Writer of Pop Culture

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This Day in Pop Culture

This Day in Pop Culture for May 19

“Glee”, “South Pacific”, Indy 500 and microcars.

May 19, 2020

2–3 minutes

2009: A Glee Club Like No Other

Created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan, Glee was a musical comedy-drama series that debuted on FOX on this day. It centered on New Directions, the glee club at William McKinley High School. While practicing for upcoming choir competitions, the students would deal with a variety of issues each week including race, sexuality, relationships and occasionally homework.

The large cast included club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), Will’s wife, Terri (Jessalyn Gilsig), the mean cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) and guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays). The students consisted of pregnant cheerleader Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron), gay student Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer), wheelchair-bound Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale), self-important Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), quarterback Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith), vocal diva Mercedes Jones (Amber Riley), delinquent Noah Puckerman (Mark Salling) and shy girl Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz).

During its first season, Glee was nominated for 19 Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, six Satellite Awards and 57 other awards! During the show’s 121 episodes, over 729 music performances were presented. (Image: FOX)

2018: Royal Wedding

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were married at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor. It is estimated that 1.9 billion people tuned in for it.

1958: ‘South Pacific’ Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the 1958 musical move, South Pacific became the #1 album and it stayed in that spot for 31 weeks.

1991: An Indy 500 First

Willy T. Ribbs became the first African American driver to make Indianapolis 500.

2007: Smart Introduces the Microcar

On this day in 2007, the company Smart launched a cross-country road show to promote the smart car making it to 50 cities across the U.S. Under normal driving conditions, the car was designed to achieve 40 plus miles per gallon. The stunt proved itself worthy because by September, the company reported that they had received more than 30,000 registrations from potential buyers. The first Smart cars went on sale in January of 2008 with prices from $12,000 to $21,000.