The Story
“Glee” is about the Spanish teacher William Schuester, who would like to be responsible for the “Glee Club”. On first glance, there only seem to be freaks in it, e.g. The homosexual Kurt, black Mercedes, stuttering Tina and Artie, who is sitting in a wheelchair. But at some point a school internal war is starting between Will and Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch is doing a great job here), the cheerleader's coach.
However, in between the great music and many jokes some darker storylines can be found, and this is what seperates it most noticeably from stuff like Disney's “High School Musical”.

The Phenomenom
Probably nobody expected “Glee” to have such an enormous success in America. It can be said that it was the most successful new series in 2009. This was probably also due to the brilliant marketing. On May 19th 2009, the first episode was broadcasted in it's normal version and about 9,6 million Americans saw it. After that, they had to wait 4 months until episode number two was ready. During this long waiting period, the pilot was broadcasted again in a “Director's Cut” version, which was subsequently released on a stand-alone DVD and as part of the Season One DVDs.

The Comparison & Director's Cut
The Director's Cut's duration is (including outro and longer black screens, which are not mentioned here) about 55 minutes, which is 12 minutes longer than the original.
The Director's Cut is also more recommendable for people who are new to the series. At the beginning one is a bit more confused, but some logical errors are being corrected and some small scenes allow the characters to develop further, especially the relationship quadrangle Will, Emma, Terri and Ken. I can only recommend the Director's Cut plus the rest of the series to everyone.

Comparison between the Original Version (first broadcast) by FOX and the 55 minutes-long Director's Cut (taken from the DVD).


The Director's Cut features:
1x new music scene,
1x more “offensive” dialog
6x inserted small dialog
7x new larger plot scenes
3x other new scenes

0.00
A completely new sequence was added to the beginning. It is the year 1993, and the Glee Club performs at the Nationals. The famous sentence "Glee is about to open yourself up to joy" can be heard for the first time here.

The beginning sequence with the cheerleades was split up to several scenes and inserted into the DC at some other points, including Sue's "You think this is hard? Try being waterboarded, that's hard!". Then, a “Present Day” overlay was inserted.

Director's Cut running time (without "Glee" title):1.37
Original Episode running time (with "Glee" title) :0.34
-> Director's Cut 1.03 minutes longer.

Director's Cut (DC):	Original Episode

2.33
Quinn and Santana make fun of Rachel in the school toilet.
18 sec

3.11
The title can now be seen in the DC.
4 sec

3.15
The DC then instantly continues with the performance of "Sit Down, You're Rocking The Boat", which can be seen much later in the original version.
No time difference

From 4.12 a completely new scene starts, explaining the background of the Glee Club. Sue Sylvester is also being introduced and parts of the original opening sequence are being shown. With the beginning of “Where Is Love?” the DC and the Original are in synchronicity again.
1.28 min

6.15
Principal Figgins fires Sandy, who claims he was not gay.
12 sec

7.42
Emma talks about her leakage longer. She says that even the fire brigade came and asks Will whether he had seen it in the news.
12 sec

DC: 12.32
OV: 8.18
The comments by Quinn and the other Cherios are a bit more rough in the DC.
No time difference

Director's Cut (DC):	Original Episode

OV: 9.05
Here, the original episode shows "Sit Down, You're Rocking The Boat".
No time difference.

DC: 13.19
The DC shows a scene of the Glee kids trying on the old costumes of the Glee group instead. Mercedes is protesting and has an argument with Rachel, who leaves.

After this, another part of the original beginning is shown and ends in the chat between Will and Rachel (which can be seen in both episodes).

53 sec

16.40
A (not very important) dialog was inserted.
Terri: "I know you, something must be up!"
2 sec

17.10
Ditto.
Terri: "There, we're gonna talk about it at home, okay?"
4 sec

17.50
And again:
Sandy: "Will you be my personal shopper?"
2 sec

21.31
Will enters the locker room of the footballers in order to cast more members for the Glee club. Puck says he could sing but eventually only farts instead. Ken tells him to behave, Puck goes back to Finn and gives him high five.geht in die Umkleidekabine der Footballer, um dort weitere Glee-Club Mitglieder zu casten. Puck m
26 sec

22.03
A dialog was inserted, in which Ken asks Puck to come to his office.
3 sec

23.20
Will's voiceover is longer.
"It was worse than ranning over Terri's dog on prom night, and what happened next, was messy..."
7sec

30.20
Puck throws one more time at the boy.
2 sec

31.00
New plot scene: Ken enters Will's office and complains that he had casted Finn for the Glee Club. However, his real reasons for screaming at Will is being explained in a flashback:

Ken wants to ask the manically clean Emma out on a date, he already bought tickets for a monster truck show. Emma refuses him and says she was interested in someone else. Ken loses his temper, licks his hand and smears his saliva on her car.

He then suggests that it might be Will Emma is interested in, afterwards he says goodbye with "Adios, Amigo".

1.27min


37.17
After the “Rehab” performance by “Vocal Adrenaline” Will is staring into empty space longer.
7 sec

39.54
After Will tolt the kids that he would no longer teach them, he sings "Leaving On A Jet Plane" behind the stage.
At the same time Emma can be seen drawing a heart around a picture of Will, Will filling in an application form and again Emma, this time she learns about Terri's pregnancy.
2.16 min