Glee is a musical drama series that aired from May 2009 to March 2015 on the Fox network. The series’ story revolved around the glee club named ‘New Directions’ at William McKinley High School.
New Directions competes as a show choir; the story involves sub-plots of the club members dealing with their respective social issues about teenage relations, family issues, race, sexuality, and teamwork.
Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan created Glee, which aired for six seasons and contained 121 episodes.
Cast
Glee has an ensemble cast of actors who can act, sing, and dance equally. Apart from the central star cast, the series had several supporting and recurring characters in the role of the school’s faculty members, students, and family members of the ‘New Directions’ members.
The main star cast consists of talented actors such as Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, Jessalyn Gilsig, Jane Lynch, Jayma Mays, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, and Cory Monteith.
Matthew Morrison, Amber Riley, Mark Salling, Jenna Ushkowitz, Heather Morris, Mike O’Malley, Naya Rivera, Darren Criss, Harry Shum Jr., Chord Overstreet, Jacob Artist, Melissa Benoist, Blake Jenner, Alex Newell, Becca Tobin, and Dot-Marie Jones complete the main star cast of Glee.
Premise
The series revolves around a high school show choir named ‘New Directions’ and the social issues faced by the choir members.
The initial story included the character of a New Directions director and Spanish teacher named Will Schuester, played by Matthew Morrison. The role of a scheming cheerleading coach ‘Sue Sylvester’ was played by Jane Lynch.
In the storyline, some of the other characters included the guidance counselor, Emma Pillsbury, played by Jayma Mays; Jessalyn Gilsig played the role of Will’s wife, Terri Schuester.
The original eight club members included popular cheerleader Quinn Fabray, a homosexual boy bullied at school named Kurt Hummel; physically disabled Artie Abrams; and the glee club’s star singer with Broadway theatre aspirations, Rachel Berry.
The school’s star quarterback Finn Hudson; an African American girl with musical aspirations named Mercedes Jones; a teenager in need of proper direction in life, Noah Puckerman; and a shy Korean girl and a victim of racism named Tina Cohen-Chang were all a part of the original ‘New Directions.’
The main cast was changed from time again, with Naya Rivera, Harry Shum Jr., and Heather Morris portraying the roles of Santana Lopez, Mike Chang, and Brittany Pierce, respectively.
Initially visualized as a feature film, Glee features musical numbers selected by Ryan Murphy while maintaining a correct balance between chart hits and show tunes.
The music from the series became commercially successful and, according to October 2011 figures, made a sale of eleven million albums globally. Columbia Records released Glee’s music.
The cast members also conducted live concert tours after filming of the first two seasons was over. A concert film titled ‘Glee: The 3D Concert Movie’ was released based on the cast’s 2011 tour.
Reception And Accolades
The critics’ reviews for the first season of Glee were positive.
The debut season received nominations for several awards shows, including 19 nominations at the Emmys, six at Satellite Awards, and four at the Golden Globe Awards.
Glee won the Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy award at the Golden Globes in 2010. Jane Lynch and guest-star Neil Patrick Harris won the Emmy Awards for their roles. Ryan Murphy also won an Emmy for directing the pilot episode.
It again won the Golden Globe for Best Television Series in 2011. Jane Lynch and Chris Colfer won awards in the supporting category at the Golden Globes. Gwyneth Paltrow won an Emmy for being the Outstanding Guest Actress on Glee.