Dish Of Salt: Monday TV Dish (‘Glee’ Is Back!)

I was one of the lucky few hundred folks that had a chance to see the first brand new episode of “Glee” over the weekend. And let me tell you, it was every bit as brilliant as the first 13 episodes! The entire cast (minus Lea Michele, who was in NYC) gathered at the annual Paley Television Festival where fans got a chance to hear all about their favorite show. Creator/Executive Producer Ryan Murphy was free flowing with great spoilers. Here’s what I learned inside the panel and on the red carpet with the stars of the show:

Spoiler Alert!

– The first episode back is titled “Hello” and every song (which includes The Doors and The Beatles) will feature the word “Hello” in it.

– Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) hooks up with the Principal and it’s nothing short of hilarious “how” and “why. “

– Kurt (Chris Colfer) masterminds a love connection between Finn’s single mom (Cory Monteith) and Kurt’s single dad getting together so he can move in with Finn. Chris alluded to this in our interview backstage telling me, “He is still in love with Finn, madly. He does everything in his power to make Finn love him. It’s quite the strategy.”

– Rachel (Lea Michele) and Puck (Mark Salling) will reunite as love interests at some point… but it won’t last long. Before then Rachel will have a brand new love interest, the lead singer of Vocal Adrenaline.

– Next year, for the show’s second season, they will do an all original songs episode.

– Ryan said that clearing songs has become much easier now that the show is successful. Most people are calling them asking to have their music used. However, they will only pay up to a certain amount for songs. Coldplay and Bryan Adams have said no to having their songs used (their loss!).

– Tons of past “American Idol” contestants have been calling begging to be on the show. Ryan told them to send an audition tape and “we’ll look at it.” (i.e. – no thanks Idols!)

– The cast will be traveling via plane when they go on their live tour unlike the “American Idol” tour where they go by bus. The shows have been selling out within seconds of the tickets going on sale. The cast talks about their upcoming live tour

– The Madonna episode, which features ten of her songs, is the second episode back. They just finished shooting last week on Jane’s version of “Vogue.” Jane revealed the circumstances behind why she breaks out in song. “Kurt and Mercedes [Amber Riley] come up to me because I get made fun of for my hair this time,” she revealed. “Kurt and Mercedes say, ‘Hey you need a makeover. Let’s do it.’ We are basically remaking the “Vogue” video. So it’s the same stuff Madonna wore. That white cream dress. The cone bra. That suit she does the dance to — kind of like the 1940’s double breasted suit and I’ve got the hair and the Veronica Lake wig. The whole deal.”

Not surprisingly, as I suspected, Sue winds up going right back to her old look after this makeover. “I don’t want to give it away but I just did!” Jane laughed. “She shows up with just the cone bra over her track suit.”

– Neil Patrick Harris will duet with Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) on an Aerosmith and Billy Joel song when he guest stars towards the end of the season. Matthew explained the storyline behind their relationship. “We went to high school together,” he told me. “He was two years older than me and he was like the star of glee club and now he’s on the, he’s a member of the school board and he wants to cut glee club.”

– They will do Lady Gaga songs this season.

– Despite being a fan, Julia Roberts will not be a guest star. Julia and Ryan worked together on the upcoming film “Eat Pray Love” and told the “Glee” cast at this year’s Golden Globes she would love to come on as a guest star. Later while promoting “Valentine’s Day” she said she was joking, which is good thing because Ryan told me it’s not happening.

“I don’t know that I would let Julia Roberts come on “Glee.” She’s got too many kids! She’s got a movie with me to promote,” he joked. “No, you know when we were shooting the movie and we were in India, I had had cuts that we were working on. So Julia would watch them and she was just so sweet about them.”

– Cory might play a teenager but the 27-year-old star is hiding some gray hair! Check out our interview HERE.

“Glee” returns to FOX on April 13.

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