FOX’s much-hyped preview of Glee aired in a coveted position, following the second-to-last American Idol of the season. In that plum timeslot, how well did Glee perform do? Will the musical comedy stick around?
Glee follows the administrators and the members of a formerly top show choir at a fictional Ohio high school. A young teacher (Broadway’s Matthew Morrison) offers to take over leading the group to try to return them to their former glory. Other castmembers include Jayma Mays, Chris Colfer, Amber Riley, Kevin McHale, Jenna Ushkowitz, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Dianna Agron, Mark Salling, Jessalyn Gilsig, and Jane Lynch.
The series debuted to an average of 9.6 million viewers with a 3.9 rating among adults 18-49. Those numbers sound okay on their own but, when you dig deeper, it’s a different tune. The show’s American Idol lead-in attracted 23.8 million viewers with an 8.6 rating in the demo. About half as many people tuned in to watch Glee and then, by the second half hour, another three million tuned out.
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FOX execs have to be disappointed considering the great Idol lead-in and all of the promotion that the network has poured into it. The show has already secured a spot on FOX’s Fall schedule as the network’s only new drama. It’ll definitely be back. But, if the debut is any indication of the show’s future, you have to wonder, for how long?
According to FOX spokesperson Joe Earley, the network is pleased with the show’s average performance. He tells the Hollywood Reporter, “The measurement for success last night was never about the demo rating… We’re definitely happy with the way Glee performed, we knew how tough the competition was going to be, last night was a marketing experiment and we got almost 10 million people to see it, which is fantastic. We could work all summer long marketing the show and not get those many people, and certainly not in the fall.”
So, what do you think? Worth keeping or should it be cancelled?
Image courtesy FOX.
This is the kind of show that NEEDS to be on T.V. It was an amazing preview episode and the T.V. execs would be stupid to cancel something like this. Give it a shot, it deserves that.
Keep it! I really loved Glee, and I’ll be excited to see more in the fall!
Love, love, love it. Brings back such great memories of high school.
Do not cancel Glee. My son said it was a great episode, so I went online and have already watched it twice. I plan on watching it again. The show was fantastic. It’s great for teenagers and parents. I can not wait for the fall.
it was a good show, i liked it. and rachel = mad hot. so, i would be interested in watching it again.
Canceling the show after one PREVIEW episode before the big summer lull is just plain stupid. How else can the show build on an audience if the only real lead-in is American Idol? TV shows build steam over time through word-of-mouth, water cooler conversations and so forth. I don’t know how successful it’s going to be, but expecting its performance to be poor because of the one-episode performance is downright stupid.
Keep Glee!!!!! its so different then most shows on tv! i luv it! i just hope if the show goes on that the plot wil get more dramatic then just ok we need to practice and lets throw eggs at geeks. but i do love all of the renditions-tres fab!
I LOVED Glee! Its much different from the usual cop/doctor/lawyer dramas out there, refreshing.
Please keep it. The whole time I watched, I kept thinking this could be a very good movie, how are they going to keep up in episodes to come??? Can’t wait to see more. I was disappointed when I couldn’t find it thru my TiVo to get a season pass!
I loved the show! It was something different and a breath of fresh air!
It’s about time for a show for all us ex-teens who found performing arts to be the way to both overcome and indulge in our neuroses in high school. “Glee” was a little hokey but so much fun I watched the whole thing hoping it was not just another teaser. I’m looking forward to watching it in the fall. I want to see talented young people who have put their all into a goal that in this day and age is difficult because the one joke in the show that is true is that performing arts in high school is… Read more »
I almost decided to stop watching half way through but I kept with it and now I can’t wait till the next episode. So I hope it doesn’t get cancelled.
Even if the ratings weren’t stellar, the reviews have been fantastic! They definetly need this new show.
Keep it! It was a great, funny show!
Cancel Glee? NO! This show has me more excited than any other in years. I am not alone in thinking this. Everyone I know LOVED the first show. Those who voted to cancel Glee are crazy or didn’t bother to watch. I downloaded the free episode from iTunes and have watched it four times so far.