A "Special Education"

GLEE Episode 9 “Special Education” – New Directions grabbed their magic combs and Cadbury eggs and headed to Sectionals on tonight’s episode of Glee. They faced off against The Warblers and The Hipsters and came out on top—well, sort of. But I liked last night’s episode of Glee, a lot actually, and yet somehow I expected more.  I think perhaps it’s because I was expecting New Directions to perform “Dog Days Are Over” at Sectionals, and I really wish they’d had. It’s an awesome song, and I’ve Had the Time of My Life/Valerie just didn’t dazzle me the way the previous Sectionals and Regionals performances have. 

I’ll tell you what I did really love about the episode, though – the emphasis on celebrating talent in New Directions other than Rachel and Finn’s. I don’t usually like shows that are too self-aware, but the theme felt like it had just the right amount of poignancy when it came to the storyline and real life criticisms of the show. There is a lot of talent on Glee, and it is fun to hear everyone sing – not just a Rachel ballad and then a classic rock song that ends with Mercedes belting out a big note. Emma knew that formula was tired and so did the audience, and the way the incorporated the change in song structure into the script was artfully done. (Had Mr. Schu just randomly given Sam, Quinn and Santana solos for Sectionals, it would have seemed pretty odd.)

Not only was Mr. Schu battling the fact that his underdog team had become stale frontrunners, he was also battling the fact that everyone in New Directions was, well, battling. Before we even got to the first commercial break, Santana dropped the bomb that she’d slept with Finn and demolished his relationship with Rachel. Plus everyone had a serious case of me-itis, and only cared about what they would do at Sectionals and what solo they would get. 

This episode was really effective in making Rachel likable again. I know after the first season everyone had kind of had enough of her, and even early in this season I was getting bored with the fact that every single episode seemed to include a Rachel solo ballad. She did “What I Did For Love” in the first episode. Then she did “Baby One More Time” – not a ballad, but another solo. Then she did “Papa Can You hear Me?”, which was excellent but another solo ballad. Then in the fourth episode, “Duets”, things seemed to take a turn. Rachel and Finn  threw the competition, and she later performed a killer duet with Kurt. I love hearing those two sing together. After that she seemed to really take a backseat in the show, and it’s been a nice break. 

This week she shone singing “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” with Kurt (a song she plans to have at her funeral to illustrate how everyone realized how great she was just a little too late), but we also got to see the often hidden likable side to her personality. She had some really adorable moments with Kurt, especially when she told him to smile from the audience during his Sectionals performance and initiated a standing ovation. 

I have to give props to Lea Michele this week, because I think her acting was some of the best we’ve seen. She looked truly crushed when she found out about Finn and Santana, and even more crushed when she told Finn about her brief encounter with Puck. (Which, incidentally, I thought Finn overreacted to a little. It did kind of even them up.)

Onto the Warblers’ arena - When I watched the video of the Warbler’s performance of “Hey Soul Sister” last week (OK, I watched it twice) I wondered why Blaine was doing all the singing, and also assumed that Kurt looked rather glum considering he’s now attending his dream school. (I’d also wondered this with Vocal Adrenaline, who relied entirely on Jesse St. James in their performances.) It turns out that Dalton Academy is rather rigid, likeUtopia. Sure, Kurt is accepted. But he isn’t celebrated. The words “fitting in” are thrown around, but anyone who knows Kurt’s character knows he’s not the kind of kid who wants to fit in. I loved that he had Rachel help him with his audition song (you have to audition for solos there, in front of a panel) and then he was told he’d tried too hard. Perhaps if he’d known they didn’t like that style he wouldn’t have gone to the girl who bursts into tears during every performance for coaching. 

The fact that Kurt probably isn’t going to get a solo or select a song anytime soon suggests that his time with the Warblers will be rather short. But how will he get back to McKinley? What will become of Karofsky? That’s probably a question for the second half of the season, but I’d be shocked if Kurt wasn’t back with New Directions in time for Regionals. How can they go to Nationals in NYC without him?

Here’s a question about Blaine, though – how good are his intentions with Kurt? He told Kurt he needed to be more of a team player, but he’s the only guy in the Warblers that we’ve heard so far. Does he really buy into all this teamwork crap, or is he just trying to keep his own position as apparently the only soloist safe?

Now for one of the bombshells of the episode – Emma and Carl went to Vegas and got hitched. Gah! What the hell? Not only do they have trouble getting together, they keep going and marrying other people! Wrong, wrong, wrong!

How do you guys feel about Emma’s news? Is it just another twist in the series, or are you sick of seeing Will tortured so? Should he continue to pine for her or move on to someone else? (Hello, Idina Menzel and Gwyneth Paltrow.)

To the Sectionals - It was pretty funny to see Puck on the wrong side of a port-a-potty when he tried to recruit a new member for New Directions. He ended up getting Laura, on the condition that he’d give her some out-of-season Cadbury eggs and seven minutes in heaven that allegedly rocked his world. Personally, I’m not a fan of Laura. I find her hostile, and not in a funny way like Santana. 

I was happy to see Mr. Schu yell at the glee kids for a change, since they were all acting like selfish brats. Like I said, though, the Sectionals performances fell a little flat for me. (The two songs not performed for the competition were my favorites from the episode.)

“The Living Years” by The Hipsters was great just because everyone had a walker or cane and the name “The Hipsters” cracks me up. I’d already seen “Hey Soul Sister”, and the song is a little overexposed, but it was a decent performance. 

I didn’t like how Quinn and Sam entered to do “I’ve Had the Time of My Life” the same way Rachel and Finn did for “Faithfully”. They have different voices than Rachel and Finn and I think a different vibe (either more intimate or more fun) would have suited them better. Naya rocked an awesome hat during “Valerie”, but it wasn’t the bombastic closing performance I had expected. I loved the dancing, though.

“The Dog Days” was by far my favorite performance from my night, and possibly one of my favorite Glee covers from this year. It was great to see Tina sing something that didn’t bore me to tears as well, though I might have liked it better if everyone had gotten a line to sing or something. It was nice to see all the kids let loose and have fun.

Thus, on the whole this episode didn’t just focus on one character, so it felt nicely balanced. I still don’t think it quite lived up to last year’s Sectionals episode, though. With Rachel and Finn apart and Will heartbroken, it lacked the joy of last year’s episode. 

Onto next week the last episode of the year "A Very Glee Christmas".

A "Special Education"

The Rocky Horror Glee Show

I have a confession: before it was announced that Glee was doing a tribute episode of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, I simply had no clue at what it was all about until I saw it a week prior to The Rocky Horror Glee Show is aired on Fox and I would like to say that it proved to be very beneficial for me to relate to the three decades old movie.

That said and done, I loved this episode.

Why?

Because it incorporated fun songs into already established storylines and gave them a new look. And what was the best part of the deal; it was more of a Rocky Horror tribute than a remake, as Glee put its own spin on the musical. Even though they sanitized it a bit, “The Rocky Horror Glee Show” was still quite risqué (All those abs! The gold shorts! Will and Emma!).

The relationship between Will and Emma hasn't been featured much this season, but that changed this week, as the inspiration behind honoring Rocky Horror felt organic, like a natural (albeit moronic and self-centered) decision Will would make in the face of losing Emma to Carl.

Unlike the Britney-based trainwreck of a few weeks ago, nothing about this episode felt forced. Which is an impressive feat to pull off, considering how random it may have seemed to some viewers that every song was from a film that came out over three decades ago.

Neither Brad (Finn) nor Janet (Rachel) ended up in bed with Dr. Frank-N-Furter, but there was still a whole lot of sexiness going on. Between Sam, Mr. Schue, and Finn the abs were out of control tonight. And how hot was Will and Emma’s “Toucha Toucha Touch Me?” I love those two together, but it looks like Dr. Carl is here to stay for the time being. I can live with that because Dr. Carl seems good for Emma and John Stamos is a wonderful addition to Glee. I’ve been looking forward to hearing him sing on the show, and he didn’t disappoint—his version of “Hot Patootie” (or as iTunes calls it “Whatever Happened to Saturday Night?”) was fantastic.

One of the biggest changes Glee made was having Mercedes play Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the role Tim Curry played in the 1975 movie. They played down the transvestite aspect of the role, and changed the lyrics in “Sweet Transvestite” to “Sin-sational, Transylvania,” rather than “Transsexual, Transylvania.” It was really different to see Mercedes play Dr. Frank-N-Furter, but ultimately I enjoyed her take on it.

Original Rocky Horror actors Barry Bostwick and Meat Loaf made cameos as mangers of the local TV station.

The casting was great—Kurt as Riff Raff was brilliant and Finn and Rachel were ridiculously cute as Brad and Janet.

Puck has been noticeably absent these past two episodes. But not to worry he returns in Never Been Kissed.

Sue’s Corner is back and it looks like she has set her eyes on a local Grammy.

Overall, I thought “The Rocky Horror Glee Show” was a fun episode. The way they worked it into the plot made sense to me, and it didn’t feel as forced as some of the other theme episodes. Even though Will was acting kind of stupid, it seemed believable that his feelings for Emma would cloud his judgment. I also really enjoyed the music, with “Time Warp” and “Hot Patootie” being my favorite performances.

The Rocky Horror Glee Show

An extra dose of Breadsticks with a tinge of "Duets"

After last week's heavily emotional melodrama of Grilled Cheesus which contained an interesting discussion of religion and had a few poignant moments, this week's Duets came as a respite.


On this weeks episode of Glee (“Duets”)  Mr. Schuester challenged the Gleeks to pair up for duets and compete against each other for a dinner at the much-hyped fictional restaurant Breadsticks. Letting the kids pair up was a great, simple plot device because the characters didn’t team up with the obvious choices.

Santana ditched Brittany to pair up with Mercedes, leaving Brittany to court Artie. After much will-they/won’t-they hoo-haw, Quinn and Sam paired up for a duet, which was charming but didn’t blow me away. Kurt stayed true to himself and did a duet with himself. But what about our established couples? They made it interesting because we hadn’t yet ever seen Tina and Mike Chang sing together, and Rachel and Finn decided to throw the competition by singing a really awful song (admittingly the most hilarious part).


Sam (with the platinum Justin Bieber hair) and Quinn won the duet competition, although I don’t understand why Mercedes and Santana didn’t win. Even with Mike Chang’s bad voice, Tina and Mike were more entertaining to watch.


Lets look at some of the Duets we see in through the whole episode:

 

  

 First up we see Rachel and Finn, they did the cutesy thing with “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” by Elton John and Kiki Dee and then they sang “With You I’m Born Again” while dressed as a priest and a Catholic schoolgirl(slick). But that aside, I kind of loved how well these two worked together to lose the competition—it was totally cute.

 

 Up next were Mercedes and Santana, the two divas did “River Deep, Mountain High” by another diva, Tina Turner. Santana even did some killer Tina Turner dance moves. Truthfully i don't see how they lost, they did it so perfectly!

Next we see some innovative approach by the one and only Kurt, who performed the duet with himself(very creative). After his father and Finn convince him to back off Sam, he did a solo on “Le Jazz Hot” from Victor/Victoria. It suited him perfectly, but I don’t think he’ll be replacing Julie Andrews anytime soon. I liked it.


Next up after much hesitation are Mike and Tina. Their duet of “Sing” from A Chorus Line was so much fun!Do you think Harry Shum Jr. really can’t sing? Oh well, his dancing skills more than make up for it.

Last of all in the competition and the winners to Breadsticks Sam and Quinn. They were just too adorable on “Lucky” by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat. They might just be my favorite new couple.

Another sub-plot of the episode was between Artie and Brittany. Artie lost his virginity to Brittany, which I totally and most definitely did not see coming. Seducing him for a free dinner with breadsticks was just low, even for Brittany. Although that scene at the end (with her looking longingly at Artie) makes me think she might actually have feelings for him. What do you all think about a possible Artie and Brittany romance?

A Fitting end for the DUETS - Rachel and Kurt did a mash-up of “Get Happy” and “Happy Days are Here Again” with Rachel singing the Barbra Streisand part and Kurt singing the Judy Garland part. I loved this duet much more than any others showed throughout the episode! Rachel was even wearing an outfit inspired by Streisand. It also seems they have made peace between themselves(good thing 'cause divas need to stick together).

Santana and Brittany – When they referred to their hookup last year, it was treated as a joke, so I was really surprised to see them kissing tonight(I was like what the hell). Maybe I’m overreacting, but this scene bugged me. Brittany and Santana being bisexual is treated like no big deal, while Kurt struggles with being the only openly gay dude in their town. It just plays into the stereotype (and male fantasy) that women’s sexuality is more fluid than men’s—the idea that all women are a little bisexual. I think Kurt’s character proves you can’t pick your sexuality…oh wait, I guess you can if you’re a hot cheerleader.

Besides my issues with Brittany and Santana, I really enjoyed this episode of Glee. I liked how Finn, Kurt, and Burt revisited the name calling incident from last season, and they called out Kurt for being so pushy. Kurt has been really angry the past two episodes, but maybe it’s because he’s lonely. It was also good to see more of Quinn, who hasn’t had much to do lately. Puck’s convenient stint in juvy allowed her to spend some one-on-one time with Sam, and I think they are just too cute together. I don’t think Puck is going to be too happy about it, though. There’s definitely some drama ahead for these two.

So what did you think of “Duets?” Does Quinn belong with Sam or Puck? What was your favorite duet of the night? What about this friendship between Rachel and Kurt? Leave a comment below!


Next up on October 26,2010 is the much awaited Rocky Horror Picture Show tribute episode titled "THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW".

An extra dose of Breadsticks with a tinge of "Duets"

Glee Season 2 Episode 1 "Audition"

Here goes for nothing guys, the review i have been itching to write.


I like the show - there are times I downright love it - but Season 1 really was a narrative mess held together mostly by a very talented cast and some infectious musical numbers. Going into Season 2 I was very worried that the hype around the show would encourage the writers/producers to blindly indulge in their worst traits - the stunt casting, the gratuitous theme episodes, the sloppiness in characterization and storytelling, etc.


If the Season 2 premiere was any indication of what lies ahead, I should probably trot down to the butcher shop to see if they have any crow suitable for eating. That was a tight 60 minutes featuring some great character moments, some very funny scenes, some solid musical numbers, and what appears to be actual forward momentum. Did the showrunners actually take the notes, or did they just have time to sit down and give the show the planning and attention it needs? Who knows, but I hope they can keep it up. That episode was totally satsifying.

Some random thoughts:


-I liked all the new characters. I bitched before the season started that with 15 regulars, the cast was already overcrowded; the last thing this show needed was more characters to keep track of. But there have been some very strategic cuts to the cast that made a little room for some promising newbies. (Coach Tanaka is out, as is the one male member of the glee club whose name I still cannot remember; on the other hand, Will's ex-wife is still a part of the cast even though she has been utterly pointless since the mid-point of Season 1. What is that about?)


I loved the dynamic between Sue, Will, and the new female football coach, Bieste. Giving Sue an opponent that a) is not Will and b) actually comes from a position of power should keep things interesting, and prevent Sue from going stale and/or soft too soon (that's a very real risk, as we already saw during some of the worst moments of S1).

On that note, hilariously named Filipino transfer student Sunshine Corazon brings out the worst/best in Rachel (more on that in a moment) and adds a different flavor to the New Directions gang. I think the producers realized fairly early on last season that Tina (or rather, the actress playing her, Jenna Ushkowitz) was never going to be able to pull off singing lead, meaning Rachel and Mercedes - and occasionally Quinn - kept having to do all the heavy vocal lifting. Sunshine adds another powerful female voice to the mix. I know, she got pilfered by Vocal Adrenaline at the end of the episode, but she's a recurring character, and I'm sure she'll be back at McKinley at some point. At least I hope so; that girl can sing. (Although the actress playing her, Charice, is TERRIBLE at lip synching. She really needs to work on that.)

Lastly, new quarterback and inevitable Finn rival Sam provides some twink eye candy and another decent male voice although i hate that Bieber hair-do(I don't think there was any Autotuning on Chord Overstreet's take on "Billionaire"). The only downside is that, as pointed out in the episode, the boy really does have a distractingly gigantic mouth. There was a thick gay subtext whenever his character was on screen. Is he going to end up being Kurt's promised love interest?


-I loved the self-referential humor. How best to deal with all the online criticism from respected critics, bored hausfraus, and obnoxious bloggers like yours truly? Incorporate it into the show. Opening the season with that horribly stereotypical high-school reporter confronting the various members of the glee club with some of the nastiest real-life online comments allowed the show to address some of the issues head on, as well as provide a snappy, quick-paced recap. I'm sure some people will find it cutesy and insipid, but I appreciated the candor, and the acknowledgement that, yes, the people who make the show actually do listen to what people say, and seem to take at least some of it seriously.

-I'm a little concerned about the alluded new direction for the musical numbers. Here's where I'm worried that the showrunners listened to "the people" a little too much. In the beginning of the episode Mr. Schu addresses the criticism that last season's musical numbers read like a drag queen's playlist, and tasked the club to do something current. And the majority of the songs from the episode ended up being current (at least, from the last year or so) pop songs from the likes of Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, Travie McCoy, etc.


I'm not sure that's a change for the better, and it seems like a kneejerk reaction from a network suit who held some teen focus group or something. Some of the best songs from Season 1 were older songs that the show resuscitated and put a totally different spin on - I'm thinking "Don't Stop Believing," "Jump," and even "Burning Up," just for starters. Most of the modern songs featured in this episode were more or less note-for-note remakes of contemporary pop songs. Why would someone download a cover of a Jay-Z song that sounds exactly like the Jay-Z song, just with more people singing it? Especially when said Jay-Z song is still in the iTunes Top 100? (Of course, as I write this, the "Glee" versions of all of those songs are zooming up the charts, so what the hell do I know?)

For my money, the best numbers of the night were the two Broadway songs, "Listen" by Charice and "What I Did For Love" by Lea Michele. They weren't huge departures from the originals, but they sounded different enough to make me want to buy both of them instead of the originals. And they're not songs I hear a million times on the radio on any given day. I just hope the show isn't going too far in its attempt to keep the tween audience engaged by only doing covers of songs by, like, Justin Bieber or whatever act is hot at the moment. There are so many amazing classic songs begging for a new spin and a new audience.

-I desperately hope they continue the offbeat characterization for some of the leads. Rachel is at her best when she is being awful, and she was in fine form this episode, sending some poor immigrant girl to a crack house so as to not lose even a sliver of her spotlight. Yes! That is exactly what that character would do in real life, because she has a pathological need to be the center of attention. I find it refreshing when the show allows its arguable heroine to behave in really contemptuous ways, and it drives me nuts when it goes all sappy and has the "Rachel Learns a Lesson" plotlines. She got the message that what she did was shitty this episode, but there wasn't a predictable kumbaya moment. And that's awesome, because that's exactly how real life works. I hope they keep up the insufferable moments with her, and I also hope they split up her and Finn, because seriously, the two of them have zero chemistry and don't even make sense together (what would she see in such a lunkhead?).

On that same tip, Sue was an unrepentant shit this week, escalating her war with Bieste to the point where she baked poop cookies and coerced a student to make false molestation claims. That is the Sue Sylvester I know, love, and admire. I understand that there have to be some moments of humanity, otherwise she turns into a caricature. And I think they've done that with her relationships with the mentally handicapped. But last season you could see where they were trying to de-claw her at points, and I'm not interested in that in the slightest. Sue Sylvester is the goddamned Darth Vader of high school. Remember how lame Vader got after we found out he was a pasty, wheezing fat guy? Please don't make Sue a pasty, wheezing fat guy, show.


I was also pleased to see a hint or two that Quinn is back to her old, manipulative ways now that the ill-considered pregnancy storyline is done. I actually thought Quinn was one of the best-developed, most well-rounded characters of the first season, but she was dethroned as Queen Bee awfully fast. She took back her crown this episode in a wonderfully vicious scene with Santana. (Does anyone know if the breast implant thing was based in real life? Did Naya Rivera get a boob job, and this was the show's way of addressing it?) I am eager to see how she interacts with Rachel, Mercedes, Finn, and Puck, as that will really tell us whether the bitch is back or not.


Next episode: It's Britney And Brittany. Expect lots of snakes, hair whipping, naughty schoolgirl outfits, and for the ol' Autotune to get quite a workout. 


Better stock up on Cheetos and Red Bull now, y'all.

Glee Season 2 Episode 1 "Audition"

ITS SHOW TIME!!

Guys look at the calender and tell me the date.


Quick its very important.


If you all still haven't guessed at the date its 21st September folks, GLEE season 2 starts today.


I don't know about you guys but I for one am very much excited about the return of the show, have been excited since the end of season 1.


But what is Glee? 


To all the non-Glee readers, the word 'glee' literally means happiness or joy.Glee is a musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States. It focuses on a high school show choir (a modern glee club) called "New Directions", at the fictional William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio. The pilot episode of the show was broadcast after American Idol on May 19, 2009, and the first season began airing on September 9, 2009. On September 21, 2009, Fox officially gave the series a full-season pick-up. Glee aired its mid-season finale on December 9, 2009 and returned from a four-month hiatus on April 13, 2010, picking up the remaining nine episodes of the season. The spring premiere had an estimated 13.7 million viewers, nearly doubling in followers on its return. It was renewed for a second season, which is scheduled to begin on September 21, 2010(i.e., today), and will feature three new cast members. 


The show's creators, Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, first conceived Glee as a film. Murphy selects the series' music, aiming to maintain a balance between show tunes and chart hits. Songs covered in the show are released through the iTunes Store during the week of broadcast, and a series of Glee albums has been initiated by Columbia Records, beginning with Glee: The Music, Volume 1, which was released on November 2, 2009. The music of Glee has been a commercial success, with over seven million digital sales.


Now lets see a bit of history behind GLEE, as to how the show was conceived.

Ian Brennan conceived Glee based on his own experience as a member of the Prospect High School show choir in Mount Prospect, Illinois. He initially envisioned Glee as a film, rather than a television series, and wrote the first draft in August 2005 with the aid of Screenwriting for Dummies. He completed the script in 2005, but could not generate interest in the project for several years. Mike Novick, a television producer and a friend of Brennan's from Los Angeles, was a member of the same gym as Ryan Murphy, and gave him a copy of Brennan's script. Murphy had been in a show choir in college, and felt he could relate to the script. Murphy and his Nip/Tuck colleague Falchuk suggested that Glee be produced as a television show. The script was entirely rewritten, and was picked up by Fox within 15 hours of being received. Murphy attributed that, in part, to the network's success with American Idol. "It made sense for the network with the biggest hit in TV, which is a musical, to do something in that vein", he said. Murphy and Falchuk became the show's executive producers and showrunners, while Brennan is a co-executive producer and Novick is a producer. Brennan, Falchuk and Murphy write all of the show's episodes.

Lea Michele

Jane Lynch

Glee is set in Lima, Ohio. Murphy chose a Midwest setting as he himself grew up in Indiana, and recalled childhood visits to Ohio to the Kings Island theme park. Although set in Lima, the show is filmed at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. Murphy has said that he has never seen a High School Musical film, to which Glee has been compared, and that his interest lay in creating a "postmodern musical," rather than "doing a show where people burst into song," drawing more heavily on the format of Chicago. Murphy intended the show to be a form of escapism. "There's so much on the air right now about people with guns, or sci-fi, or lawyers running around. This is a different genre, there's nothing like it on the air at the networks and cable. Everything's so dark in the world right now, that's why Idol worked. It's pure escapism," he said. Murphy intended to make a family show to appeal to adults as well as children, with adult characters starring equally alongside the teenage leads. Murphy has mapped out plans for the series covering a three years of broadcast.

Glee Season 2 premiere photoshoot

But What is Glee exactly about? 

Optimistic teacher Will Schuester tries to inspire a group of ragtag performers to restore McKinley High School's glee club to its former glory and take part in a national competition. Of course, it would be an easier task if it weren't for the current stars of the choir: a nerdy soprano, a diva-in-training who refuses to sing back-up, a geeky guitar player and an awkward girl who struggles to suppress her stutter. Still, with two real talents in his sights, Will and fellow teacher Emma Pillsbury are determined to do whatever they can to prove all naysayers wrong and make the show choir great again. GLEE is an uplifting musical comedy series with biting humor that features a soundtrack of hit music from past to present!

The first season of Glee consists of 22 episodes. The pilot episode was broadcast on May 19, 2009. The series returned on September 9, 2009, airing on Wednesdays in the 9:00 p.m. timeslot until December 9, 2009 for a total of thirteen episodes. On September 21, 2009, nine more episodes were ordered for the first season by Fox, with the first of these episodes airing on April 13, 2010. These episodes aired on Tuesday evenings at 9:00 p.m. 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. Season two is scheduled to begin on September 21, 2010, initially airing in the 8 p.m. time slot on Tuesdays, then moving to the 9 time slot on Wednesdays after a special episode following the 2011 Super Bowl. A third season was ordered by Fox on May 23, 2010. The early renewal of the show will allow the production team to cut costs and to plan ahead when writing scripts.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.

The first season of the musical comedy-drama television series Glee originally aired on Fox in the United States. The pilot episode was broadcast as an advanced preview of the series on May 19, 2009, with the remainder of the season airing between September 9, 2009 and June 8, 2010. The season consisted of 22 episodes; the first 13 aired on Wednesdays at 9 pm (ET) and the final 9 aired on Tuesdays at 9 pm (ET). The series was executive produced by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Dante Di Loreto; Murphy's production company helped co-produce the series alongside 20th Century Fox.

The show features the fictional high school show choir New Directions competing for the first time on the show choir circuit, while its members deal with relationship, sexuality and 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).

Lea Michele & Jonathan Groff at Glee Concert singing HELLO by Lionel Ritchie

The series features numerous musical cover versions performed on-screen by the characters. At the beginning of the season, Murphy intended for the performances to remain reality-based, as opposed to having the characters spontaneously burst into song. As the season progressed, however, Glee began to utilize fantasy sequences, with paraplegic character Artie imagining himself dancing to "The Safety Dance", and six separate characters performing a fantasy version of "Like a Virgin". The first thirteen episodes of the season averaged five songs per episode. For the final nine episodes, the number of performances increased to eight. Murphy believes that many of the songs were "really fun and successful", however the production team intend to return to five songs per episode for Glee's second season, in order to return focus to the characters.

Jonathan Groff & Lea Michele on stage performing in the coming-off  musical  THE SPRING AWAKENINGS. Playing the roles of Melchior Gabor and Wendla.

When seeking to attain the rights to songs, early in the season Murphy was often requested to send out advanced scripts, but refused, not wanting to set a precedent for record labels having creative involvement in the show. Singer Rihanna offered her single "Take a Bow" for use at a reduced licensing rate. Madonna granted the show rights to her entire catalogue, and the tribute episode "The Power of Madonna" features Madonna performances exclusively.

Glee cast done Madonna's MATERIAL GIRL look

The season had a cast of twelve actors who received star billing. Matthew Morrison played Will Schuester, director of the McKinley High glee club. Jane Lynch played Sue Sylvester, head coach of the cheerleading squad and the glee club's arch-nemesis. Jayma Mays portrayed Emma Pillsbury, a mysophobic guidance counselor with romantic feelings for Will. Jessalyn Gilsig played Terri Schuester, Will's wife of five years. Lea Michele played Rachel Berry, the star of the glee club. Cory Monteith portrayed Finn Hudson, star quarterback of the school's football team, blackmailed into joining the club. Also playing club members were Amber Riley as Mercedes Jones, Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel, Kevin McHale as Artie Abrams, and Jenna Ushkowitz as Tina Cohen-Chang. Mark Salling played Noah "Puck" Puckerman, a football player and bully who later joined the club, while Dianna Agron portrayed Quinn Fabray, Finn's girlfriend, who became pregnant with Puck's baby.

At the Tony Awards 2010

A number of secondary characters were also portrayed throughout the season, including Patrick Gallagher as Ken Tanaka, coach of the football team, Iqbal Theba as Principal Figgins, and Stephen Tobolowsky as former glee club director Sandy Ryerson. Mike O'Malley appeared as Kurt's father Burt Hummel, and Romy Rosemont played Finn's mother Carole Hudson. Naya Rivera and Heather Morris played Santana Lopez and Brittany, cheerleaders who joined the glee club with Quinn. Harry Shum, Jr. and Dijon Talton were initially hired for a single episode as football players Mike Chang and Matt Rutherford, but remained on the show as supporting members of the glee club.

Guest stars from musical backgrounds were often featured on the show, including John Lloyd Young as wood shop teacher Henri St. Pierre, and Victor Garber and Debra Monk as Will's parents. Josh Groban appeared playing an "ignorant asshole" version of himself, while Olivia Newton-John portrayed the "dark side" of herself; a "mixture of mean and diva". Kristin Chenoweth played April Rhodes, a former member of the glee club who never finished high school and ended up hitting rock bottom. Jonathan Groff played Jesse St. James, the male lead of rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline, and Idina Menzel appeared as Vocal Adrenaline director Shelby Corcoran, who is revealed in "Dream On" to be Rachel's biological mother. Fans had originally lobbied for Menzel to be cast as Rachel's mother due to the strong physical resemblance between Menzel and Michele. Eve played the Jane Addams Girls Choir director Grace Hitchens, having been cast after Whitney Houston declined to appear. Michael Hitchcock appeared as the Haverbrook School for the Deaf choir director Dalton Rumba.

Sarah Drew played Suzy Pepper, a senior with "an insane, absurd, psychotic crush on Mr. Schuester". Drew described Suzy as "kind of stalkerish and creepy", but ultimately redeemable. Gregg Henry and Charlotte Ross appeared as Quinn's parents, Russell and Judy Fabray, and Molly Shannon played Brenda Castle, an alcoholic astronomy teacher and badminton coach who clashed with Sue. Neil Patrick Harris guest starred as Bryan Ryan, Will's former glee club rival, now a school board member bent on vengeance against the club. Murphy created the role particularly for Harris, who received clearance from CBS to appear on Fox for the episode.

The twelve main cast members from season one will return for season two: Matthew Morrison as glee club director Will Schuester, Jane Lynch as cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester, Jayma Mays as guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury, Jessalyn Gilsig as Will's now ex-wife Terri Schuester and Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley, Mark Salling and Jenna Ushkowitz as glee club members Quinn Fabray, Kurt Hummel, Artie Abrams, Rachel Berry, Finn Hudson,Mercedes Jones, Noah "Puck" Puckerman and Tina Cohen-Chang. Heather Morris has confirmed to TV Guide's William Keck that she and Naya Rivera, who portray the currently recurring roles of Brittany and Santana Lopez respectively, will be promoted to series regulars. Mike O'Malley, who plays Burt Hummel will also become a series regular in season two.

Lea Michele performing "Don't rain on my parade" at Tony Awards 2010

Supporting cast member Harry Shum, Jr. will have an increased role as glee club member Mike Chang, dating Tina, who breaks up with Artie due to his careless attitude. Dijon Talton will, however, not return to the role of Matt Rutherford. He will be written off as having transferred. Guest stars Jonathan Groff, Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel will return as Jesse St. James(take a double HURRAY!! i'm biased towards Groff & Michele pairing), April Rhodes and Shelby Corcoran respectively, and Murphy is hopeful that Neil Patrick Harris will return as Will's high school rival Bryan Ryan. Kurt will get his first boyfriend and they will become a school power-couple, and Charice will play a foreign exchange student named Sunshine Corazon from the Philippines and rival to Rachel. On June 8, 2010, it was announced that John Stamos, who was derided by Emma in "Acafellas" as having "more certainty than talent", has been cast as her new love interest. Susan Boyle will guest-star in the Christmas episode as a cafeteria worker, and Javier Bardem will guest-star during the second half of the season as an ex love interest of Sue. Dot Jones will appear as football coach Shannon Beiste, replacing Patrick Gallagher as Ken Tanaka. Chord Overstreet will play Sam Evans, a transferring student athlete who befriends Finn at first, but ends up becoming his rival. Cheyenne Jackson will play Vocal Adrenaline's new coach, replacing the role previously played by Menzel. Sue Sylvester's mother will also be introduced this season, to be played by stage and screen legend Carol Burnett. Meat Loaf and Barry Bostwick, who both starred in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, will appear in Glee's Halloween Rocky Horrortribute episode. On September 20, 2010, Kristin Dos Santos of E! Online reported that Gwyneth Paltrow will also appear as a substitute teacher who takes over for (and catches the interest of) an ailing Will for two episodes in November.

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 16 to 26, 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. 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." 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.

Such a popular show should also have a huge fandom right!

Here they are fans of Glee are commonly referred to as "gleeks" (i'm one myself), a portmanteau of "glee" and "geek". Fox ran a "Biggest GLEEK" competition, measuring fans' Glee-related activity on social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace, and found that the growth of the fanbase outpaced the network's science-fiction shows. The cast's Hot Topic tour was titled "The Gleek Tour". Glee is one of the most tweeted about TV shows. Fans have recreated many of its musical numbers in tribute to the show, sharing them on YouTube. Based on this trend, show producers included instrumental versions of some songs on the show's soundtracks.

Glee has received generally favorable reviews, with a Metacritic score of 77 out of 100, based on 18 critic reviews. It was praised by critics in several round-up reviews of 2009 in television. James Poniewozik of Time ranked it the eighth best television show of the year, commenting: "when Glee works — which is often — it is transcendent, tear-jerking and thrilling like nothing else on TV." Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker ranked it ninth, calling it "Hands down the year's most novel show [and] also its least likely success", Lisa Respers France of CNN wrote that while ordinarily Glee's premise would have been "a recipe for disaster", the show has "such quirky charm and bravado that it is impossible not to get swept up".

After the episode "Showmance", the Parents Television Council named Glee the 'Worst Show of the Week', calling it "an edgy, sexually-charged adult series that is inappropriate for teenagers". Nancy Gibbs of Time magazine wrote that she had heard the series described as "anti-Christian" by a youth minister, and commented: "It is easy to see his point, if you look at the specifics. [...] The students lie, they cheat, they steal, they lust, they lace the bake-sale cupcakes with pot in order to give the student body a severe case of the munchies. Nearly all the Ten Commandments get violated at one point or another, while the audience is invited to laugh at people's pain and folly and humiliation". However, Gibbs continues to mention: "It insults kids to suggest that simply watching Characters Behaving Badly onscreen means they'll take that as permission to do the same themselves. [...] And it's set in high school, meaning it's about a journey not just to college and career but to identity and conviction, the price of popularity, the compromises we must make between what we want and what we need."

Variety's Brian Lowry was critical of the show's early episodes, highlighting acting and characterization issues and deeming the adult cast "over-the-top buffoons", with the exception of Mays' Emma, who he felt offered "modest redemption". Though he praised Colfer and Michele's performances, Lowry wrote that the show's talent was squandered by its "jokey, cartoonish, wildly uneven tone", deeming the series a "one-hit wonder". Following the show's mid-season finale, Lowry wrote that while Glee"remains a frustrating mess at times", its "vibrant musical numbers and talented cast have consistently kept it on [his] TiVo must list" conceding that "even with its flaws, TV would be poorer without Glee."

As Glee's initial success pulled in a large audience, John Doyle, Globe & Mail, wrote that the early shows "felt fresh, mainly because the motley crew of kids had a kind of square naïveté." Doyle notes that the early success took Glee away from its original characters and plot, focusing more on celebrity guests. 'The gaiety is gone from Glee. You should have set it in its prime, mere months ago".

Glee has received a number of awards and nominations. In 2009, the series won five Satellite Awards: "Best Musical or Comedy TV Series", "Best Actor" and "Actress in a Musical or Comedy TV Series" for Morrison and Michele, "Best Supporting Actress" for Lynch and "Special Achievement for Outstanding Guest Star" for Kristin Chenoweth. In 2010, the show won a Golden Globe Award for "Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy". Morrison, Michele and Lynch also received acting nominations. The series was nominated for two Writers Guild of America Awards, with screenplays nominated in the "Comedy Series" and "New Series" categories. The Glee cast won the "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series" award at the 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. Paris Barclay and Ryan Murphy both received nominations for "Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series" at the Directors Guild of America Awards for their work on Glee. In July 2010, Gleereceived 19 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including "Outstanding Comedy Series", "Outstanding Lead Actor – Comedy Series" for Morrison and "Outstanding Lead Actress – Comedy Series" for Michele. It ended up winning 4, incuding Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Jane Lynch and Outstanding Guest Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series for Neil Patrick Harris.

Not only America but the whole world is a fan of GLEE.

Glee has been syndicated for broadcast in several countries worldwide, including Australia, where cast members visited to promote the show prior to its September 2009 debut. In Australia it is shown on Network Ten and FOX8. Season 2 will premiere in Australia on 22 September 2010, four hours after the North American premiere . It also airs in Canada, Latin America, Puerto Rico, Slovenia on TV3 Slovenia, Brazil on Fox Brasil, New Zealand, and Fiji. 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. In Europe, episodes of Glee premiere 20 hours after their US broadcast in Ireland. It also airs in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Portugal, Italy, Denmark, Spain, Turkey, France, the Netherlands, Georgia, and the Czech Republic. In Asia, it airs in the Philippines,Japan, Southeast Asia, India (Star World), Malaysia, Singapore and in Israel on yes stars Next.

So, with a slew of stars, lists of some of the best songs and a whole lot of high school drama GLEE has become a runaway success, now returning for the next season of the musical drama. So guys "ITS SHOW TIME!!" 

ITS SHOW TIME!!