The stars and the creative team behind the Fox musical dramedy speak with this week’s Entertainment Weekly about the phenomenon, the season finale, and beyond.  Glee’s ratings are stellar – in fact, since the show returned from a four-month hiatus and nabbed the prime slot behind American Idol, viewership has grown 70 percent, from 7.3 million to 12.4 million.  But it’s more than just a ratings hit: Glee has become the industry’s biggest story of the year.  It has spawned three albums, and the cast’s covers of songs like Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” routinely hit the top-downloads chart on iTunes the day after they drop.  And last week, the cast embarked on a four-city tour.  “I never thought the show would even last,” says co-creator Ryan Murphy.  “I just didn’t think people would get it.  It truly is a show that the fans think is theirs, that they discovered it.”

It’s difficult to fathom, then, that the original pilot script did not contain Sue Sylvester.  “On our first phone call, Kevin [Reilly, Fox Entertainment president] said, ‘You need a villain,’” remembers Murphy.  “And I said, ‘You know, you’re right.’  I knew exactly who she is.  I said, ‘Her name is Sue Sylvester.  And she is the cheerleading coach.  And she may be on horse estrogen.”

With those three sentences, a television icon was born.  Of course, Sue’s popularity has been helped immeasurably by the woman who sports the warm-up suits: Jane Lynch.  The 49-year-old character actress has become the prom queen of this year’s TV season, winning accolades and Gleek adoration.  Off screen, Lynch is also an out lesbian and is engaged to her girlfriend.  The actress says that she’s proud to be a role model for those viewers who face prejudice due to their sexuality.  “There are kids out in unnamed spaces where it’s not a welcoming atmosphere for their sexual orientation.  And to see somebody living their life open I think is a good thing,” she says.  “I wish I had had that when I was young.” Mostly, though, Lynch loves her day job, and says Glee’s success hasn’t changed much on the set.  “It’s been wonderful and surreal,” she says, but “we all still get up and go to work and do our thing.  The bottom line is we do it because we love it, and we’d be doing it if our ratings were in the toilet.”

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