The Glee Project (seasons 1 & 2)
{4.5/5} “Never seen a contestant flirt with the band before, so good on you for that.”
The Glee Project is a reality show — the winner gets a role on Glee. Last summer the first season ran for 10 episodes — they started off with 12 contestants and 4 of them ended up on Glee. The second season just finished, and it ran for 11 episodes — they started off with 14 contestants and one of them will be on Glee next season.
Each week there’s a theme and a homework assignment. The contestant who wins the homework assignment gets to spend some one-on-one time with a special guest mentor from Glee. Then they learn some music and dance moves and make a video. The three contestants who performed the least well have to sing for Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy (the TV show Nip/Tuck). Murphy decides which contestant has to leave the show.
The contestants are all 18 to 24 — they would have to play high school students if they won. They are all great singers and have varying dance and acting skills. I’m pretty involved with the show — already by episode 2 I’m sad when the contestant has to leave. The one thing that confused me a bit in season 1 was that Murphy’s decisions seemed a bit arbitrary — but as casting director Robert Ulrich (the TV show Battlestar Galactica) says, “casting is completely subjective.” A whole week’s worth of events are compressed into an hour, so there’s a lot that happens that we don’t see.
In addition to Murphy and Ulrich, there are some other behind-the-scenes people from Glee on this show. Nikki Anders is a vocal producer (also a singer and songwriter) and helps the contestants in the recording studio. Zach Woodlee (Real Steel) is a choreographer and teaches the contestants their choreography each week. And Erik White (Lottery Ticket), not from Glee but from the world of music videos, directs the videos that the contestants make.
I like the music, and I like getting to know the contenders — although it’s a competition, it’s a friendly competition.
The show was created by Ryan Murphy.
December 17th, 2016 at 11:23 am
The 2nd season ended up being the last season.