The old maxim about never getting a second chance to make a first impression was particularly apropos to the debut of 'Glee'.

Fox opted to air the pilot on May 19, take the summer off, and then bring the series back for its official debut four months later. That's a risky gamble when our national attention span is shorter than Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the Video Music Awards.

Then the pilot aired, closing with a spirit-soaring take on the Journey hit 'Don't Stop Believin',' and suddenly summer couldn't pass quickly enough.

Mixing 'Fame'-style musical numbers with a quirky sense of humor, 'Glee' introduced an appealing band of losers, propelled by desperation, boredom or blackmail into the William McKinley High Glee Club led by Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison). But the group, dubbed New Directions, seemed destined to break up long before its first competition, when Will quit his job for a higher-paying position after learning his wife was pregnant (which she really isn't, but that's another story).The old maxim about never getting a second chance to make a first impression was particularly apropos to the debut of 'Glee'.

Fox opted to air the pilot on May 19, take the summer off, and then bring the series back for its official debut four months later. That's a risky gamble when our national attention span is shorter than Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the Video Music Awards.

Then the pilot aired, closing with a spirit-soaring take on the Journey hit 'Don't Stop Believin',' and suddenly summer couldn't pass quickly enough.

Mixing 'Fame'-style musical numbers with a quirky sense of humor, 'Glee' introduced an appealing band of losers, propelled by desperation, boredom or blackmail into the William McKinley High Glee Club led by Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison). But the group, dubbed New Directions, seemed destined to break up long before its first competition, when Will quit his job for a higher-paying position after learning his wife was pregnant (which she really isn't, but that's another story).

Undeterred by losing its leader, the group stayed together. As dim-bulb football player Finn (Cory Monteith) and ambitious, neurotic Rachel (Lea Michele) traded lead vocals on 'Don't Stop Believin',' the members of New Directions came together as a singing group, a foreshadowing of their coming together as friends as the season progressed.

This was a different type of music than what we'd heard on TV in awhile -- retro, optimistic, and sure, a little cheesy, but Michele's soaring vocals and the insistent 'da da da' opening proved irresistible. The song's iTunes popularity kept the show on the radar throughout its long hiatus. In October, the 'Glee' cast version of 'Don't Stop Believin'' was certified gold, topping 500,000 downloads.

There would be many more memorable performances from the 'Glee' cast in 2009 ('Take a Bow,' 'Somebody to Love,' ' Keep Holdin' On'), but it was that first joyous blast of Journey from the auditorium of William McKinley High that heralded the arrival of a new TV -- and pop music -- phenomenon.

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