‘Glee’ Gets Renewed for Season 5 & 6

Following lengthy negotiations, the hit Fox musical dramedy “Glee” has been renewed for not one but two more seasons, ensuring the beloved show will air at least into 2015.

“Glee debuted as the first and only successful musical comedy series on television, and more than four years later, it continues to defy genres, break new ground and have a significant impact on popular culture,” said Fox chairman Kevin Reilly, according to Deadline.com.

The New York Times reports that the current fourth season of the show attracts around 8.7 million viewers every week, meaning it consistently ranks in the top 10 shows for the crucial 18- to 34-year-old demographic. The paper also notes that though the focus of the current season goes back and forth between the high school glee club in Ohio and graduates of the school at a college in New York, series creator Ryan Murphy has said he wants the next season to focus on just one location. However, he has not revealed which of the two locations that will be.

Those high ratings are not quite as high as the series scored in earlier seasons, but the attraction of the show to Fox seems to be more broad than the television show itself.

“Ryan, Brad, Ian and Dante have created something that is far larger than a television show; it’s a global entertainment brand which continues to touch millions around the world,” said 20th Century Fox chairmen Dana Walden and Gary Newman. In addition to Murphy, that statement also refers to co-founders Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, as well as executive producer Dante Di Loreto.

More than 53 million tracks from the show have been downloaded, and the show has spawned sales of 13 million albums around the world. Additionally, the show now has a syndication deal with Oxygen Network.