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 show was AWESOME! My husband (who is very very hard to please when it comes to TV) and I absolutely loved it… please keep this show on – there are WAY TOO MANY crappy shows out there – we NEED this one!!!!
I am positive that this show will be very successful. When i went to school the night after seeing this i was ecstatic about it, and while many people had seen it and liked it just as much as myself, there were a lot that hadn’t but wanted to catch it. From what i hear it is doing very well on i tunes where is sold for free, a very smart marketing move. By the time the fall season rolls along “Glee” will be doing very well in the ratings
oh man i had that journey song stuck in my head ever since the show aired! none the less great show looking forward to seeing it play out
I love this show!!!! You must keep it!!!!!
I have watched this episode 3 times since it aired and the last number several more times than that. I absolutely loved every minute of this show. I too was a glee club/drama kid in high school and this episode brought back a lot of nostalgia for those days. I thought the singing was good as was the acting. I really hope that they keep this around. I hate seeing all the new quirky shows get cancelled before their time. This has the potential to be a great hour of family tv. I can not wait until the fall, especially… Read more »
I will seriously cry if they cancel this show. Some of it was a little too stereotypical in spots, but I enjoyed the entire hour. The singing was incredible, the acting wonderful, and the songs they picked for the pilot were great. Clearly, they probably wouldn’t be able to do so many in just one normal episode. But that’s why I’m glad we were able to empathize with the characters, too. It was more than just tuning in for some good music.
I can’t wait for Fall.
Even after this received the highest rating and a very positive review from the fine TV critic Tim Goodman in the SF Chronicle, I was stunned how strong the pilot was – and how much I enjoyed it, rather than just appreciated it. My wife, who knew nothing about it before I suggested we watch it off the DVR (I had recorded it) was dancing her pregnant self off the couch by 2/3 of the way through the episode, and her disappointment over waiting until fall to see episode 2 quickly was mitigated when she put some Journey on the… Read more »
I loved it! I thought it was very well done! I thought the music was great and the show over all was very entertaining!!! BRING IT BACK! Don’t f-ing cancel it! It’s one of a new fresh, original show on television now! It is SO good! I think word of the mouth will help it spread, kind of like it did for the first Pirates of the Caribbean! “Don’t Stop Believing” was the number one most bought song on iTUNES the last time I checked! I’ve already gotten five people hooked to it so far and I plan on telling… Read more »
I seriously enjoyed “Glee.” I LOVE singing, and I found myself singing along to nearly every song while I watched it! It’s such an amazing feeling to watch a show centered around kids like me who share such an intense passion for vocal music. It really makes me wish my school had a glee club, or that I had gone to the performing arts high school so I could help further my dream career as a singer. At first, I suspected this show was going to be much like “High School Musical,” and it did have similar elements to it–but… Read more »
I was talking about it with some HS friends. We were all drama/music geeks back in the day. I need to be a writer for this show. If they’d let go of the stereotypes and the tired old predictable stuff, it could be a great show. It’s just that somehow I find it hard to believe in the American Idol era that ANYONE would get picked on for wanting to sing…and further, that they could only get five kids–all with personality defects. At my high school, people broke down the doors to get the coveted positions in the swing choir.
the pilot was not attractive enough for me.
but, casts’ [Don’t stop believin’] part was really wonderful.
it had some kind of magic.
good luck, GLEE
I’m looking forward to this autumn.
I just watched the pilot on the fox website (ratings are, well, overrated, as more and more people are watching shows online…I was at work when it aired originally) and I was smiling the entire time. I suppose I’m a bit biased cause I was a band kid all through high school and college, and although this is a bit more about the singing, the same themes and emotions are there and I can empathize with the whole cast. How many shows on the air can you really say that about? I think TV needs a show like this to… Read more »
I loved it, it was Fame meets Camp meets Bring it On meets Sister Act 2 meets Arrested Development — why not go ahead and throw a few genres in a blender and make a tasty treat. Best of all, it has a degree of optimism we sorely need nowadays. Reality isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I personally love the idea that Fox is even trying this. But then, I was a glee kid too, so maybe I’m just reliving? Whatever the reason, it’s nice to watch something and feel good for a change. I think Glee is… Read more »
This show is AWESOME – many friends and co-workers (spanning generations and genders) loved the show. Bring it on in the Fall.
I loved this show :] it was amazing and they are all talented actors.
And haven’t they canceled enough of the good shows leaving us crappy reality shows and what not, don’t get me some reality shows like Hell’s kitchen are good butt every network seems to cancel all the shows i love! Such as Life, Crusoe, and Jericho to name a few.
Anyways loved Glee i hope it stay on for a long time.