Re: General Glee Discussion Thread--Part 6

Glorfindel 3/18/2015, 7:01 pm

Glee Pilot Oral History, Part 3: Let's Go to School

What was it like returning to high school by walking the halls of Long Beach’s Cabrillo High and Burbank’s John Burroughs High School?

By Rae Votta
March 18 2015

As ready as they were going to be after weeks of rehearsal, Glee began filming in late in 2008, using two actual schools for production: one was Long Beach’s Cabrillo High, the other was Burbank’s John Burroughs High School. Glee’s production team later faithfully recreated those locations on the stages of Paramount Studios, but with just a pilot on order borrowed sets were more cost effective. For many actors, it was their first time on a proper set of any kind, while others had extensive experience, but felt like Glee was something special and different right from the start.

Stephen Tobolowsky (Sandy Ryerson): This was not like any television experience I’d ever had in my life. But, it was very much like many theater experiences I had in my life. It was very much like doing summer stock, it was very much like doing reparatory theory around the country. There was a camaraderie with everyone. No one was on iPhone or iPads, people were getting in corners practicing a song or a dance. It was an exciting environment to be a part of I have rarely been in shows where that existed and the shows are not successful. When there’s that kind of work ethic on the set, it is almost always a sign that the show will be successful.

Lea Michele (Rachel Berry): I remember being very nervous. My first scene I shot was just a scene by myself. But Ryan told me after that I did a great job and I felt so much better.

Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina Cohen-Chang): “For Sit Down You’re Rocking The Boat,” we had polished it, I felt. And when we got to the shoot Ryan said, “Now be as bad as you possibly can.” That was the first day on set. We just couldn’t stop laughing at ourselves.

Tobolowsky: My first day on the set we were shooting at a school in Burbank. We shot the interior of the music room and the principals office. I think we were shooting on a Sunday, so we could use the real school. And then for the auditorium and the football field we drove all the way out to Long Beach to use a high school there. After the show became successful, they spent [a lot of money] rebuilding those schools and those offices as Paramount. That music room was linoleum tile to linoleum tile exactly identical to that music room. The auditorium was exactly the same, from the carpet to chairs.

Naya Rivera (Santana Lopez): The first person that I met was Dianna, because we were sharing a trailer. We had the really small trailers that had the divider in the middle, so we met and opened it up so we could have more space. We became really fast friends because we did our scenes together, and her character wasn’t yet in the glee club either. So she hadn’t met all the other kids who had already been in rehearsals for a week together. It felt kind of like a clique right off the bat. Like, "who are these originals, they don’t want to talk to us!” But that all changed quickly as we got into the series.

Kevin McHale (Artie Abrams): My first scene was that Porta-Potty scene, so it was me, Cory and Mark [Salling]. The biggest thing I remember from that day is we’re filming that montage bit, where he’s pushing me back to the glee club. We see that guy who taught him to sing, and he’s watering the football field and signing. I remember we were sitting there, and the camera was over our shoulder and he goes, “This is crazy.” And I said, “this feels like a moment we’ll remember for the rest of our lives.” He said back, “This feels so special, like we’re making something classic.” I remember that moment with him — I have goosebumps now. The scale of it kind of set in. We were in awe of what we had been fortunate enough to get involved in.

Chris Colfer (Kurt Hummel): My first scene was the opening of the pilot where I got tossed into the dumpster. I was amazed how long it took to shoot everything — it was a major culture shock. The scene was less than a minute long and it took about four hours to film. I couldn’t believe how many people worked on a television show either, and I spent hours asking the crew questions about what they did. I also spent my first morning on set in extra’s holding because I didn’t know where to go. Eventually someone found me and took me to my trailer, but it was a rough start.

Zach Woodlee (Choreographer): The auditions moment in the pilot, they shot them live. They just put the kids up there and shot them live. None of us really knew what was happening. Most of the crew had seen them either in scenes or just doing “Sit Down You’re Rocking The Boat,” never taking the stage by themselves. That’s when crew realized they’re real talent. That was a nice moment.

Iqbal Theba (Principal Figgins): As soon as I walked in I had a scene with Lea Michele and Stephen Tobolowsky, my first scene, where he’s crying because he’s been accused of inappropriate behavior. He was so wonderful. And Lea was so wonderful as well.

Tobolowsky: In Burbank, that first day, what strikes me is how much fun we had. Everybody was laughing so hard after every take. Just having a party. It was not sophisticated, it was not like we were a success. Sometimes you can have a celebration while you’re doing a show and it gets in the way of a show, but I felt that the celebration ended up on film. That pilot you can feel that celebration.

Patrick Gallagher (Coach Ken Tanaka): It was around Canadian Thanksgiving that we started shooting in Long Beach. It was so new. I think the first scene I did was the coffee scene with Jane, and I remember thinking she was hilarious. It was a matter for me trying to find the right balance, the kind of bombastic with him and the reality. I remember trying to figure out what kind of tone we were doing. I felt more self conscious than I thought I would. I remember thinking, “I don’t know if people are going to get it.” For me, it was a different experience shooting before it aired. After it aired, it became a phenomenon. It felt like something I’d never seen, when we shot it.

Rivera: I met Ryan when he was directing the pilot. At that point I didn’t know if I would be coming back at all. Ryan just walked up to Dianna and I at one point and said, “You need to learn “Say A Little Prayer.” And I go, “Hi, I’m Naya, what is that?” And he says, "It’s a song by so-and-so, and you might be singing it the next episode." And then he walked away, just like that.

Woodlee: I remember Amber had to say, “Hell to the no,” and she couldn’t do it. She literally could not say it. We probably did it 15 times. Now that she’s Mercedes Jones, she can do anything.

Ushkowitz: There was one scene where we couldn’t stop laughing. The part where Chris is talking about nailing the furniture to the roof, and the pee balloons. Every time Amber would have a honking laugh come out, and then we all couldn’t stop laughing. That scene took way longer than it should have, just because of that.

Rivera: In the pilot it was really one off to me, in my mind. I figured I would play her as a bitchy sidekick. But after that, when I was sitting in a choir room with a ton of people, I would think, “ How will I stand out without having any lines.” I told my husband the other day, I was like rolling my eyes and popping my neck for every joke. I wanted that camera on me.

Lou Eyrich (Costume Designer): Ryan’s very hands on with the development of characters. I don’t know where a lot of his ideas were based on, if he was using people from his past. For Tanaka he always wanted him in shorts, no matter what. Knee high socks with stripes, and bright shirts that were a little too tight. He always had this sleazy '70s vibe.

Gallagher: About the clothes, it was, “Patrick the person hates this, but Ken Tanaka loves this. Let’s make these shirts as small as they can, let’s raise these shorts higher.” The fanny pack was all me. I remember I needed a place to put my phone, my sides, and candy. But I did it because I thought it would be funny, because I literally, honestly wore won in the '90s. They did make the runways in Milan the next year, I will point out. I didn’t think of it until halfway through the pilot, so that’s when it appears. I did, as Ken Tanaka, keep an old condom in [my fanny pack]. It was on the side pocket, it would help me play Ken. I didn’t want anybody to know, so there were times when I forgot to take it out, and I’d have to run back to props to get it back. It was just a private joke to me as an actor, no one knew. Ken just wanted love so badly.

Eyrich: For Rachel, we did one round of fittings with Ryan and I thinking she was going to be kooky and out there. Ponytail on top of the head, mixing all types of prints. It just looked too forced. We watched movies like Election and Clueless, things that inspired me to go a different direction. It wasn’t that she was nerdy-geeky, it was that she was a little inappropriate. Too youthful for high school mixed with a too short skirt. Kind of like Ali MacGraw on Lovestruck.

Michele: In the pilot we experimented with some really out there looks, but halfway through the episode Ryan had us scale them back a bit. So you can see in some scenes like the principals office I have a ton of accessories on but on the bleachers with Mr. Schue she's much more toned down. We even re-shot a few scenes so we could change the wardrobe.

Eyrich: We started with the A-line skirts for the cheerleaders, but when we did the carwash scene [in episode 3], we wanted something more sexy, so then we changed it up. We would go back and forth between the styles. We opted more toward the carwash ones, because they looked better on more body types.

Rivera: I remember them giving me that cheerleading uniform, and I thought it was so cool because I’d never played a cheerleader before, it was super cute. Had I known I would only be wearing that for the next three years straight, I probably would have thought different. We shot outdoors at an actual high school, and we did a bathroom scene with Rachel where we told her to shave her mustache or something.

Eyrich: The bigger challenge is what (the cast) would wear during the dance performances. We did a lot of research on glee choirs, and some of the outfits were so cheesy. We decided to do more a heightened version of matching ensembles. Ryan had a lot of ideas already when I walked in, and we created it together.

Woodlee: I had an audition and picked my top [dances, for rival show choir Vocal Adrenaline], and laid them out on a table for Ryan, and he said yes. Originally, I think the performance was four minutes long, and I had asked if it could be shorter. Ryan said no. So I had two days to put four minutes on these dancers, and then of course the scene shrinks. After the pilot is when they decided they wanted more music in every episode. But four minutes, those kids were dead tired. One girl, she threw her neck out in the middle of it. My assistant had to put on her dress, so if you watch the cut it goes from a blonde to a redhead to a blonde to a redhead. It’s kind of funny.

Eyrich: I had never done any kind of show clothes. It was a huge learning curve for me. I definitely learned the hard way. In this case, because I’d never done it before, everybody had to have dance pants underneath because the skirts are going to go up. Or if the girls are wearing sequins it’s not a great idea because the boys arms get cut up. On “Rehab” we had to have a lot of extra dresses because they were just blowing out of them. That was a very big dance number. Whenever Vocal Adrenaline danced, we knew it was going to be very active. It wasn’t that way with the New Directions. They were more of a glee club, where vocal adrenaline is "Show choir!"

Woodlee: The crazy thing about the show is you have to keep it in context. So it was always going to be a heightened version of a showchoir. Show choirs can’t do that kind of dancing with the singing at the same time. It was about keeping it very proscenium. It just becomes a lot of math. I have so many binders that all look like football plays. In the big scheme of things, that’s how most of the numbers are, they’re very mathematical. Ryan’s major thing was precision. He wanted to look down a line of dancers and everyone be perfectly in line. So it was making it as clean, and sharp and mechanical as possible. With is different from our glee club. He wanted Vocal Adrenaline to be a machine that has no heart to it.

Eyrich: The red shirts for “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” was going to be a whole different outfit. They were going to be in a show choir look. The night before about 6 p.m., Ryan found me and said Fox didn’t want them in a show choir look because these kids were just starting out, and were the underdogs, and wanted them to look like it. We ran all over town to American Apparel and Urban Outfitters, wherever we could, to try and find something to match the red and whip out costumes that look homemade but could hold up. We tried to dress each one in the flavor of their character.

Ushkowitz: “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” took a day and half to do. I think we did it 75 times. We started counting.

Woodlee: For “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” we tried everything. I tried to teach Chris how to do knee slides, we got the knee pads, and I slid across the floor. I mean, he went to his knees, and then to his face. So I was like, “Let’s not do that.” I’d say to Ryan: “That’s not working.” Then he said he wanted interpretive sign language dancing. So we tried a version like that. [Laughs] Eventually I was like, “Ryan, listen, what we can do is this.” I showed him the version with mic stands and Cory on the drums. It turned out to be sweet, just iconically sweet. You don’t judge them because they’re just having a good time. I think that was the essence of the show.

NEXT & FINAL PART: THE PREMIERE!
x

ColferInspired 3/18/2015, 9:53 pm

Poor Chris, he injured himself a lot in that first season.

But he did choreograph "Some People" by himself and did a really good job. Smile

fantastica 3/18/2015, 10:47 pm

Thanks for posting this Oral History. Really good read!

ChrisColfersLightning 3/19/2015, 5:07 am

I remember the first time I saw cameras being set up for Glee at my high school (I was a freshman at the time), it is insane that I moved literally a few days before the Glee cast started filming D: Like i did not even know what was going on other than seeing cameras being set up near the quad and cafe like omg, if I never moved I might could of had a glimpse of the Glee cast very first filming scene, I could have saw bb Chris crycry

(The irony being I only saw cameras set up cause I had detention and left school late smh.... Smile

)

ColferInspired 3/19/2015, 5:34 am

ChrisColfersLightning wrote:I remember the first time I saw cameras being set up for Glee at my high school (I was a freshman at the time), it is insane that I moved literally a few days before the Glee cast started filming D: Like i did not even know what was going on other than seeing cameras being set up near the quad and cafe like omg, if I never moved I might could of had a glimpse of the Glee cast very first filming scene, I could have saw bb Chris

(The irony being I only saw cameras set up cause I had detention and left school late smh.... )

If I had been a fan in 2009 because they visited my state I would have seen them at the shopping centre that would have been 40 minutes away.

They were here after the Pilot aired now I have just found out.

3,000 people at Highpoint Shopping Centre.

I might have bumped into some of them during their stay in Melbourne.

Glorfindel 3/19/2015, 5:25 pm

Chris Colfer reflects on 'Glee' and Cory Monteith: 'He really was the big brother I never had'

Friday marks the final episode of Fox’s musical phenomenon Glee. Chris Colfer, who has played Kurt for all six years of the series, was right out of high school when the show first began. Kurt and his on-again/off-again boyfriend/now-husband Blaine (Darren Criss) became pop culture icons with their groundbreaking gay romance. On the eve of the finale, EW talked to Colfer about Glee’s roller-coaster ride and what he’ll remember the most.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Do you remember your audition?
CHRIS COLFER: I was 18 but my dad was still driving me because I was too afraid to drive in LA at the time. I will never forget – Lea Michele, who I’d never met before, was in a Mini Cooper in front of us pulling onto the lot. I recognized her instantly because I was obsessed with Spring Awakening when I was like 14. We both got turned away because we weren’t allowed to park on the lot. She was in the callback with me and I could hear her singing in the next room over. I went in, and the rest was history. There’s a whole story about how Ryan [Murphy] saw me and said, “Why do I have a feeling you’ve been in The Sound of Music?” I sang and made a joke about my hometown, and the rest is history.

What do you remember about shooting the pilot?
I remember what an education it was because I had no idea how television worked, I had no idea how filming something worked, and I had no idea how skinny jeans worked. So it was a very painful education. I remember calling my mom and being like “Gall, we work so long, I mean I got there at 6 and I didn’t leave until 8 o’clock at night. And oh my God my legs are just throbbing from those jeans they’re making me wear!”

You were right out of high school, weren’t you?
Yeah, I had just graduated in June and I think I got cast in August. I had been in college for two weeks and added to the dropout rate.

What are some of the touchstones you remember from that first year?
It was such a blur because we were working so much. That first season, when everyone was kind of getting the hang of the show, it was like 80-hour weeks. On top of rehearsing and recording in the weekends. On top of touring every chance we got. It was such a haze that every time something new would happen, it was just so hard to grasp because I think we were all in this exhausted dream-like state. I think the first thing was when Fox decided they were going to air the pilot after American Idol. That was a huge deal and we were like, “Oh, they really must think that the show is good.” And then that night when “Don’t Stop Believin’” became No. 1 on iTunes, I think that was the big moment. Honestly, strangely for me, I had never really been surprised at the show’s success because I had been one of the kids my entire life that the show was about. I was surprised I was a part of it.

Do you have a favorite number?
“Defying Gravity” I think will always stand out just because that storyline to the character was something I had lived through. That was super special. To this day, I think one of the best things the show has done is portrayed the relationship between me and Mike O’Malley – the Kurt and Burt relationship. I’ll never forget, when I first got the script and I saw that he accepted Kurt for who he was, I got so mad because I was an actor and I was like, “No! I want a scene where I get kicked out and I’m crying! And I’m so emotionally distraught! That is what I want!” Little did I know it was something good for mankind.

Is there an episode that stands out in your mind that you’re proud of or you love?
Well, if I can be selfish, I loved the one that I got to write. Just because it was so much fun to do because I got to fly and I got to work with Tim Conway and Billy Dee Williams and June Squibb, and I got to put words in their mouths. But, also just the early episodes – like the Gaga episode and the “Preggers” episode with the whole “Single Ladies” thing. Those are just the best for so many reasons.

you still do the “Single Ladies” dance?
I’m sure I’ll be doing it in Bar Mitzvahs until I’m 50. Like, there’s gonna be an article on BuzzFeed or something that’s like, “Glee stars: where are they now?” And I’ll be in my 50s, at a Bar Mitzvah, doing the “Single Ladies” dance.

Do you have a favorite memory of Cory Monteith?
He really was the big brother I never had. I have to say – I hope I don’t get emotional – I always felt so respected by Cory, and I think being a young gay kid, I’ve never really felt respected very much by older straight types, I guess. But with Cory, I think we just respected each other so much and we respected working with each other so much. I think that’s what I’ll always remember – the abundant respect that he gave everyone. I think that’s why it was such a hard loss. It was so hard to see betrayed when he passed away in his life – that didn’t represent who he was.

What was the most challenging of all these numbers you guys did?
The first one that pops into my head was the “Singing in the Rain/Umbrella” mashup. I’m shocked no one was killed, by accident or by murder. [Laughs] We were all pruning, we were freezing, and we had to smile and sing and dance. It was terrible.

I remember vividly when you guys did that Cee-Lo song, you sort of do a twist with Gwyneth Paltrow…
I called it The Goop. Also, that, the people we got to work with. I feel so ashamed because I wished I had worked with all these people on my second job because I borderline stalked everyone that came onto that set because I was so excited. I’m sure some of them have restraining orders against me I didn’t know about.

What’s your craziest Gleek encounter?
The tattoos are endless. They’ve been my face, a lot of quotes from my book so that’s personally, but for the show a lot of people have tattooed the word “Courage” or “Klaine,” which I try to tell everyone, “You’re going to regret that when you’re 40. You’re not going to care about us and you’re going to hate yourself.” I try, I try telling them. I feel like everyone has tried to get me to say that “Klaine” or Kurt and Blaine is groundbreaking, but I’ve never thought of them as groundbreaking because there have been so many famous gay couples and famous gay weddings in the past and I feel like it would be very ignorant for me to say, “Oh yes, they’re a groundbreaking couple.” What I think is groundbreaking has been the response to the couple. I remember when I first started being an actor and I first started Glee, I was told on many occasions, “Well it’s too bad that you’re gay because you’ll never get the young female following.” [Laughs] And boy was that proved wrong.

What was it like shooting the final scene?
It was, honestly, do you know the famous finale of The Mary Tyler Moore Show where they’re wrapping up and they walk towards the door? It was very similar to that and I don’t think any of us meant for it to be. It was difficult. It’s time for the show to end – I think we all agree. It has been a crazy, emotional, fantastic, exhausting, but fulfilling ride. We all grew up in that choir room in one way or another. It was so hard to say goodbye, much, much harder than I was expecting.

Can you qualify what Glee has meant for you personally?
I’m knocking on wood right now as I’m talking on the phone, but I have so many opportunities and things that are coming up for me and I owe it all to Glee. I would not be where I am today if it weren’t for it and I get really scared when I think about an alternate universe where Glee didn’t exist because there’s no way I would’ve made such a difference, or there’s no way I would’ve been given any material that affected so many lives. It turned me into a role model, which was a very, very hard thing to embrace and accept at the time. It was the beginning of a great book, but a great chapter nonetheless.

What do you think the legacy of the show is? What do you think it has brought to pop culture?
I think it was just so out of the box. It was the first show that really showed a world and a group of kids that had never quite been seen before or as quite as authentically portrayed. I think any other time a group of performing arts kids has been portrayed, they’ve all been freakishly good-looking and they’ve all been flawless. And very much like Freaks and Geeks, we really represented something so real and authentic, and I think that’s going to be what it’s remembered for is being the voice to who – at the time – were the voiceless. It’s crazy to think about I definitely think Glee had – I don’t want to give Glee sole credit for this – but the world has definitely changed. Personally, when I found out that I got cast as the gay character on Glee, I had thought my career was going to be over because at the time, it was such a taboo for an actor of any age to play a gay character, and now you look and there are multiple gay characters on every single show. Bringing the struggle of kids that were bullied – I was bullied terribly in high school. I never thought the world would form a campaign to stop it. I never thought that voice would ever be heard. I’m so lucky and proud that I got to be one of those for a while.

You have a bunch of books coming out this year. Are they all part of The Land of Stories?
I have a young adult novel coming out – I think, I should ask – next year. This year, I have the fourth book in the series is coming out, as well as my first children’s picture book and two spinoff novellas are coming out. And then summer of 2016 is when the fifth and final book in the series comes out and I think I’ll have a young adult novel coming out around the same time.

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/03/19/chris-colfer-reflects-glee-and-cory-monteith-he-really-was-big-brother-i-never

Buenos 3/19/2015, 5:35 pm

Do you have a favorite memory of Cory Monteith?
He really was the big brother I never had. I have to say – I hope I don’t get emotional – I always felt so respected by Cory, and I think being a young gay kid, I’ve never really felt respected very much by older straight types, I guess. But with Cory, I think we just respected each other so much and we respected working with each other so much. I think that’s what I’ll always remember – the abundant respect that he gave everyone. I think that’s why it was such a hard loss. It was so hard to see betrayed when he passed away in his life – that didn’t represent who he was.

Damn.

Must be those allergies...

One of the things I noticed was that Cory spoke in such glowing terms about Chris and his talent, he seemed liked such a caring, compassionate, nonjudgmental person from everyone who knew him. It must have meant the world to someone like Chris who was mocked and ridiculed. No wonder Chris lowered his walls to talk about his emotions, so rare for Chris.

More than his talent, I'm also amazed by how articulate Chris is going to the heart of matters.

Glorfindel 3/19/2015, 5:40 pm

^And that's a big f*ck you to all the people who condemned Cory and thought he must have been an awful person because he was an addict.

Chris has a great way with words. He says all the right things at the right times. He doesn't beat around the bush but still stays respectful.

-ETA-
Lol, I've already seen the first Klainers bitching about Chris not thinking that Klaine was a groundbreaking gay couple. Rolling Eyes

ChrisColferFan1 3/19/2015, 6:10 pm

Great interview. I especially like his comments on Cory.
I knew when I read the interview rabid Klainers would be upset at Chris for thinking Klaine was not a groundbreaking gay couple

Glorfindel 3/19/2015, 6:38 pm

Glee Pilot Oral History, Part 4: The Premiere

With the pilot episode in the can, the cast and crew spent the first half of 2009 filming the first 13 episodes of Glee in a media bubble. Then it was time for the world to see what they’d been working on.

By Rae Votta
March 19 2015

Fox debated slotting the show as a midseason replacement in the spring, but instead took a gamble: The network would air the show once, following the 2009 American Idol finale in May, and then properly launch the show in September after a summer of hype that included having the pilot up on every digital platform available. It was a gamble that paid off. In no time at all, Glee went from a novel new TV idea to a global phenomenon, and changed the life of its cast and crew.
READ | PART 1: Casting Call | PART 2: The Rehearsal | PART 3: On Set

Zach Woodlee (Choreographer): The first time we showed a test group, I remember that was so scary. It was in North Hollywood, and you’re behind a two-way mirror. They have three televisions set up high. Ryan, myself, and a couple other people are back there. Everyone has this dial, and there’s two colored lines for male and female. They turn it up when they like it, and down when they don’t. To have your work judged immediately in front of you, and they don’t know you’re there, is so scary. That was the most fearful time during that pilot process. Being a fly on the wall and watching people judge your work.

Lea Michele: I watched the pilot with Ryan for the first time in the editors suite a few weeks after we finished filming. Just me and Ryan. It was amazing.

Chris Colfer: After we wrapped the pilot, I went to visit Lea and Jenna in New York (it was my first trip there). Lea had a “secret” copy and we must've watched it a hundred times. There is nothing worse than seeing yourself on camera for the first time. It took a few viewings for me to focus on anything else. We got chills every time Will heard the opening notes of “Don’t Stop Believin’ ”. Still do actually.

Jenna Ushkowitz: We watched it at Lea’s house, where she was living at the time. We had done American Idol I think that day, where we sit in the audience and they promote it. We went to Lea’s house to watch it, and then we saw it on iTunes immediately after. We were all together. It was special because the world was seeing it, but Lea and I had seen it 35 times before.

Lou Eyrich (Costume Designer): We all cried. We were screaming, laughing, clapping and crying. It was truly one of those pilots that was so special to be a part of it. As we were shooting it I kept thinking, Something is going to happen here. I didn’t know how big it would be. To see iTunes the next day and “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” is on top of the charts, it’s just another piece that none of us saw coming.

Stephen Tobolowsky: My first reaction when I saw the show was I didn’t know what the world’s reaction was going to be, but I was enormously proud. We watched it on set while we were filming another episode. The feeling I had from the first reading was not ruined by Ryan or anybody else. You never have any control at the way the world sees it. You roll the dice and you get lucky, Glee rolled the dice and got lucky. It’s very hard to get lucky with something that’s bad, but it’s very possible to do something good and get overlooked. But if you do something that’s not good, it’s hard to get lucky and become a huge hit.

Kevin McHale: Ryan and Brad had done other TV shows, but for us we didn’t know what was good and what wasn’t. The first time I saw it I thought it was great, but I remember we’d all sit around together and be like, “Do you think people will like this?” I remember Cory and I sidebarred and were like: “It can go either done of two ways, it will either come and out and be really big, or people won’t get it and will flop immediately.” It came out and kind of did neither. It premiered, and it did well. At that time a lot more people watched television, so 15 million people watched it, but at the time -- because I’m the ratings whore -- we technically didn’t. American Idol did 20 million, we did maybe half of that. But when it came back in the fall we did OK.
Even when we got to the music part, Columbia used to send me our sales chart every week. It wasn’t a huge massive rating success from the get-go. I think when people look back they think it was, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t until we came back for the back nine that it really became a ratings success. Word of mouth really did do a huge thing. Granted, they were promoting the shit out of it. I remember thinking at the time, this is the greatest marketing campaign since Obama got in office. The few who did start watching at the start told their friends and their family, and that’s why our demographic was all over the place. Everybody watched it. When we came back to start filming the back nine, we at that point knew we were doing something people were actually watching, as opposed to the first 13 when we were in a vacuum.

Woodlee: We were out front of this restaurant, I think it was right after the pilot aired. Chris was nervous about the gay thing. He wasn’t particularly out, and he didn’t know what it would be like to have to take on the responsibility of this gay persona, and how many people it would actually affect. It was really sweet. His character changed I think a lot of culture: "Chris Culture." [Laughs] I do commend him, it was a brave thing. He dove into that character. I remember his fears in that. We all had fears on what would be judged and what would be accepted.

Colfer: I think my original contracts say “Artie 2” because the new character hadn’t been developed yet. It wasn’t until the day I moved to L.A. that I got the first script and saw who Kurt was. I’m from a very conservative area and at the time I was terrified to tell people I was playing a gay character — most of them didn’t find out until the show aired. It’s so ironic when I remember how scared I was — none of those fears would apply today. It was only seven years ago but I think the world was a very different place.

Iqbal Theba: I want to Pakistan in December 2009 to visit my family in Karachi. I went to the video and DVD store down the street, and I saw Glee. I thought, Wow, it hasn’t even come out on American DVD. It was pirated copies. They had 12 episodes, but we had done 13 at that time. I went to the clerk and asked him, “Where’s the 13th episode? I’m curious, I’m a huge fan.” He hadn’t seen the season, and he said, “The 13th episode airs tonight in the U.S., so you can come back tomorrow, and I’ll have it for you.” I thought, Well, I’m not getting paid for this one, no residuals. But it was kind of cool to see that it was all the way in my hometown.

Patrick Gallagher: I don’t know what the big stars went through, but I had someone say something to me every day for 135 days in a row. It was crazy. I can always tell when they’re re-running it, because people will say, “Hey, you’re Ken Tanaka,” and I’ll say, “I was, a long time ago.” I saw a girl get out of her mother’s car and run across two lanes of traffic, just to say hi. That’s dangerous! It wasn’t even that I was Ken Tanaka, it was that I was in that show. It’s nice to be a part of something like that. In that first year I think that show deserved every award it won.

Ushkowitz: Only the pilot had aired, and we went straight on this mall tour. There were six or seven of us, and I think the first stop was Boston. We all hoped ten people would show up, truly. We get into the mall and we’re escorted through the back, and we hear people singing “Don’t Stop Believin’ ”. There must have been 300 or 400 people singing as they were walking into the mall, and we were shell shocked. They had on shirts they’d made, we were beside ourselves. Every stop was bigger and bigger.

McHale: The weird thing was, when the show did come on in September, we were in Australia to promote the show. The pilot had just aired there. We did a mall tour in the US, 10 cities in 12 days. Before every single stop we’d say we hoped there were more people that showed up than there are of us. So 10 or more people. So sometimes it was 300 people, and sometimes it was a thousand. We were amazed anyone would show up. We’d only aired one episode, how could anybody care about us that much?

Colfer: Our trip to Australia was a big turning point. The pilot was a big hit in Australia, so we went down there for some signings and press while the first episodes aired in the States. We came back to a completely different world. Personally, since returning from Australia in 2009, I’ve never left my house without being recognized. It was the beginning of a new chapter for all of us.

McHale: Even though only one episode had aired in Australia, we did two mall appearances. We were all so excited to even get to go to Australia. I remember the Fox rep told us that they couldn’t afford to send us all first class or business, and we’d have to do premium economy. They weren’t sure we’d agree to that. I was like, “are you kidding me? First of all, I don’t even know what business class is, and second of all I want to go to Australia.” I remember telling them, it was the toward the end of the mall tour, to please bring it to everybody’s reps. I am sure they’ll say yes. No one cares if it’s premium economy, we’ve never even flown premium economy. We showed up in Australia and there were 800 people to see us. I have goosebumps again. It was so surreal. We were excited that anyone at home was watching. For us to be able to go somewhere we’ve never been and it’s so foreign and far away and that they were maybe even more excited than back home.

Tobolowsky: I’ve been on a lot of shows, and everybody always hopes to create a mosaic of all the characters that are there. Every once in a while, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and that was true of Glee. That’s happened maybe three times in my career.

Ulrich: It was so exciting to see it get so huge so fast. It wasn’t very long before I felt like it was an important show, and it wasn’t much longer after that that I felt like it was a global phenomenon. I’m so proud of Glee. I’m so proud of all the kids, I’m so proud of my work, I’m so proud of what it has done for the world.

Colfer: There is something truly magical about the pilot and I think even our harshest critics would agree. Music has always had such a healing quality — just look at all the songs and musicals that showed up post World War II and the Great Depression. Glee happened to air in the peak of a recession. It was such a terrible time, yet this little television show gave so many people something to sing about — everyone was united as they rooted for the club of misfits. It was perfect timing.

http://www.out.com/television/2015/3/19/glee-pilot-oral-history-part-4-premiere

angelnessa 3/19/2015, 7:16 pm

Love that last paragraph wub

.

Jellyrolls 3/19/2015, 8:30 pm

It has been nice to hear Chris' comments about Cory the past few weeks. They were always so complimentary to each other--you could really see how much they respected each other. And I still say that the Furt scenes are some of the most poignant moments on the show.

ColferInspired 3/19/2015, 11:57 pm

I loved that EW interview.

I love that Chris can talk about Cory in such an honest way, and he is so articulate. Of course he misses him. He will always be an important person in his life. Cory will always be missed and remembered.

Chris admitting it was time for the show to end, tells you how he felt about the show.

And all these opportunities I wish he would elaborate. neutre

Buenos 3/20/2015, 1:03 am

I think most of the cast agrees it was time for Glee to end. Lea has said as much, as has Kevin and Matt.

ColferInspired 3/20/2015, 10:09 am

http://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/glee-star-dianna-agron-to-be-cheerleader-for-alexander-mcqueen-in-play-about-designer-10121833.html

Glee star Dianna Agron will make her stage debut in a new drama about fashion designer Alexander McQueen, with award-winning British actor Stephen Wight in the title role.

Agron, 28, who also appeared with Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer in film The Family, has moved to London to take up the role. She plays Dahlia, a fan of the designer who embarks on a journey with him through the streets of the capital in James Phillips’s new play, McQueen.

Romford-born Wight, who beat Matt Smith to be named outstanding newcomer at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in 2007, is also returning to London to premiere the drama, after spending the winter forging new contacts in America.

Wight, 35, was last seen on stage in West End hit The Ladykillers. He said: “I couldn’t turn down the chance to take on the role of Alexander McQueen. He was a London boy who came from a humble background, a bit like myself, trying to get ahead in an artistic world. James has done a wonderful job of capturing the complexity of him.”

Agron said: “I loved McQueen as a designer and I love the way they have shaped this story. It’s not biographical, it’s fantasy-based.” That seemed appropriate because “his work was so theatrical and so imaginative”, she added. Apart from concerts at The O2 with the cast of Glee, in which she played cheerleader Quinn Fabray, she last appeared on stage as a child, when she performed ballet as well as singing in school shows.

She came to London in December specifically to hunt for a stage role - and then faced a rival offer from Broadway which she turned down.

Agron said she was thrilled to be making the capital her home, and joked about throwing her American passport away. “I would like to be here for ever,” she said. “I really want to be a well-balanced artist and I think there’s probably no better way to strengthen your craft than on stage. There’s something so special about it.”

I am so happy for Diana. Smile

She might bump into Chris while he is there.

Jellyrolls 3/20/2015, 11:00 am

Aww. Too bad it wasn't opening sooner. I'll be in London next week.

Good for Dianna. Though I wasn't a big Quinn fan, I always liked Dianna.

brisallie 3/20/2015, 12:26 pm

So glad for Dianna. She's doing so well in the showbiz, I already foresee a bright career for her.

Jellyrolls 3/20/2015, 12:55 pm

LOL. I love you, Matt!

“Yet he admits the show may have overstayed its welcome on the air. “Glee had its heyday, and then it kind of just slowly started declining,” ending up on Friday nights, “which no one watches. It’s where shows go to die.” He ofers, “There were just so many characters. There are a lot of people and a lot of story lines. It’s one of the biggest casts on television. They have the New Directions, the original New Directions, and then you have the new New Directions … The new ones didn’t really click with people, so they had to start bringing back in the old people.””
—
Matthew Morrison (BroadwayWorld)

Buenos 3/20/2015, 1:06 pm

“Yet he admits the show may have overstayed its welcome on the air. “Glee had its heyday, and then it kind of just slowly started declining,” ending up on Friday nights, “which no one watches. It’s where shows go to die.” He ofers, “There were just so many characters. There are a lot of people and a lot of story lines. It’s one of the biggest casts on television. They have the New Directions, the original New Directions, and then you have the new New Directions … The new ones didn’t really click with people, so they had to start bringing back in the old people.””
—
Matthew Morrison (BroadwayWorld)

Matty tells no lies... ptdr

Ranwing 3/20/2015, 1:32 pm

Yeah, the knives are coming out now that Glee is being readied for its overdue cremation. And I don't think that Matt gives a crap about offending Ryan Murphy at this stage.

fantastica 3/20/2015, 1:36 pm

He's not offending RM. he's simply stating the truth that everybody, including RM, knows. he's not willing to kiss RM's ass for sure. at this point, RM couldn't care about this old ass anymore himself.

mindschemez 3/20/2015, 2:13 pm

So delicious, thanks for keeping it real Matt. Great way to start the last day of glee!

Later in that interview it mentions Matt not even knowing the airdate of the finale.

Buenos 3/20/2015, 2:30 pm

I just like someone openly stating among the cast that the Noobs didn't work out, everyone knows it but it took Matt to finally say it. It's not a diss on them as much as the show that didn't give them the write material, plus the chemistry of the new ensemble wasn't there.

Buenos 3/20/2015, 2:49 pm

Finally some solid numbers for Glee sales!

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/6509278/glee-cast-10-best-selling-downloads?utm_source=twitter

Glee comes to an end tonight — six seasons, 15 albums, and seven EPs after its debut. The cast’s success on the charts paved the way for the musical crossover of shows like Empire and Nashville — but, out of all the classic Glee covers, which did fans love (and buy) the most?
Here are the top ten most downloaded Glee original cast recordings, according to Nielsen Music.
10. “Poker Face” (410,000 downloads)
9. “Rumor Has It/Someone Like You” (413,000 downloads)
8. “Somebody To Love” (418,000 downloads)
7. “We Are Young” (455,000 downloads)
6. “Singing In The Rain/Umbrella (ft. Gwyneth Paltrow)” (492,000 downloads)
5. “Defying Gravity” (529,000 downloads)
4. “Loser Like Me” (617,000 downloads)
3. “Teenage Dream” (652,000 downloads)
2. “Forget You (ft. Gwyneth Paltrow)” (783,000 downloads)
1. “Don’t Stop Believin’” (1,422,000 downloads)

Absolutely NOTHING after Season 3, what a shocker...

It's so cool that Chris got a gold record selling song from Glee!

Jellyrolls 3/20/2015, 2:56 pm

I love that Matt is making the comments that so many of us have been saying! It's nice to see him stepping out of the shade! It could be Matt who winds up writing the tell all book at some point Wink

I'm sure he's not worried at all about Ryan--I can't imagine he would want to work with Ryan again.

I wonder if the numbers for DSB and DG are just for one version of the song, or for all versions (there's been what, four or five versions of DSB, and four versions of DG).

I wish we could see more of the hard numbers like this as opposed to just how they charted.

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