Glee is a musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationship, sexuality and social issues. The initial main cast encompassed club director and Spanish teacher Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays), Will’s wife Terri (Jessalyn Gilsig), and eight club members played by Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley, Mark Salling and Jenna Ushkowitz. For the second season, formerly recurring cast members Mike O’Malley, Heather Morris and Naya Rivera were promoted to the main cast. Harry Shum, Jr. will become a series regular next season.

Picture shows Glee cast.

The series was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, who first conceived Glee as a film. The pilot episode was broadcast on May 19, 2009, and the first season aired from September 9, 2009 to June 8, 2010. The second season began airing on September 21, 2010, and a third season has been commissioned. Glee features on-screen performance-based musical numbers which are selected by Murphy, who aims 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 have been released by Columbia Records. The music of Glee has been a commercial success, with over thirteen million digital single sales and five million album sales. The series’ merchandise also includes DVD and Blu-Ray releases, a young adult book series, an iPad application, and a karaoke game for the Wii.

During its first season, Glee received generally favorable reviews from critics, with Metacritic’s weighted average based on the impression of 18 critical reviews of 77 percent. The season was nominated for nineteen Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, six Satellite Awards and fifty-seven other awards, with wins including the 2010 Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series—Musical or Comedy, and Primetime Emmy awards for Lynch, guest-star Neil Patrick Harris and Murphy’s direction of the pilot episode.

Conception
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 three years of broadcast.

SONGS IN GLEE (SEASON 1) SONGS IN GLEE (SEASON 2)

All About Rachel Berry
Rachel Berry is a fictional character and mostly the central figure from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actress Lea Michele, and has appeared in Glee from its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. Rachel was developed by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan. She is the glee club star of the fictional William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio, where the show is set. Her storylines have seen her suffer peer alienation due to her Broadway ambitions, and develop romantic feelings for football player (and fellow Jew) Noah Puckerman (Mark Salling) as well as Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff), a member of rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline, but primarily quarterback and glee club co-captain Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith).

Lea Michele as Rachel Berry in Glee.

Rachel is strong and driven but misunderstood, explaining that Glee follows Rachel’s journey to become more of a team player. Michele was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in the 2010 ceremony; and for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards for her performance in the role. Rachel has received mostly positive reviews from critics, with Maureen Ryan of The Chicago Tribune praising Michele for making the character “more than a humorless stereotype”, but Raymund Flandez of The Wall Street Journal describing her as “insufferable”. Several songs performed by Michele as Rachel have been released as singles, available for digital download, and also feature on the show’s soundtrack albums.

Rachel is regularly portrayed by Lea Michele. She is portrayed by Lauren Boles as a child. In casting Glee, series creator Ryan 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 Lea Michele, who starred in Spring Awakening. The role of Rachel was written specifically for Michele.

She took the role because of Rachel’s characterization, explaining: “Not only is she a singer, but she has so much heart – I think it’s what we need on TV. A show that is filled with heart and love that is funny. It sends an amazing message to kids about the arts and being who you are.”

Michele described the first thirteen episodes of the series as: “Rachel’s journey of finding herself within the Glee club”, explaining that: “She’s learning how to be a team player and work within this group. She’s a very strong, driven girl, who’s sometimes a little misunderstood.”

Michele bases Rachel on herself when she was younger, and also draws inspiration from the film Election, and the Gossip Girl character Blair Waldorf. She has explained: “[Blair] is shady, but you still love her. She’s still vulnerable. That’s what I try to do with Rachel. Rachel will never be popular because her looks aren’t considered beautiful, and when I was in high school it was the same for me. I didn’t get a nose job, and every single girl around me did. Therefore, I was out. I was not cool. What’s so great about Glee is that it shows you how that kind of stuff hurts, but it doesn’t matter: You can still be who you want to be. And in four years, high school will be over and all of that crap won’t matter anyway.”

Source: wikipedia.org