that didn't take long -- only about 30 minutes from rumor to the official release from FOX:
FOX SINGS PRAISES OF “Glee” WITH FULL-SEASON PICKUP
FOX has ordered a full season of the critically acclaimed comedy Glee, it was announced today by Kevin Reilly, President, Entertainment for Fox Broadcasting Company.
“The response we’ve received to Glee has been remarkable,” said Reilly. “It’s already got the makings of a cultural phenomenon. I’ve seen all 13 episodes, and Ryan Murphy, his team and the talented Glee cast have knocked our socks off with their incredible work. We’re happy to pick up this gem of a show, and can’t wait to see what they’ll do with the rest of the season.”
“It’s fantastic to be the first show picked up and that this underdog series, like its characters, will get the chance to keep singing,” said series co-creator/executive producer Ryan Murphy. “There are so many more stories to tell. We’re grateful for the incredible passion shown by everyone involved – the unbelievable fans, the cast, crew, our partners at the network and studio and even music artists and labels.”
In the next episode of Glee, airing Wednesday, Sept. 23 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), Kurt (Chris Colfer) takes center stage when he tries out for the football team in order to impress his dad. Sandy (guest star Stephen Tobolowsky) and Sue (Jane Lynch) join forces to carry out their plans for disbanding the Glee Club. Meanwhile, Quinn (Dianna Agron) and Finn’s (Cory Monteith) relationship is tested when they receive some life-changing news.
Glee, the genre-defying new musical comedy series, follows an optimistic teacher who – against all odds and a malicious cheerleading coach – attempts to save McKinley High’s Glee Club from obscurity while helping a group of aspiring underdogs realize their true star potential. The critically acclaimed series stars Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, Jessalyn Gilsig, Jane Lynch, Jayma Mays, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Matthew Morrison, Amber Riley and Mark Salling. Guest stars this season include Victor Garber, Josh Groban, Kristin Chenoweth and Eve.
During its preview and throughout the summer, more than 25 million people sampled the first episode of Glee. The Sept. 9 premiere of Glee was FOX’s highest-rated fall scripted new series premiere in three years among Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 and Teens. In fact, during its first week this season, over 15 million viewers watched Glee’s fall premiere episode. Additionally, the show has attracted over 300,000 obsessed fans on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, and after only three episodes, six of the songs featured on Glee have already made it into iTunes’ Top 100 Downloads.
Glee is produced by Ryan Murphy Television in association with 20th Century Fox Television. Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan are co-creators of the series. Murphy, Falchuk and Dante Di Loreto serve as executive producers, while Ian Brennan serves as co-executive producer.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Full episodes of Glee are available for viewing at fox.com and hulu.com.
lol gee that was fast
yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!
congrats to the cast excallent dont have to worry about another one of my fav show lots
lost to soon i mean
As much as I think the shows cute, I think its stupid to renew without seeing how it fares against originals on ABC, NBC, and CBS. So I think it would be really funny if its ratings tanked (this week, adn this week only give them a little pause).
“It’s already got the makings of a cultural phenomenon.”
LOL!
It’s a good show…but really…
Anon, you have no future in PR.
I’d agree with mswood, the Fall season starts properly tonight (even though Fringe and Bones came back last week) and it’s much too early to see how Glee will fare.
If I remember correctly, isn’t it up against SVU, Criminal Minds and two new ABC comedies, the ones with Ed O’Neill and Courteney Cox, think they’re called Modern Family and Cougar Town and both have had decent preview reviews.
If Glee comes fourth, would Fox regret their decision to renew it? Stii could be worse, Glee could be on Mondays or Thursdays. Now those are tough nights.
I would argue that Glee doesn’t exactly target the same audience as SVU and Criminal Minds, and the overlap between it and the ABC comedies probably won’t be that significant either. Really, it seems to me the biggest timeslot competition was Beautiful Life on the CW and that tanked.
Dave, I would be very surprised if Glee is in fourth place in W18-34, which Fox has said is what they are targeting with Glee. Probably won’t look as spectacular as the first two weeks, but I would guess it still wins the night in that demo, unless ABC’s comedies end up being much stronger than I expect them to be. (I expect them to perform decently in 18-49, but not as well in 18-34.)
Of course, if Glee ends up being fourth in the 18-49 demo, will Fox still love the W18-34 demo quite as much? (Either way, this was a lock for renewal since last week, I think, and it doesn’t matter what numbers it gets between now and Idol.)
“Critically acclaimed”? That’s a bit of a stretch.
Last year, FOX had Hole in the Wall which averaged about 1.5. The year before, Don’t Forget the Lyrics averaged 2.9.
I think FOX will be unhappy if the show pulled less than a 3.0 average.
dave – glee will likely get 3rd overall but retain most of its dance lead in. Abc comedies will get 4th but will still get a full year. Criminal minds will get 1st nd SVU will get 2nd. This full season order was not surprising however lets see how the series does over the course of the fall.
Andrea, Fox’s 18-49 average rating pre-Idol last season was 2.67, my guess is that Fox would be fine with Glee averaging a 2.7 or above.
And just to make some corrections on the ratings you cited:
Hole in the Wall averaged a 2.0 18-49 rating in 4 episodes at 8:30 and a 1.7 rating at 8:00 in 4 episodes on Wednesdays last season.
And the Thursday DFTL in 2007-8 averaged a 2.8 18-49 rating, but 2 years ago in broadcast television is getting close to an eternity for comparison purposes
Way too early! Fox will just end up cancelling it or pulling it from the schedule by January, in my opinion. I have watched every episode of Glee so far and was impressed by the pilot and the first episode, but the last one just seemed to drag. I think nets give full season pick ups on shows before they really see how they will perform during crucial television viewing periods, ie sweeps. With the scheduling of Criminal Minds on CBS and SVU on NBC, it should be interesting to see how Glee will stand up. I have high hopes for ABC’s comedy Wednesday line-up, except for Hank and Cougar Town. I have a bad feeling about Kelsey Grammer because he just isn’t funny anymore and all I can think of when I see him is Frasier Crane. Courteney Cox’s new show is another example of a desperate plea for help. After Dirt bombed, Cox took a few turns as a guest star on Scrubs, but this does not warrant a new show for an aging television star. IMO, Grammer should stick to executive producing Medium and Cox should just spend time with David and Coco, oh and BFF Jennifer Aniston.
Hi Bill,
Happy Fall!
Thanks for the corrections. I went straight to Futoncritic.com for the averages (he does a neat job of analyzing fall shows every year).
I’m thinking that FOX did this so that people will think it’s safe to watch because it’s not going anywhere. It’s a bit of a psychological ploy that basically says “this show is so great it’s already been approved to keep going” I think they know it’s going to take a hit when the rest of the broadcasters premiere their shows, so they wanted to get out in front of that. It’s a smart move but I don’t know if it will really help them that much.
Tommy, I agree. HBO did the same thing with True Blood, and that worked well. However, that was cable. Will the same tactic work for broadcast in this tough ratings environment?
I guess we’ll see…
I don’t buy Tommy’s argument. While I think it’s definitely true for people who visit our web site, I don’t get any sense that the larger viewing public pays any attention to pickups or renewals and cancellations…until they notice something isn’t on the air anymore. If we weren’t shutting comments on posts off after 30 days, we’d still be getting comments about “where is Dirty Sexy Money!?”
So Robert,
What’s your explanation?
I see your point Robert, I think it was put out there for all those people that read Entertainment Weekly and E!Online, etc…