Glee

(work in progress)

About

Glee is an American musical television series that premiered on Fox in May 2009. The series follows the members of the William McKinley High School glee club^[1] New Directions as they compete in show choir tournaments, while dealing with everyday teen issues.

History

Glee was conceived by Ian Brennan based on his own experiences in a high school glee club. He initially wrote it as a movie script, which did not receive interest until a friend passed it along to Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy, who competed in show choir in college. After enlisting Murphy’s colleague Brad Falchuk, the trio rewrote the script as a television show which was picked up by Fox 15 hours after the pilot script was pitched.^[2] The pilot episode^[3] aired on May 19th, 2009 to 9.619 million viewers. The season consisted of 22 episodes, with five to eight musical performances per episode.^[4]

The show attracted a number of celebrity guest stars that season including Neil Patrick Harris, Kristin Chenoweth, Olivia Newton-John and Josh Groban. The first season was so successful, five albums containing music from the show were released and 12 of the cast members went on a 13-date national tour that sold out every night.^[5] As of July 2013, the show has aired four seasons, and the fifth is set to premiere in the fall of 2013.

The Glee Project

In June 2011, Oxygen launched The Glee Project, a reality show that acted as an audition for a seven-episode arc on Glee. More than 40,000 people auditioned for twelve spots on the first season of the show. The Glee Project aired two seasons, with six competitors actually appearing on the main show.^[6] However, a late renewal for _Glee_’s 5th season led to the cancellation of the competition.

Reception

The first season gained generally positive reviews, achieving a Metacritic^[8] score of 78 from 19 reviews. Both Entertainment Weekly^[9] and TIME^[10] included it as one of the best TV shows of 2009.

Accolades

In its four-year run, Glee has been nominated for more than 150 awards and has won more than 70 of those.^[11] A number of cast and crew members have also been nominated for individual awards, including actress Jane Lynch who has been nominated for 18 awards and won 8 for her portrayal of cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester.^[12]