Glee (stylized as glee) is an American musical comedy-drama television series that aired on Fox network in the United States from May 19, 2009, to March 20, 2015. It centers on the New Directions, a glee club at the fictional William McKinley High School which competes as a show choir while its disparate members deal with social issues, especially regarding sexuality, race, family, teen relationships and teamwork. The initial twelve-member cast included Matthew Morrison as club director and Spanish teacher Will Schuester, Jane Lynch as scheming cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester, Jayma Mays as the OCD guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury, Jessalyn Gilsig as Will's wife Terri, and the eight original club members, including Dianna Agron as Quinn Fabray, a popular cheerleader whose biggest struggle is her teenage pregnancy; Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel, a gay boy who feels conflicted by his sexuality and is bullied at school; Kevin McHale as Artie Abrams, who lives with a physical disability; Lea Michele as Rachel Berry, driven by her dreams of becoming a Broadway theatre star and the glee club's most obvious star singer; Cory Monteith as Finn Hudson, the school's star quarterback who sometimes appears not to be very smart; Amber Riley as Mercedes Jones, an African American girl who endeavors to be recognized for her talents and dreams of being a vocal diva; Mark Salling as Noah Puckerman, a teenage delinquent in need of direction; and Jenna Ushkowitz as Tina Cohen-Chang, a shy girl of Korean descent who longs to be popular and sometimes experiences racism. The main cast was altered throughout the series, including the addition of Naya Rivera as Santana Lopez, an unapologetically Latina cheerleader experiencing deep conflict over her sexuality, Harry Shum Jr. as Mike Chang, a dancer with Chinese roots whose parents do not support his dreams, and Heather Morris as Brittany Pierce, a ditzy cheerleader who is secretly a math prodigy and comes to realize she is bisexual. The series was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan, the latter of whom first conceived of Glee as a film. The three wrote all of the show's episodes for the first two seasons, and Murphy and Falchuk initially served as the show's main directors. The pilot episode was broadcast on May 19, 2009, and the first season aired from September 9, 2009, to June 8, 2010. Subsequent seasons aired from September through May. The sixth and