Mark Tughan, who founded the Glee Club group based in Birmingham, thinks spectators have become more discerning, thanks mainly to a younger generation who have grown up watching comedy online.

ECONOMIST: The comedy boom looks set to last

Ed was in the school orchestra, the glee club, sang solos in the school operettas, played baseball and basketball (Skagit County champs of 1925), drove the school bus, and was president of the student body in his senior year.

NPR: Edward R. Murrow: Broadcasting History

These days, the Mendelssohn Glee Club has difficulty filling even a small concert hall.

NPR: Storied Glee Club Faces Waning Membership

Still, reporter Lars Hoel tells us that the men of the Mendelssohn Glee Club are sounding better than ever.

NPR: Storied Glee Club Faces Waning Membership

Gene Wisoff says the Mendelssohn Glee Club of that era reminds him of something out of a 19th-century operetta.

NPR: Storied Glee Club Faces Waning Membership

In 1970, the Mendelssohn Glee Club hired him to do just that.

NPR: Storied Glee Club Faces Waning Membership

The Mendelssohn Glee Club celebrates its 142nd season this year.

NPR: Storied Glee Club Faces Waning Membership

Though Fox's "Glee, " a music-laced show about a high-school glee club, remains in the top 20 for viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, it has seen its rating drop 25% in that group so far this TV season compared with a year earlier, according to Nielsen data provided by Fox. (Fox, like The Wall Street Journal, is owned by News Corp.) This could signal a challenge for "Smash, " Mr. Adgate says.

WSJ: The High Stakes of NBC's 'Smash'

"I don't like writing essays for English therefore I won't like writing for the Writer's Club" was a very similar attitude to "I don't like "Glee" therefore I won't like anything to do with Chris Colfer".

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS