Glee (TV Series) - Broadcast

Broadcast

The first season of Glee consists of twenty-two episodes. The pilot episode was originally broadcast on May 19, 2009. The series returned on September 9, 2009, airing an additional twelve episodes on Wednesdays in the 9:00 pm timeslot until December 9, 2009, for a total of thirteen episodes. On September 21, 2009, nine more episodes were ordered for the first season by Fox, and the first of these episodes was broadcast on April 13, 2010. These episodes aired on Tuesday evenings at 9:00 pm. On January 11, 2010, it was announced that Fox had commissioned a second season of the show. The second season began production in June 2010. Season two began on September 21, 2010, airing in the 8:00 pm time slot on Tuesdays, and consists of twenty-two episodes. The show was chosen by Fox to fill the coveted timeslot that followed the network's coverage of Super Bowl XLV in 2011, and the network originally planned to move the show to the 9:00 pm time slot on Wednesdays following the post–Super Bowl broadcast. However, Fox later revised its schedule, leaving Glee on Tuesdays in order to concentrate on building up its weaker Wednesday and Thursday line-ups. A third season was ordered by Fox on May 23, 2010, before the end of the first season. The early renewal of the show allowed the production team to cut costs and to plan ahead when writing scripts. The third season broadcasts remained in the show's Tuesday 8:00 pm time slot, and began airing on September 20, 2011. The show's fourth season changed both date and time of broadcast: it moved to Thursdays in the 9:00 pm time slot, and aired after that evening's 8:00 pm music competition "results" shows—‪The X Factor‬ in the fall and American Idol in midseason. The show was renewed for both a fifth and sixth season at the same time, on April 19, 2013.

Glee has been syndicated for broadcast in many countries worldwide, including Australia, where cast members visited to promote the show prior to its September 2009 debut on Network Ten. It also airs in Canada, New Zealand, Israel and Fiji. It is broadcast in South Africa, where Fox beams the episodes directly to the M-Net broadcast center in Johannesburg rather than delivering the tapes. In addition, it airs in the United Kingdom, where E4 broadcast the first two seasons, showing episodes months after they were first aired in the US. Sky1 broadcast the series starting with the third season, airing episodes two days after their US broadcast. The series also airs in Italy—a week later than the US broadcast, and dubbed into Italian—and in Finland and Lithuania. In Ireland, most episodes premiere twenty hours after their US broadcast, making it the European Premiere. Episodes in Ireland air on TV3 and its sister channel 3e. Asian countries that broadcast Glee include Bangladesh, the Philippines, Taiwan, India, Malaysia, Singapore Indonesia and Japan. The show began airing in Brazil (for the first time in a non-cable network) on July 2, 2011, on the Rede Globo network. Glee also airs in the Middle East and Persian Gulf via the Fox Series network.