Somehow, and I don’t know how, the internet managed to uncover the original first draft of the Glee pilot episode.
Reading it, you can see just how foreign it seems from the show as it is today, with some major, major changes from even the first broadcast pilot!
Some of the original pilot details that were later changed
• William McKinley was originally called Harrison High
• The glee club had three names; The Harrison High Singsations in the flashback, Rhythm Explosion in Sandy’s time, and then the New Directions we know now
• The flashback glee club sang Brand New Day from The Wiz, instead of the disco mash-up
• There is a much greater focus on Will and Terri and their relationship
• Kurt was originally an Indian boy called Rajeesh, and his Marc Jacobs jacket was from Dick’s Sporting Goods; he is also later described as dyslexic
• Artie’s name is changed, just slightly, to Arty
• The original 5 members of New Directions, plus Hank, were also members of Rhythm Explosion before signing up again after Sandy is fired
• We see Sandy’s firing, in which he also denies his sexuality; this is followed by the direction that Sandy “weeps gay tears.”
• Rachel’s surrogate and dads are both shown – her mother is called Amber and is described as “whitetrash”, while her dads are named Joe and Bruce
• Rachel initially posts her videos on YouTube instead of MySpace; she is shown singing Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee from Grease, and the comments written to her are much harsher
• She also is shown auditioning for American Idol, including cameos from Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell, who mentions that she strikes him “as a girl who people don’t like very much.”
• Howard Bamboo was originally a twenty-something girl called Ginny
• There was a cameo from a heavily-pregnant teenager, called Juliette, who was seeking guidance with Emma
• Finn originally gets the lyrics to Can’t Fight This Feeling wrong, singing “a corndog late at night.”
• Puck and Finn are shown paintballing a homeless person, though Finn is shown to feel guilty; Puck is described as a “manchild.”
• When Finn joins, the club sings Summer Nights instead of You’re The One That I Want
• Mercedes and Rajeesh are set up as a possible couple
• Quinn is originally called Liz
• Vocal Adrenaline sing Robbie Williams’ Let Me Entertain You
• Will, at Terri’s encouragement, leaves to work at HW Menken, until Emma tracks him down and persuades him to come back
• Tina beatboxes during Don’t Stop Believing
• There is no Sue!
Some of these changes are bigger than others, but what we can gather is that Glee would have originally been a very different show! No Brittany, no Santana, no Kurt, no Sue? And what about Howard Bamboo!? What do you think of what it could have been, how it turned out and what would have happened if any of these changes were kept?
You can read the original script in full here.
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