Needed: one Spanish teacher, one prima donna, one kid in a wheelchair, one closet gay, one sensitive football player with three additional jocks, one stuttering Asian, one pregnant cheerleader plus her two lackeys, and one Aretha Franklin sing-a-like — all of whom must be able to sing and dance like Broadway stars. Objective: to start my own glee club.

Where did I get such a crazy line-up of characters, you ask? From the hit Fox series, “Glee.”

The pilot episode of “Glee” aired after American Idol on May 19,2009, but the entire first season didn’t start until four months later on September 9,2009. After a few episodes, Fox decided that they wanted to officially sign the show for an entire season and bring audiences a teen comedic drama about a high school glee club. It may have taken Fox a few episodes to realize it, but I knew from the pilot that “Glee” was something special — that it was on to something different.

Unlike most TV shows today, “Glee” has a truly talented cast — Lea Michele (Rachel — the prima donna), Matthew Morrison (Mr. Schuster — the Spanish teacher), and Jenna Ushkowitz  (Tina — the stuttering Asian) were all in productions on Broadway, some with leading roles. The rest of the cast is made up of hidden talents and newcomers, including Amber Riley, who plays Mercedes, and is easily one of the strongest singers on the show. Due to her success with “Glee,” Amber plans to record and release a solo album of her own (ironically, before she landed her role as Mercedes, she had auditioned for American Idol and was rejected by the producers).

Although “Glee” has all the aspects of a good drama — boy bands, pregnant teens, affairs, love triangles, confusion with sexual orientation, struggles with popularity and acceptance, and really nice clothes —it is nothing like your average soap opera. Production time for “Glee” is nearly three times what it is to make an episode of most other shows. With a record contract from Columbia Records and 50 songs currently ready for purchase on iTunes, the cast and crew of “Glee” has to budget time for recording, mixing, and choreographing, all on top of normal rehearsals.

It’s clear that all of the work that goes into each episode pays off. With over 60,000 viewers tuning in every Wednesday night at 9, three teen choice award nominations, and the latest episode. “Mattress,” ranked seventh on the Top Ten TV Show purchases on iTunes, Glee has become a Cinderella story: it takes controversial teenage issues and displays them in a way that isn’t depressing, but reminds the viewer to always hold their head up high and keep on singing.