Critic Reviews

Joyful and insidery, the competition wholeheartedly embraces the freaks and geeks who made Glee a phenom to begin with.

If only Glee had as much heart as this Project.

Oxygen's entertaining new spinoff reflects well on the blockbuster franchise and illuminates the pressures faced by talented kids on the brink of showbiz success.

By shrewd editing and maybe a little luck, the contestants here almost immediately give off the same sense of camaraderie as the "Glee" cast in its warmer, more sentimental moments, like when they're in a competition and realizing that better individual efforts only enhance the whole.

The show is also refreshingly entertaining, even when it relies on familiar cliches of the singing-competition genre.

Last summer Oxygen's The Glee Project proved a better TV show that Fox's "Glee" and it appears that may be more true in the show's second season.

Very few reality shows generate real suspense and sadness at the moment of elimination, but this one does. [20 Jun 2011, p.53]

The premise--and it's a good one--is a singing contest "American Idol"-style, for young singers to compete for the grand prize of a recurring role in a seven-episode arc of "Glee." And it's not some fake promo for the show with people who really have nothing to do with the show.

This is a place holder that looks a little like an infomercial. But The Glee Project, has heart, too, as it takes you behind the slick, overproduced veneer that is "Glee."

Oxygen's The Glee Project--designed to give an unknown performer a seven-episode arc on the Fox series--debuts amid a glut of music-related TV contests, including "The Voice," "America's Got Talent" and "Platinum Hit." Still, undeniable Gleek appeal should be enough to make the fun if formulaic show a basic-cable breakout.