Nothing has gotten us more excited about reaching for our composition books and pocket protectors since Glee debuted on Fox in May. And we're not the only ones: since then, two re-airings of the pilot episode drew 4.1 million and 2.58 million viewers respectively. Starring Broadway vets Lea Michele (Spring Awkening) and Matthew Morrison (Hairspray), along with established comedienne Jane Lynch (Julia and Julia, The L Word), Fox has a breakthrough hit on their hands. The satire capitalizes on all the high school clichés (jocks versus geeks, cheerleaders versus theater nerds) with a fresh spin — and a musical showstopper or two. We follow the adventures of misfits at the McKinley High Glee Club as they get slushied by football players, sing their hearts out, and eventually win over the popular kids with slick performances of pop hits. In fact, the show's renditions of songs like "Don't Stop Believing" and "Single Ladies" has created a cult fan base known as the Gleeks. Read on for little-known tidbits about this year's anti-High School Musical.

1. The show has A-list fans, including Madonna and Julia Roberts.

Madonna has given Glee the rights to her catalog and an all-Madonna-music episode is in the works for early next year. Plus, Glee can count one of Hollywood’s biggest stars as a supporter. Co-creator Ryan Murphy, who is currently filming Eat, Pray, Love with Julia Roberts in Bali, told Entertainment Weekly, “We’re on location here and she’s watched episodes and has quite enjoyed them.”

2. Jane Lynch, who plays evil cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester, was a glee girl herself in high school.

"I wasn’t a cheerleader. I was in our version of the glee club. I was in choir all four years and I loved going from group to group. I wasn’t really popular, I stayed under the radar, and I just kind of traveled through different groups. But my heart was in doing the plays and doing glee every day," she told New York magazine.

3. Like her nerdy and focused character, Lea Michele is not into the party scene.

"I am THE most happy when I am in my house in my little bedroom that I’ve decorated that I love, or taking a bath in my bathroom and imagining that I’m in, like, Italy because my bathroom has these, like, weird green-and-cream tiles. I don’t think that that’s, like, my scene. I’m not a really big partier. I’d rather go sit and have an incredible dinner and eat my face off or something like that," Michele has said.

4. On the way to her final audition, Lea Michele got in a car-totaling collision just outside the studio.

 “I had to leave the smoking car on the street. I had glass in my hair and nicks all over my body,” she told New York magazine. Even though she feared internal bleeding, she showed up to the audition. “That’s why I play Rachel,” she says. “Because I’m the one who ran with shards of glass in my hair. She wouldn’t let anything stop her.”