The Purple Piano Project
| "The Purple Piano Project" | |
|---|---|
| Glee episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 1 |
| Directed by | Eric Stoltz |
| Written by | Brad Falchuk |
| Featured music | "We Got the Beat" "Big Spender" "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" "It's Not Unusual" "Anything Goes" / "Anything You Can Do" "You Can't Stop the Beat" |
| Production code | 3ARC01 |
| Original air date | September 20, 2011 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"The Purple Piano Project" is the premiere episode of the third season of the American musical television series Glee, and the forty-fifth overall. The episode was written by series co-creator Brad Falchuk, directed by Eric Stoltz, and first aired on September 20, 2011 on Fox in the United States. It features the start of a new school year at McKinley High, and for its glee club, New Directions. Members of the club have left, and a recruitment drive is launched to bring the numbers back up. Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss), Kurt Hummel's (Chris Colfer) boyfriend, transfers from Dalton Academy to McKinley High, and Mercedes Jones gets a new boyfriend. Sue Sylvester is running for Congress.
The episode received mixed-to-positive reviews, with favorable notice being taken of the renewed focus on the core characters, though there was a lack of overall enthusiasm from several reviewers. The subplot with Kurt and Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), and its introduction of Harmony (Lindsay Pearce), garnered praise for all three performers. The musical performances were generally well-received, and the "Anything Goes" / "Anything You Can Do" mash-up featuring Pearce was widely acclaimed. Five covers were released as singles, three of which charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian Hot 100. Upon its initial airing, this episode was viewed by 9.21 million American viewers and garnered a 4.0/11 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 age group. The total viewership and ratings for this episode were down significantly from the previous episode, "New York".
It is a new year at McKinley High. New Directions glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) and guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays) are now sharing an apartment and a bed. Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), coach of the Cheerios cheerleading squad, is running for Congress but doing badly in the polls. Glee club member Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr.) is now a senior, while fellow members Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz) and Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale) are juniors. Club co-captain Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith), a senior, has no idea what to do about his future. Mercedes Jones (Amber Riley) has a new boyfriend (LaMarcus Tinker); her former boyfriend Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) moved to another state. Three New Directions members have left: Sam, Lauren Zizes (Ashley Fink), who also broke up with Puck (Mark Salling), and Sam's ex-girlfriend Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron), who has completely reinvented herself with pink hair, a nose ring and a tattoo; she has taken up smoking, and has made friends with a group of outcast girls called the Skanks. She refuses to rejoin either the Cheerios or New Directions.
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