Next week, Billboard Magazine hits stands, and our very own Glee cast are on the cover!

t’s all about “The Power of Madonna” this week on the Billboard 200, where the soundtrack from last week’s Madonna-themed episode of Fox TV’s “Glee” debuts at No. 1 with 98,000 copies sold. Billboard’s current issue finds out just how Glee has made a fan in Madonna and taken over the rest of America with its hit show and chart topping music. “I was in the crowd at ‘Oprah’ and I thought I was at a Jonas Brothers concert,” says Adam Anders, producer of songs featured on “Glee” as well as the soundtracks. “There was just so much screaming – and they were all adults. It was pandemonium. I can only imagine what it’s going to be like when kids are there.”

The story also talks about Billboard’s upcoming “Glee Live! In Concert!” tour that will travel for two weeks and hit Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. “I remember I talked to [executive producer] Dante Di Loreto and [co-creator] Ryan Murphy and said, ‘If all works well, we should see records in the top 10 and we should sell albums. And if all that works, we should do a tour,’” says Geoff Bywater, head of the music department at 20th Century Fox Television.

Some impressive stats of the show included in the story are:
· Glee’s “Power of Madonna” episode attracted 13.5 million viewers

· Lea Michele’s performance of “Like a Prayer” sold 87,000 downloads

· Glee’s first soundtrack sold 799,000, the second soundtrack sold 594,000 downloads

· The “Glee Live! In Concert!” tour sold out in 30 seconds in LA after sales went live

Be sure to buy the magazine next week!

For all of the growing members of the Gleek Nation in the UK, I’m going to do a recap the night after of the show that aired on E4! This won’t be your standard recap though- I’ll add my own…annotations to the review of the episode. So here we go with Mashup

Best Overall Moment- I didn’t know why people were raving about Puck & Rachel getting together, but now I see it! Jeez, get over Finn and go with Punk, Rach!
Performance of the Week- There were a lot of very good performances this week, but 2 stood out simply because it was their debuts as solo singers- Puck’s Sweet Caroline & Emma’s I Could’ve Danced All Night. But because of the whole dancing shindig in her wedding dress, this one goes to Pilsbury.
“You Got Owned” Moment of the Week- Mr Schu really should’ve kept quiet in an episode where the popular kids finally felt the wrath of the slushie facial, because his one was EPIC!
What Happened To… As much as I like Terri, I think it was good she got a week off to pay attention to Puck & Emma.
I Wanna Sucker Punch… No one this week. Even though Tanaka did force his boys to choose, emotions were leading the way, so I forgive him.
Quote of the Week: “I’m going to buy you a kitty. You will fall in love with that kitty. Then in the steal of the night I will sneak into your house and punch you in the face.”- thanks for the heads up, Sue!
OMG HE DID WHAT?! Moment: We knew he was spread too thin, but COME ON! Finn picking football and Puck picking singing?! At least Finn & Tanaka came to their senses.
Who We Want More of Next Week… Hello….Tina. We haven’t got the chance to get to know you. Maybe next week?

For all of the growing members of the Gleek Nation in the UK, I’m going to do a recap the night after of the show that aired on E4! This won’t be your standard recap though- I’ll add my own…annotations to the review of the episode. So here we go with The Rhodes Not Taken

Best Overall Moment- The awesome end of show performance of Somebody to Love. It’s one of my favourite songs ever, and it gave me goosebumps hearing Mercedes hit the last note. AND…ARTIE SANG A BIT!
Performance of the Week- Won’t repeat, so I’ll say April & Rachel singing Maybe This Time. Galinda is BACK with a huge set of pipes!
“You Got Owned” Moment of the Week- Quinn tries to detract Rachel from singing to Somebody to Love, only to get overruled by her own boyfriend!
What Happened To…Terri. Mrs “HP” (see our last Gleecap to find definition). She had a small bit, but I wander what she’d think of 2 women all over her man. Oh, and there was not enough Sue for my liking this week, but she does earn Quote of the Week.
I Wanna Sucker Punch…Sandy. Second week in a row..that’s not good considering this is the second installment! But how could you make Rachel cry?! That’s just mean…she only wants to do well!
Quote of the Week: Sue: When I heard Sandy wanted to write himself into a scene as Queen Cleopatra, I was aroused. And then furious.
OMG HE DID WHAT?! Moment: April makes Kurt go drunk beyond belief. He looked WASTED beyond belief when confronting Emma, and poor Em got thrown up on (not good for a clean freak!).Second is Rachel kissing Finn, but not pulling away…dun dun dunnn!
Who We Want More of Next Week…Like last week, I would like to see more of the HP storyline, as well as more Sue! The fact that her one scene got her Quote of the Week is an indication to how integral she is to Glee.

The ratings for Glee on E4 this week have come in:

Glee was the most-watched programme on the multichannel stations last night, early viewing figures show. The 9pm screening of episode four drew a respectable 989k (3.8%), up around 167k on last week’s performance. A further 297k (1.6%) watched an hour later on E4+1, taking the total audience to around 1.3m.

Source: Digital Spy

For all of the growing members of the Gleek Nation in the UK, I’m going to do a recap the night after of the show that aired on E4! This won’t be your standard recap though- I’ll add my own…annotations to the review of the episode. So here we go with Preggers

Best Overall Moment- Kurt, Tina & Britt dancing to Single Ladies at the beginning. Quite possibly the funniest opening to the show so far!
Performance of the Week- The football team dancing to Single Ladies during a match to hype themselves up to win. Puck lost a lot of cred there, folks!
“You Got Owned” Moment of the Week- Kurt kicking the ball through the posts (I’m British- I have no idea about American football!) to the routine of Single Ladies…TWICE! Second is Rachel’s dream solo is placed on Tina, and contrary to popular belief, Tina can sing it insanely well!
What Happened To…Mercedes?! First off, she’s smashing Kurt’s car up, and then goes AWOL on a episode predominantly about him. Talk about inconsistency!
I Wanna Sucker Punch…Sandy. Geez he’s creepy beyond belief. Terri & her sister Kendra come in a close second & third.
Quote of the Week: Kurt: “I’m gay”; Kurt’s Dad: “I’ve known since you were three when you wanted a pair of sensible heels for your birthday”
OMG SHE DID WHAT?! Moment: Quinn tells Finn she’s preggers with his child, yet they’ve never had sex…It’s then revealed Puck did! Upset, Quinn “Real Preggers” Fabray is approached by Terri “Hysteria Preggers” Schuster, who wants the baby in preference to a KFC chicken bone and a stuffed pillow.
Who We Want More of Next Week…I’d like to see more of the whole hysteria pregnancy thing with Terri. It’s one of the funniest things about the show, yet heart breaking for Will for whenever he find out. Oh, and more Finn please if that’s humanly possible.

I found some behind the scenes photos of the show and just added them to the gallery!

Much closer to Alexander Payne’s “Election” than Disney’s “High School Musical,” the pilot for Ryan Murphy’s “Glee” is one of the best of the last several years, a clever blend of satire, pop tunes, laugh-out-loud comedy, and rich, interesting characters. The one thing I kept thinking during the pilot of “Glee”? This is too good for network TV. It will never last.

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The only real problem with Glee, Fox’s new musical comedy, is that viewers will have to wait four months for the next episode.

That’s a long time, but wait we will, because wait we must: Glee is the first show in a long time that’s just plain full-throttle fun, no guilty-pleasure rationalizations necessary. The pilot episode aired Tuesday, but is available to watch online at fox.com.

Heaven knows why it took this long for a network to cash in on the High School Musical-generated frenzy. Nickelodeon took its shot earlier this year with Spectacular!, and Glee unabashedly holds the best of both shows – the sports star with a secret longing to sing, the control-freaky Show Choir girl – up to the dark mirror that is the mind of creator Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck, Popular).

His McKinley High is real high school, a place where moments of shining exultation are surrounded by pits of despair, tripwires of petty rivalries and pathetic hierarchies – a place that leaves such a permanent imprint on the collective psyche that “high school” has become an adjective and its own genre.

All of which is duly noted in Glee, which gleefully (sorry) pokes fun at the very form it follows. The story revolves around Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), a callow young Spanish teacher with an ambitious, crafts-addicted wife (Jessalyn Gilsig) and a dream – to revive and run the Glee Club. “What, you want to captain the Titanic, too?” is the principal’s reaction.

This being television and all, McKinley High Does Have Talent, although of a square-pegs variety. Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) is the Tracy-Flickian star soprano with two dads, surrounded by the requisite rainbow coalition of the disenfranchised: Kurt (Chris Colfer), wearing the world-weary humor known to gay boys everywhere and a look reminiscent of early K.D. Lang; Mercedes (Amber Riley), determined to be Beyoncé (although Jennifer Hudson comes more easily to mind); Tina (Jenna Uskowitz), a skater-punk Asian girl with a stutter; and Artie (Kevin McHale), the geeky jazz guitarist in a wheelchair.

Together they occupy, in the words of cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), the sub-basement of the school’s caste system. Lynch alone makes Glee worth watching. All by her lonesome, Sue summons up what is most feared, loathed and secretly admired in a high school teacher-coach, running the Cheerios, a high-pressure, high-performing cheerleading squad, like an East German gymnastics team. “Get the agony out of your eyes,” she shouts at one practice. “You think this is hard? I’m living with hepatitis. That’s hard.”

Providing gentle but steely contrast is Emma (Jayma Mays), the limpid-eyed, germophobic teacher who clearly hearts Will. Following her advice, Will recruits quarterback and general stud Finn (Cory Monteith), a young man with a passion for excellence and, it turns out, Journey.

Together the nascent group faces many trials, including peer pressure and the Amy Winehouse-rockin’ local competition, all while Will struggles to figure out if his desire to lead the group comes from a true calling to teach or the need to relive his own high-school glory days. Oh, yes, they do all this with the aid of musical numbers.

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen singin’ and dancin’ on network television, and there’s a reason. Musicals are hard to do, especially in these jaded times – one misstep and you’re bogged down in camp.

Glee also has a gorgeous sense of pacing, with oddball visuals – a steel drum band, the gum on Emma’s shoe – breaking up what can so often become a predictable pattern of dialogue, dialogue, action, song.

The music, though by no means edgy, is energetic with a wide audience appeal, as is the show itself. The themes, like the songs, are adult without being too mature (i.e., sexual and-or profane). Which isn’t to say Glee is tame. McKinley is no East High – kids are mean, their jokes are crude, there are sexual situations, and with Murphy running things, anything could happen.

But this version of the roiling crucible that is high school feels real enough to be insightful, but inspired enough to be joyful. Which is, as Will points out, the very definition of glee.Glee

Watch the pilot episode on fox.com; airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. this fall on Fox (Ch. 4).

source:  dallasnews.com