This week's cover: Why America is falling for 'Glee'

by EW staff
Categories: Glee, This Week's Cover
This season’s most unexpected success story, Glee is snarky, theatrical, totally addictive — and a cult phenomenon on its way to becoming a national obsession. The comedy is currently averaging a steady 8 million viewers a week, and the people watching are enviably young: Five million of its viewers are in the desirable 18–49 demo. (It’s little wonder that in September, Fox made Glee the first new fall series to be given a full 22-episode pickup.) Meanwhile, fans are staying engaged even after the episodes are over by downloading the cast’s newest cover tunes. More than 1.7 million Glee songs have been sold since May, and that’s after only seven episodes. “I thought it would be a huge project, but I didn’t know it would be this big,” says Rob Stringer, chairman of Columbia/Epic, Glee’s label. “The public appetite for this music is incredibly intense.” Adds the comedy’s co-creator Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck), “It seems to have transcended just being a television show to moving into other cultural areas.”
The number of die-hard Glee fans — or “Gleeks,” as they call themselves — is bound to grow early next year, when episodes will follow American Idol. The young cast of newcomers is already beginning to see the effects of Glee mania. “I was at Disneyland yesterday — big mistake,” says Chris Colfer, who plays gay fashionista Kurt. “I might as well have walked around with a target on my shirt, because those are our fans. I stopped and took pictures probably 40 times in between rides. This one lady got a picture of me on the Tower of Terror and had me sign it.” Says co-creator Brad Falchuk, “I keep getting e-mails and phone calls and running into people at parties just telling me the show makes them feel happy.”For more on Glee — including scoop on upcoming episodes, a spotlight on the hilarious Jane Lynch (Coach Sue), and an inside look at Glee’s budding musical empire—pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands Friday, October 23.
I did happen to get the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly and this is what they have to say about the upcoming season:
Glee fnas will find even more to be happy about in upcoming episodes, which will continue to explore the love triangle involving Will, his pregnancy-faking wife, Terri, and his co-worker crush, Emma.  The complicated romance between outcast diva Rachel (Lea Michele) and singing jock Finn (Cory Monteith) will be put under further stress by his girlfriend Quinn's (Dianna Agron) real pregnancy. "She loves Finn-that doesn't go away" says Michele of Rachel. (But that doesn't mean there isn't room in her hear for an older man. "Rachel might be crushing on Will a bit," teases Morrison.) And in the November 11 episode, "Wheels"-- the series most emotional hour to date-- we'll get a revealing peek at Sue Sylvester's personal life.  An even more suprising twist will be the friendship that develops between Finn & Kurt, once Kurt's unrequited fondness for the football star is revealed. "It's delicate," says Monteith. "How much does Finn know about how Kurt feels for him?  How much of it does he understand?  We were all very careful to make sure we handled that with intellegence and character."  Of course, it'll a;; be topped off with more showstopping musical numbers, including a touching version of John Lennon's "Imagine", performed with a deaf choir, and a cover of "Bootylicious," sung by the choir's rivals at the Jane Adams Academy reform-school glee club(whose coach will be played by guest star Eve.)
While the season's final nine episodes are still being developed, Murphy tells EW that he's considering approaching Idol runner-up Adam Lambert about appearing on the series.  Plus Joss Whedon(Dollhouse, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) plans to direct an episode, Kristen Chenoweth will return as boozy glee alum April Rhodes, and Tony nominee Jonathan Groff--Michele's costar from Broadway's Spring Awakening-- has beem cast as the lead singer of Vocal Adrenaline, the reigning glee-club champs who performed "Rehab" in the pilot. "He is a male diva-a miva," says Murphy of the character, who will try and woo Rachel.  Much of the second half of the season will help set up an ultimate battle between New Directions and Vocal Adrenaline in the finale.  But how will Murphy keep the plot moving once the kids have faced there biggest foes? Fortunately, the producers have already plotted out the first three years of Gleedom. "There's always someone else to fight," explains Falchuk.  Adds Murphy, who likens Glee's narrative trajectory to that of the Rocky's films, "You start small, and then you go national.  If it keeps going, I think they should compete in Russia.  I pitched it, and [Fox] seemed down with it.  There are glee clubs overseas, so it's not that crazy".  Well at the rate Glee's going, world domination doesn't seem that out of reach.
The rest of the article mentions what they had listed on their website in addition to one other thing- the orginal concept of Glee.  The orginal show was written to be dark and moody.  The article reads:
In 2008 ,aspiring screenwriter-actor Ian Brennan met with Murphy and his fellow Nip/Tuck executive producer Brad Falchuk to discuss Brennan's pitch-black screenplay about high school glee. "It was like an independent film," says Brennan, whose version featured teacher-student sex and a charcter addicted to Demerol.  Murphy liked Brennan's writing voice (Brennan is the one most responsible for Sue's acidic quips), and as a fornmer college crooner in Indiana University's "Singing Hoosiers," he was naturally intrested in the topic.  But Murphy, who had just signed an overall deal with Fox, was looking for something a tad brighter then Brennan's inital vision, so they completely overhauled the script; in it's place emerged the story of plucky teacher Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) and his struggle to turn McKinely High's dorky glee club, New Directions, into state champions, despite the nefarious plotting of coach Sue. And with these changes, they created the first scripted series to tap into viewing public's insatiable appetite for giddy talent competition spectacles( American Idol, Dancing with the Starts, America's Got Talent, etc.)-- as well as the first successful musical TV series since Fame went off the air in 1987.