''The Glee Project'' is an American
reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...
series from
Oxygen
Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...
. It served as an audition for the
Fox musical comedy series ''
Glee
Glee may refer to:
* Glee (music), a type of English choral music
* ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy
* ''Glee'' (Bran Van 3000 album)
* ''Glee'' (Logan Lynn album)
* Gle ...
'', and the prize for the winner was a minimum seven-episode arc in the following season of the show. The show's first season premiered in the US on June 12, 2011, and concluded on August 21, 2011. In Canada, the series began airing on
Slice on June 26, 2011, and in the UK, the series began airing on
Sky 1 on July 14, 2011. A second season aired in the US from June 5 to August 14, 2012. In July 2013, it was announced that ''The Glee Project'' would not return for a third season.
''Glee'' executive producers
Ryan Murphy and
Dante Di Loreto executive produced for ''The Glee Project''. ''Glee'' casting director,
Robert J. Ulrich, was casting director for the project, while ''Glee'' on-screen non-speaking accompanist,
Brad Ellis, helping Ulrich coach 80 potential candidates as seen in the music segment of "The Top 12" special that led into the pilot episode of season 1.
Contest process
Each episode of ''The Glee Project'' was given an overall theme and covered events that had taken place in about the time span of a week. The following is how the events were broadcast.
Homework assignment
Contestants were given a "homework assignment" that entailed learning and practicing segments of a chosen song. At the beginning of each episode, contestants performed their respective parts of the song in front of a mystery guest judge from the ''Glee'' cast. The contestant that completed the homework best was given a one-on-one session with the guest star and a principal part in the music video.
Music video (group performance)
Contestants then created a music video "inspired by the performances on ''Glee''". In preparation for the music video, contestants recorded parts of a song in a professional studio with vocal producer Nikki Anders (née Hassman). They also learned choreography from
Zach Woodlee and Brooke Lipton, his assistant. The entire process was overseen by ''Glee'' casting director
Robert J. Ulrich.
Callbacks
During callbacks, the top performing contestants were revealed. They were complimented on their performances and immediately called back. Then the remaining ones were critiqued by
Robert J. Ulrich and Zach Woodlee, and also in the second season by Nikki Anders, about their performances. (Anders substituted for Woodlee in Ep. 8 of the first season.) Then the bottom three contestants were revealed as others were added to the callback list. They were then each assigned a different song that they will perform in hopes of being "saved".
During season 1, Nikki visited each of the bottom in their dressing/rehearsal room to provide last minute feedback and a pep talk.
Last chance performance
The bottom three of the week performed their assigned songs in front of
Ryan Murphy himself. With input from Woodlee, Ulrich, and Anders (in the second season) a decision was made and one of the bottom three was eliminated.
During the next to last episode of each season Ryan didn't include the mentors; instead he invited co-creator Ian Brennan to join him. In the final episodes, Murphy, Woodlee, Ulrich, Anders, and Brennan were also joined by several of the guest mentors, writers, and cast members.
Final callbacks
Unlike most reality competition shows, contestants were not directly informed of their elimination, nor did they wait for extended tension-filled pauses to hear the results one by one. Rather, the bottom three were notified when "the list is up" and discovered their fate as they found their name on the list. Afterwards, the eliminated contestant sang lead vocals in "
Keep Holding On" by
Avril Lavigne
Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is a key musician in popularizing pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. List of awa ...
with the remaining contestants singing the background vocals.
Season one (2011)
Although originally planned to begin broadcasting in late May 2011, ''The Glee Project'' premiered on June 12, 2011, and aired a two-hour extended premiere where the first hour showed the audition process and selection of the twelve contenders, and the second hour was the first episode of the series. The Canadian and UK premieres were also in the same two-hour extended format: in Canada, the series began airing on
Slice on June 26, 2011, and in the UK, the series began airing on
Sky One
Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
on July 14, 2011.
Damian McGinty and
Samuel Larsen were both proclaimed the winners of the first season, each winning a seven-episode arc. Runners-up
Lindsay Pearce and
Alex Newell were given prizes of a two-episode arc on ''Glee'', and
Cameron Mitchell, who quit the competition in episode 7, won the "fan favorite" competition and the associated $10,000 prize. Pearce's two-episode arc, as a Rachel Berry-esque girl named
Harmony
In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...
, consisted of the season premiere episode "
The Purple Piano Project" and the eighth episode "
Hold On to Sixteen", while McGinty began his arc as
Rory Flanagan, an Irish exchange student, in the fourth episode "
Pot o' Gold"; McGinty was retained on the show beyond his seven-episode prize. Larsen debuted on Glee in the thirteenth episode, "
Heart
The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...
", as a transfer student named
Joe Hart, also appearing beyond his original seven-episode stint. Newell's first appearance was in the April 17, 2012, episode "
Saturday Night Glee-ver". They played
Wade Adams, a
transgender
A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth.
The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...
member of the rival Vocal Adrenaline show choir, and appeared briefly in "
Props", returning a few more times before transferring to McKinley High for the series'
fourth season and becoming a series regular for its
fifth season.
McGinty, Larsen, Pearce, and Newell were chosen to sing on the 2011 ''Glee'' Christmas album, ''
Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album Volume 2''.
Contenders
Episodes
Contender progress
;Key
SAFE The contender was not at risk of elimination.
WIN The contender won the homework assignment and was not at risk of elimination.
W/R The contender won the homework assignment but was at risk of being eliminated.
RISK The contender sang for Ryan and was immediately safe.
RISK The contender was at risk of being eliminated.
ELIM The contender was eliminated.
The contender won the homework assignment but was eliminated.
The contender quit the competition.
The contender was to be eliminated, but was saved due to another contender quitting.
WINNER The contender won a 7-episode arc on ''Glee''.
The contender was called back without any notes.
W/H The contender won the homework assignment and was high on the main challenge.
W/L The contender won the homework assignment and was low on the main challenge.
The contender was in risk of going to the bottom three but was ultimately safe. Used from the third episode forward when 4 people are being judged.
RUNNER-UP The contender won a 2-episode arc on ''Glee''.
Season two (2012)
Casting for a second season was announced after the first season finale. The season pickup was confirmed on January 17, 2012, at which time it was stated that the second season would feature fourteen contestants, an increase of two from the twelve in the first season. On January 21, 2012,
Lea Michele revealed that she would be the guest mentor for the season premiere. Other guest mentors would include season 1 co-winner Samuel Larsen (
Joe Hart),
Cory Monteith (
Finn Hudson
Finn Christopher Hudson is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series ''Glee''. The character was portrayed by Cory Monteith and first appeared on television when ''Glee'' premiered its pilot episode on Fox on May 19, 2009. ...
),
Naya Rivera (
Santana Lopez
Santana Lopez is a fictional character from the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox musical comedy-drama series ''Glee (TV series), Glee''. The character was portrayed by Naya Rivera, and appeared in ''Glee'' from its Pilot (Glee), pilot episode, first ...
),
Jane Lynch
Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. Known for playing starring and recurring roles in comedic television, her accolades include one Golden Globe, five Primetime Emmys and two Screen Actors Gui ...
(
Sue Sylvester),
Amber Riley (
Mercedes Jones),
Chris Colfer
Christopher Paul Colfer (born May 27, 1990) is an American actor, singer, and author. He gained international recognition for his portrayal of Kurt Hummel on the television musical ''Glee'' (2009–2015). Colfer's portrayal of Kurt received crit ...
(
Kurt Hummel),
Dianna Agron
Dianna Elise Agron ( ; born April 30, 1986) is an American actress and singer. List of Dianna Agron performances, Her work spans screen and stage, and her accolades include a Screen Actors Guild Award and nomination for a Brit Award. Agron bega ...
(
Quinn Fabray) and returning season 1 mentors
Darren Criss
Darren Everett Criss (born February 5, 1987) is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He rose to fame starring on the television series ''Glee (TV series), Glee'' (2010–2015) and received a Primetime Emmy Awards, Primetime Emmy Award and ...
(
Blaine Anderson) and
Kevin McHale (
Artie Abrams).
The second season premiered in the US on June 5, 2012, and ran for eleven weeks, concluding on August 14, 2012. There was one winner for the season:
Blake Jenner won the seven-episode arc on ''Glee''. He made his first appearance in the fifth episode of
season four, "
The Role You Were Born to Play", as a McKinley student named Ryder Lynn.
He was a recurring character for 18 episodes on season 4 and was promoted to series regular on season 5.
Ali Stroker, the runner up, also made an unexpected first appearance in the fourth season episode, "
I Do", as Betty Pillsbury.
Dani Shay, who was the third person eliminated, was previously a contestant on
America's Got Talent (season 6) going as far as the quarter-finals.
Contenders
Episodes
Contender progress
;Key
SAFE The contender was not at risk of elimination.
WIN The contender won the homework assignment and was not at risk of elimination.
The contender was called first on the callback list.
W/H The contender won the homework assignment and was HIGH on the main challenge.
The contender won the homework assignment and was first called back on the list.
The contender was called back without any notes.
W/L The contender won the homework assignment and was LOW on the main challenge.
W/R The contender won the homework assignment but was at risk of being eliminated.
The contender was in risk of going to the bottom three but was ultimately safe.
RISK The contender sang for Ryan and was immediately safe.
RISK The contender was at risk of being eliminated.
OUT The contender was eliminated.
The contender won the homework assignment but was eliminated.
The contender quit the competition.
WINNER The contender won a 7-episode arc on ''Glee''.
RUNNER-UP The contender was crowned a runner-up.
International syndication
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glee Project, The
2011 American television series debuts
2012 American television series endings
2010s American music television series
2010s American reality television series
American television spinoffs
American English-language television shows
Reality television spinoffs
Singing talent shows
Television series by Embassy Row (production company)
Television series by Sony Pictures Television
Glee (TV series)
Oxygen (TV channel) original programming