Massive Cast Shakeup at “Glee” - Rachel, Sam, Finn and Kurt Are Out! What Now?

Massive changes are afoot for the cast of the show “Glee”.

Just last week there were reports that Chord Overstreet, who plays Sam, was out – but then producers backtracked a bit saying Chord was welcome anytime even though his contract had expired.

Today we got the news that Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and Chris Colfer are leaving Glee after the third season.

Related: Chord Overstreet Leaving Glee

We have all grown accustomed to cast shifts on our favorite shows, but this move on Glee seems almost insurmountable.

After all - Rachel, Finn, Sam and Kurt are the McKinley High students we fell in love with, and their drama was the reason we started watching the show in the first place.

Are we really ready, and capable, of getting to know an entirely new cast? Can we really let go of Kurt’s struggle with his sexuality and his relationship with his father?

Can we really imagine a show without Flinn?

Do we have the time to start all over again learning to care about the lives of a new cast of fictional characters? Won’t we compare everything new with how it ranks to everything we once knew?

Upon hearing the news, Lea took to twitter to tell fans,

"We always knew we'd graduate in real time. It’s all part of the plan and it's all good! It’s going to make Season 3 amazing! To Gleeks everywhere, you're in my heart now and forever. Love you all!!! This is just the beginning."

We get the concept – seniors graduate and move on and new freshmen enter the scene and fight their way into the social strata they are thrust in to.

Glee's creator Ryan Murphy hinted to these kinds of massive cast changes last week when he told reporters,

“The show to me is about the way you express yourself as you start to move out into the world as a fresh, young person. Do we really want to have an eight-year high school senior? The only way somebody could stay on the show is if they flunk, and that is always a possibility. I think Brittany is pulling straight F’s.”

With the creation of this years “Glee Project”, it seems producers have fashioned a Glee machine to crank out new potential cast members.

But in the end it may not be an issue of “Is it possible” but rather “Is it a smart move?”

I guess time will tell if America will be patient enough to get involved with a basically brand new cast, but I know a lot of people who will move on to something new.

And if Jane Lynch ever leaves the show is done…

But don’t feel bad for Rachel, Finn, Sam and Kurt – they’re going to be just fine in the real world.

Chris Colfer who plays gay Kurt has already inked a deal with Disney to write new screenplays and movie scripts. His first comedy, “Struck by Lightning” is due out next year.

Related: Chris Colfer Writing Movies for Disney Now

Coffer told Inside TV,

“It was bound to happen sooner or later. I always assumed that Kurt was very young in the original scripts. I knew he was 16, but I didn’t know what grade. Then when it was announced I was leaving, I was like, I guess it’s our senior year next year!”

At least he was nominated for an Emmy for his efforts.

Lea Michele seems to be busy with non-Glee projects as well.

Michele has already landed her first big movie role in the comedy “New Year’s Eve” directed by Garry Marshall and starring Josh Duhamel, Ashton Kutcher, Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Jessica Biel, Alyssa Milano, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Hilary Swank, Frankie Muniz, John Lithgow, and Sofía Vergara.

That is an impressive list of A-list actors to work with in your first movie.

“New Year’s Eve” will hit theaters in late 2011 and will show how the lives of several couples and singles in New York intertwine and change over the course of New Year's Eve.

Lea has also scored the lead voice role of Dorothy in the animated movie “Dorothy of Oz” due in theaters in 2012.

Watch Lea Michele Interview About Dorothy of Oz


Cory Monteith is also branching out into movies starring as ‘Justin’ in the comedy “Sisters and Brothers”. The movie is due out later this year.

Monteith also worked with Selena Gomez in her romantic comedy “Monte Carlo” - about three young women vacationing in Paris who find themselves whisked away to Monte Carlo after one of the girls is mistaken for a British heiress.

And all Glee cast members are working on “Glee: The 3D Concert Movie” due in theaters this August. It is a concert documentary filmed during the “Glee Live! In Concert!” summer 2011 tour.

As you can see, it’s not like our favorite cast members are going to go hungry on the streets of Hollywood once they leave the show.

We just don’t know if we have the time, or the energy, to get involved with an entirely new cast on Glee without always comparing things to how they were “in the old days…”

And we don’t want the new season to become “The Darren Criss Show” either.

And they really need to stop saying the word “regionals” so much. It makes a great drinking game but they are beating a dead horse already - let’s move on folks.

Time will tell.

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Chord Overstreet Leaving Glee – Sam Evans Not Returning to McKinley High – Oh No!

Things are changing at McKinley High next season!

US Magazine is reporting that Chord Overstreet, who plays Sam Evans on Glee, will not be returning to the series this fall for season 3.

It seems it’s not as much as Overstreet is leaving on his own, but rather the producers decided not to renew the 22-year-old actors contract.

Glee creator Ryan Murphy created suspense last week when he said MOST of the students would be returning saying,

“The show to me is about the way you express yourself as you start to move out into the world as a fresh, young person. Do we really want to have an eight-year high school senior? The only way somebody could stay on the show is if they flunk, and that is always a possibility. I think Brittany is pulling straight F’s.”

Speculation ran wild among fans as they tried to figure out who would not be returning. Clues came last week when Chord sent out a tweet saying,

“It’s been a good year. Too bad it’s over. Time for summer and starting fresh.”

Bummer.

But what is bad for one cast member may be good for others as we hear that season 3 will move two smaller roles into full time mode.

Related: Massive Cast Shakeup at “Glee” - Rachel, Sam, Finn and Kurt Are Out!

Darren Criss, who plays gay Blaine, Kurt Hummel’s (Chris Colfer) not so secret man crush, will move into a fulltime role.

And so will Harry Shum Jr., who plays Mike.

Related: Chris Colfer Writing Movies for Disney Now

Chord, who was born in Nashville Tennessee, will continue to make an occasional guest appearance, and is currently filming “Glee: The 3D Concert Movie” - A concert documentary shot during the “Glee Live! In Concert!” summer 2011 tour.

But don’t feel bad for Overstreet. He has already appeared on several television shows including “Private”, “iCarly”, and “No Ordinary Family.”

He also appeared in the 2011 Norwegian movie “A Warriors Heart” about a star Lacrosse who starts acting out in self-destructive ways that has his mom at her wit's end.

We think he will do just fine and probably has a ton of job offers just waiting for his approval.

Watch Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Chord Overstreet


And how did he get the name Chord anyway?

“My dad is in the music business in Nashville. I was the third child born in my family, and there are three notes in a chord, so that's how they came up with my name.”

You know what they say – art imitates life!

Follow InfoStar on Twitter – The perfect chord

Meredith Vieira leaving TODAY Show - Ann Curry New Co-anchor – Video

Meredith Vieira announced this morning that she will be leaving the NBC Today Show next month.

Current news correspondent Ann Curry will assume her role as co-anchor along with Matt Lauer.

It had been rumored that Lauer was also leaving but NBC says they have a multi-year contract and he is happy with his role and will be staying put.

NBC News President Steve Capus said,

“Meredith is a remarkable woman and broadcaster who in five short years has left an indelible imprint on morning television. While we will miss waking up with her each morning, we are working together on developing her next chapter at NBC News.”

Meredith, 57, joined Matt Lauer at the anchor desk in 2006 when Katie Couric left to anchor the CBS Evening News.



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Katie Couric Officially Steps Down From the CBS Evening News

After five years of hosting the Evening News on CBS, Katie Couric has made it official by announcing that she is stepping down from her anchor chair.

Couric never really found a grove with viewers and ratings for her show declined each year.

The network has not announced her last show but is moving to hire Scott Pelley of "60 Minutes" as her successor as early as next week.

Couric’s contract expires June 4 and she says she would like to create and host her own talk show by next year.

Couric's news broadcast was seen nightly by about 6.3 million viewers, the Nielsen Co. said. That's only two-thirds of the usual viewership of 9.8 million for Brian Williams and NBC's "Nightly News." ABC's "World News" with Diane Sawyer gets about 8.7 million viewers.

Couric has released the following statement,

“I’m really proud of the talented team on the CBS Evening News and the award-winning work we’ve been able to do in the past five years in addition to the reporting I’ve done for 60 Minutes and CBS Sunday Morning.

In making the decision to move on, I know the Evening News will be in great hands, but I am excited about the future.”

Are Meredith Vieira AND Matt Lauer Both Leaving NBC’s Today Show? Say it Aint So!

In what can only be described as major bad news for the NBC network, reports are surfacing that BOTH Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer say they will be leaving the Today show later this year.

Some are wondering if the network can survive yet another high profile departure after the blow from Alec Baldwin yesterday that “30 Rock” is over.

Related: Alec Baldwin Says ’30 Rock’ Ending – Tina Fey Leaving the Show

When asked about the speculation, NBC press handlers said,

“There seems to be an awful lot of speculation around news anchors these days, and it’s not our practice to comment on any of it. Matt Lauer has a long term contract with NBC News and ‘Today. ”

True. But both host contracts are due to expire at the end of this year, and “ET” reported that Lauer had been telling everybody he planned to move on once his contract expired in December. And TV Guide was reporting earlier this week about Meredith’s desire to exit the show.

TV Guide says Vieira has been in discussions with NBC executives for several months about extending her contract, but she is said to be exhausted with the demanding early hours and is ready to move on.

Vieira also said that the health of her husband, who has battled multiple sclerosis and cancer, will be a factor in considering her future on the program.

It doesn’t appear that there is any personal friction between the two hosts, in fact they seem like they get along pretty well, even in live embarrassing moments like when Matt Lauer’s divorce turned into laughs on the show.

On critic stated,

“Of course NBC is going to deny it. They just lost ’30 Rock’ and now their morning news lineup is falling apart.”

There has been some speculation that Vieira, Lauer, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin are gracefully trying to exit the network before the Comcast NBC Universal deal begins to impact daily operations.

One insider commented,

“Comcast is going to chop up every bit of content they can mine from NBC and either charge for it or try to keep others from embedding it on the internet. The days of being able to freely use NBC content are over.”

THAT seems to make more sense than anything else – the big stars want to get behind NBC before the Comcast takeover is complete because they see what the future will look like and they don’t want any part of it.

But it could also be the oldest ploy in the Hollywood playbook – act like you’re going to leave just before your contract expires so they will offer you more money for the next season.

Somehow, in a sad way, that seems to make the most sense of all.

Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon – your move?