michele plays Rachel Berry, talented star of the glee club whose ambition sometimes causes her to be insensitive toward others. Often bullied by the Cheerios and football players, she grows closer to them as the show progresses and begins an on-and-off relationship with Finn Hudson starting in season one; they become engaged in season three.[21] Monteith played Finn, star quarterback of the school's football team who risks alienation by his friends after joining the glee club.[21] Also in the club are Amber Riley as Mercedes Jones, a fashion-conscious diva who resents having to sing back-up but eventually finds her place in the choir; Colfer as Kurt Hummel, a fashionable gay man countertenor who is often bullied by the jocks in the school;[22] McHale as Artie Abrams, a guitar player and paraplegic who longs to be seen for his personality rather than only his physical injuries; and Ushkowitz as Tina Cohen-Chang, a painfully shy Asian American student who fakes a speech impediment as a defense mechanism. Dianna Agron plays Quinn Fabray, Finn's cheerleader girlfriend, who later joins the glee club to keep an eye on him. Mark Salling plays Noah "Puck" Puckerman, a good friend of Finn's on the football team who at first disapproves of Finn joining the glee club, but later joins it himself. Naya Rivera and Heather Morris portray Cheerios and glee club vocalists Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce respectively and were originally recurring actors, but were promoted to series regulars in the second season.[23] Mike O'Malley, who plays Kurt's father Burt Hummel, also became a series regular on season two.[24] Gilsig and O'Malley no longer appeared on the list of starring actors at the beginning of the third season, though O'Malley was a recurring guest star in at least six episodes during the season.[25] Two actors were promoted to series regulars as of the third season: Harry Shum Jr. as football player and glee club member Mike Chang and Darren Criss as former Dalton Academy Warbler and new club member Blaine Anderson, both of whom started as recurring actors, Shum in the first season and Criss in the second.[26] For the fourth season, Chord Overstreet, who started as a recurring actor in the second season, playing glee club member Sam Evans, was promoted to the main cast,[27] while Agron and Mays were credited as recurring guest stars.

Many of the original characters graduated from McKinley High at the end of the third season. Murphy said, "We didn't want to have a show where they were in high school for eight years. We really wanted to be true to that experience."[28] Adult characters played by Matthew Morrison and Jane Lynch would remain to provide continuity to the series,[29] though according to Falchuk, some students—Rachel, Finn and Kurt in particular—would likely remain on the show after they graduate.[30] In May 2012, Murphy said that just because a character on the show graduates high school does not mean that they are leaving, "A lot of people have been writing Dianna's off the show, Amber's off the show — they're not off the show. I think Amber was talking about that bittersweet feeling of, 'I'll never be in the choir room with that exact group of people.' At least that's what she told me ... When I read that [tweet,] I said, 'I think people will misconstrue that.' She's excited about where her character is going. They all are. I wanted to do the right thing by all of them." He then continued: "They're all coming back. Anyone who is a regular is coming back. Everyone said yes."[31]

On June 28, 2013, the media reported that Morris, Riley, Salling, and Shum would be changing from starring status to guest starring roles for the fifth season, and on the following day that Jacob Artist, Melissa Benoist, Blake Jenner, Alex Newell, and Becca Tobin, who play Jake Puckerman, Marley Rose, Ryder Lynn, Wade "Unique" Adams, and Kitty Wilde, respectively, were all being promoted to the show's main cast.[32]

On July 13, 2013, Cory Monteith was found dead in his room at the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia, after failing to check out. Staff were sent to his room where it was then that his body was discovered. An autopsy completed on July 15 indicated that he died of alcohol and heroin overdose.[33][34] On July 20, 2013, Ryan Murphy said in various media outlets that Cory would have a tribute in season five's third episode, which would deal with the death of Monteith's character, Finn.[35]

On July 30, 2013, Mays confirmed that she would depart the show after the fifth season to work on other projects, but stated that she would be open to returning as a guest star in the future.[36]

On July 7, 2014, it was confirmed that Rivera and Ushkowitz would be placed on a recurring status for the sixth and final season.[37] On August 28, a website revealed that Amber Riley would once again become a regular along with Dot-Marie Jones while Jayma Mays would be on a recurring status.[38]

The first season of Glee consists of twenty-two episodes.[73] The pilot episode was originally broadcast on May 19, 2009.[74] The series returned on September 9, 2009,[75] airing an additional twelve episodes on Wednesdays in the 9:00 pm timeslot until December 9, 2009, for a total of thirteen episodes.[76] On September 21, 2009, nine more episodes were ordered for the first season by Fox,[77] and the first of these episodes was broadcast on April 13, 2010. These episodes aired on Tuesday evenings at 9:00 pm.[78] On January 11, 2010, it was announced that Fox had commissioned a second season of the show. The second season began production in June 2010.[79][80] Season two began on September 21, 2010,[81] airing in the 8:00 pm time slot on Tuesdays, and consists of twenty-two episodes.[82] The show was chosen by Fox to fill the coveted timeslot that followed the network's coverage of Super Bowl XLV in 2011,[83] and the network originally planned to move the show to the 9:00 pm time slot on Wednesdays following the post–Super Bowl broadcast.[84] However, Fox later revised its schedule,[85] leaving Glee on Tuesdays in order to concentrate on building up its weaker Wednesday and Thursday line-ups.[86][87] A third season was ordered by Fox on May 23, 2010, before the end of the first season. The early renewal of the show allowed the production team to cut costs and to plan ahead when writing scripts.[88] The third season broadcasts remained in the show's Tuesday 8:00 pm time slot,[89] and began airing on September 20, 2011.[90][91] The show's fourth season changed both date and time of broadcast: it moved to Thursdays in the 9:00 pm time slot, and aired after that evening's 8:00 pm music competition "results" shows—The X Factor in the fall and American Idol in midseason.[92] The show was renewed for both a fifth and sixth season at the same time, on April 19, 2013.[93] Reruns were also syndicated to local US stations from 2013 to 2015.[94]

Glee has been syndicated for broadcast in many countries worldwide, including Australia, where cast members visited to promote the show prior to its September 2009 debut on Network Ten.[95] Midway through season four, Glee was moved to Network Ten's digital channel Eleven due to poor ratings.[96] It also airs in Canada on City and, previously, Global,[97] New Zealand,[98] Fiji,[99] and Trinidad and Tobago.[100][101][102] It is broadcast in South Africa, where Fox beams the episodes directly to the M-Net broadcast center in Johannesburg rather than delivering the tapes.[103] Asian countries that broadcast Glee include Bangladesh,[104] the Philippines,[105] India,[104] Malaysia,[106] and Singapore.[107][108]

All the episodes of the series were announced to be arriving on Disney+ in Latin America in February 2021.[109] In the United States, the series was made available on Disney+ and Hulu starting on June 1, 2022, following its December 2021 departure from Netflix after over seven years, as well as a year on Prime Video.[110][111]

Three soundtrack albums were released to accompany Glee's first season: Glee: The Music, Volume 1, Glee: The Music, Volume 2 and Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers.[116][117][118] Two extended plays (EP) accompanied the episodes "The Power of Madonna" and "Journey to Regionals": Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna and Glee: The Music, Journey to Regionals respectively.[119][120] Glee: The Music, The Complete Season One, a compilation album featuring all 100 studio recordings from the first season, was released exclusively to the iTunes Store.[121] Five soundtrack albums were released to accompany Glee's second season: Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album, featuring Christmas-themed songs, and Glee: The Music, Volume 4, were both released in November 2010;[122][123][124] Glee: The Music, Volume 5,[125] Glee: The Music Presents the Warblers,[126] and Glee: The Music, Volume 6[127] were 2011 releases, in March, April, and May, respectively. An EP entitled Glee: The Music, The Rocky Horror Glee Show was released to accompany the Halloween episode, "The Rocky Horror Glee Show".[128] Two EPs were released exclusively at the Target discount chain: Glee: The Music, Love Songs in the last week of 2010, and Glee: The Music, Dance Party in early September 2011.[129][130]

Glee has been released on several DVD and Blu-ray box-sets. Glee – Pilot Episode: Director's Cut features the pilot episode and a preview of the second episode, "Showmance".[131] Glee – Volume 1: Road to Sectionals contains the first thirteen episodes of season one,[132] and Glee – Volume 2: Road to Regionals contains the final nine episodes of the first season.[133] Glee – The Complete First Season was released on September 13, 2010.[134] Three boxed sets were released for the second season: Glee Season 2: Volume 1 containing the first ten episodes on January 25, 2011,[135] and both Glee Season 2: Volume 2 with the final twelve episode and Glee: The Complete Second Season with all twenty-two on September 13, 2011.[136] All three were released on DVD; only the complete season is available on Blu-ray.

Little, Brown Books has published three Glee-related young adult novels, all of which were developed in collaboration with the show's producers and writers.[137] All three have been written by Sophia Lowell; the first, Glee: The Beginning, was released in August 2010 and serves as a prequel to the events of the television series.[138] Subsequent novels include Glee: Foreign Exchange, released in February 2011,[139] and Glee: Summer Break, released in July 2011.[140]

Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products have plans for a line of Glee-related merchandise including games, electrical products, greeting cards, apparel and stationery.[141] Macy's carry a line of Glee-related clothing, and Claire's stock accessories.[142]

Halfbrick Studios published a Glee content version of the mobile game Band Stars[143] by Six Foot Kid [144] in collaboration with Fox Digital Entertainment[145] on March 27, 2014, currently available on iOS platforms, but with plans to release to Android. The game is available for free download with some Glee content available immediately including Kurt Hummel and Will Schuester. 12 characters from the Glee TV show are available for purchase and download in two separate packs. Pack 1 contains: Rachel Berry, Mercedes Jones, Noah (Puck) Puckerman, Jake Puckerman and Quinn Fabray. Pack 2 contains: Artie Abrams, Tina Cohen-Chang, Blaine Anderson, Santana Lopez, Brittany Pierce and Unique Adams.

Glee: The Concert Movie, a concert film based on the four-week North American segment of the 2011 Glee Live! In Concert! tour and featuring the cast of the series in performance and backstage, was released in the United States and the United Kingdom on August 12, 2011, for a two-week limited engagement. The film is directed by Kevin Tancharoen.[18]

In January 2010, it was announced that open auditions would be held for three new roles to be introduced in Glee's second season. They were open to amateurs and professionals aged sixteen to twenty-six, and were intended to be the subject of a multi-part television special, set to air in the lead-in to the second-season premiere in fall 2010, with the new cast members revealed in the first episode.[79] Murphy commented: "Anybody and everybody now has a chance to be on a show about talented underdogs. We want to be the first interactive musical comedy on television."[230] On June 22, 2010, Josef Adalian of New York magazine revealed that the reality show would not go ahead, due to Murphy's desire to concentrate on the main series, and fear that the distraction of the reality show may damage Glee. Adalian reported that the production team would still choose several winners from the entrants and invite them to appear on Glee for at least one episode.[231] In June 2010, it was announced that Oxygen would host a reality series set to air in June 2011, featuring performers competing for a spot on Glee.[232][233] The Glee Project started airing on June 12, 2011, and the final episode was broadcast on August 21, 2011.[234] The winning prize was a seven-episode guest-starring role in Glee's third season, which was awarded to two contestants, Damian McGinty and Samuel Larsen, with a two-episode role given to the two runner ups, Alex Newell and Lindsay Pearce.[235] The Glee Project was renewed for a second season that ran from June 5 to August 14, 2012, with Blake Jenner as the winner. The show was not renewed for a third season.

On June 7, 2010, UK broadcaster Channel 4 aired Gleeful: The Real Show Choirs of America on its E4 station. The documentary explored the American show choir phenomenon which inspired Glee.[236] Narrated by Nick Grimshaw,[237] it went behind the scenes with real-life glee clubs and detailed celebrity show choir alumni including Lance Bass, Ashton Kutcher, Blake Lively and Anne Hathaway.[238] It was selected as recommended viewing by The Guardian, with the comment: "it's a fascinating look at the real-life New Directions, and it's equally as crackers as its TV champion."[239] The newspaper's Lucy Mangan reviewed the documentary positively, writing: "It will, one way or another, fill your heart to bursting", and commenting that: "Glee, it turns out, is not a gloriously ridiculous, highly polished piece of escapism. It is cinéma vérité."[240] It was watched by 411,000 viewers, a 2.3% audience share.[241]

In summer 2010, Channel 5 in the United Kingdom aired Don't Stop Believing, a reality talent show inspired by Glee's success. The series featured live shows in which established and new musical performance groups competed against each other, performing well-known songs in new arrangements, with viewers voting on the winner.[242] Solo singers were also sought to join a group to represent the United Kingdom on the American glee club circuit.[243][244] Five's controller Richard Woolfe stated: "There's an explosion in musical performance groups and Don't Stop Believing will tap into that exciting groundswell."[245] The show was hosted by Emma Bunton,[246] who told The Belfast Telegraph that she is a "huge fan" of Glee.[247] The show's judges were former EastEnders actress Tamsin Outhwaite, Blue member Duncan James, singer Anastacia and High School Musical choreographer Charles "Chucky" Klapow.[248]

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