Glee

Glee premiered on Fox on May 19, 2009, created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan. Set at William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio, it follows Spanish teacher Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) as he revives the school’s glee club, New Directions, and recruits students including Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith), Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer), Mercedes Jones (Amber Riley), Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale), Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz), Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron), Noah “Puck” Puckerman (Mark Salling), Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera), and Brittany S. Pierce (Heather Morris). Jane Lynch plays cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester, whose schemes to undermine the club provide a running conflict.

The pilot featured a cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”; the Glee cast version reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The show became known for weekly musical numbers spanning pop, rock, show tunes, and hip-hop, and its cast recordings—starting with Glee: The Music, Volume 1 in November 2009—were commercially successful. The show’s first-season soundtrack, Glee: The Music, Volume 1, reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200. Glee won the Golden Globe for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy in 2010, and Jane Lynch won the 2010 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. It also received a Peabody Award in 2010.

Across six seasons and 121 episodes, the series moved through show-choir competition arcs—Sectionals, Regionals, and Nationals—and personal storylines: Quinn’s pregnancy in season one; Kurt’s coming out and transfer to Dalton Academy, where he meets Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss); Rachel and Finn’s on-off relationship; Sue’s rivalry with Will; and the club’s struggles to survive budget cuts and social stigma. Season three ended with New Directions winning Nationals in Chicago and Rachel and Kurt pursuing NYADA; season four split time between McKinley and New York. The death of Cory Monteith in 2013 was addressed in season five’s tribute episode “The Quarterback.”

Glee also spawned a 2011 concert film, Glee: The 3D Concert Movie, and the reality competition The Glee Project (2011–12). Its final season aired in 2015, ending with the series finale “Dreams Come True” on March 20, 2015, after 121 episodes. The series’ first season earned 19 Primetime Emmy nominations and won four, including a directing Emmy for Ryan Murphy. The first season included the Madonna tribute episode “The Power of Madonna,” while later seasons featured “Britney/Brittany,” “The Rocky Horror Glee Show,” and a Beatles-themed season-five premiere.