• Brad Falchuk sets the record straight on Lea, Cory, Chris: "Just because they're graduating, doesn't mean they're leaving the show" (source)
  
• Filming starts on August 8th (source)
  
• "I think we're going to pass but we've thought about it" - Brad Falchuk on spin-off rumours. "It would be a lot running both shows" (source)
  
• Showrunners think that Finchel is a "fantastic couple" and they really hope to explore their relationship this season (source)
  
• Brad Falchuk has "no interest" in breaking up Finn and Rachel this season (source)
  
• “The stories that are coming out are gonna knock your socks off. It’s gonna be the most extraordinary season.” - Dante DiLoreto
  
• Season 3 is supposed to be a 24-episode season

• "I have a feeling and I hope that they'll just kind of keep us together for awhile and, you know, when we left off, the finale of last year, we were, you know, she was telling him "I want to go to New York. That's where I'm going to go when I graduate," and I think that they'll hopefully stay together and, you know, I feel like that's going to be the sort of deal breaker. But maybe not. Maybe he'll...we'll see." - Lea on Finchel
  
• "So excited! we start filming on monday and i just finished reading the script for the first episode last night - it’s going to rock. seriously, everyone needs to get ready. it’ll be something to remember. I want to help produce a third season that will leave people talking for a while… all of the gleeks had better watch out for it, it’s going to be amazing." - Cory
  
• "I know I'm going to have some great stuff with Darren Criss," she said. "I know I'm going to be in the school musical, I can't say what it is though. So for me, I know some little things. I'm really excited about them. I think the Rachel and Finn thing will be kind of a mature storyline between the two of them. Less of on and off breakups and more of an honest thing — she wants to go to New York, she wants to leave this small town." - Lea (source)
  
• Lea Michele teased that the songs in the “back to basics” season 3 are “a lot of songs that have not been on the charts in a while and have been hits in the past. I love doing things like that."
  
• “Will Finn and Rachel be happy when Glee returns? — Joshua
  NATALIE: Yes! “You pick up with them as a couple,” Lea Michele tells us. “I have a feeling that they’re just going to be settled this year. They did talk a lot about Rachel in the final episode of last season, of her wanting to go to New York and not knowing where he’s going to go, so I think that’s going to be a lot of the issues between them this year, and not so much of the Rachel/Puck and Finn/Quinn stuff.” Gearing up for a possible career on New York City’s Great White Way, Rachel will join the school musical this season.”
  
• Is there any truth to the rumor that GLEE is going back to its first season roots this year? — Drew
  The TV Addict: Indeed there is. So much so that fans will be thrilled to discover that when GLEE returns for its much-anticipated third season this Tuesday September 20th at 8PM on FOX, it will do so in a very familiar fashion. Teased Lea Michele during last week’s FOX TCA Party, “This is the only top secret information that I can give you. I was really hoping that in this upcoming season I would get no slushies, no mess and whatever and then… like page two of script one I’m already a mess! Obviously they’re doing it on the first script because we’re coming back from the break happy and well rested. Had they put that in mid season we all would definitely have said no, I’m not looking forward to that.” (source)
  
• "Wow we've been dancing our butts off today on the finale number for episode one! It's a super fun song... but man we're dancin hard! Haha" - Lea (source)

• “I heard through the grapevine — the grapevine in this case being the red carpet at the premiere of Glee: The 3D Concert Movie — that Quinn gets back in touch with her inner bad girl when Season 3 starts. Also, word around town — the town in this case being Westwood, which is where the premiere of Glee: The 3D Concert Movie was held — is that several castmembers will be taking a crash course in tap-dancing in preparation for the Sept. 20 season opener.”

• “It’s Not Unusual.” by Tom Jones sung by Darren Criss. The dance number to “It’s Not Unusual” is with Blaine and the Cheerios. The rest of ND is there, but apparently they are on the fringes watching, not participating. Darren wears a red shirt and high-water jeans. Lea and Chris are “kind of” in it (Lea is sort of “running around like she’s in a French movie” and Darren does some wink/thumbs up to Chris during the song). Quinn is with another group, smoking and watching the performance. At the end of it she flicks her cigarette at the piano and the piano goes up in flames. (source)

3x01 - The Purple Piano Project
Aired Date: September 20, 2011
Episode Synopsis:
Episode Songs: "It's Not Usual" - Darren Criss ;
Episode Stills: