'The Glee Project' Season Two Begins Tuesday on Oxygen

Oxygen starts airing the second season of The Glee Project this Tuesday, and I plan on watching. My journey with the whole Glee thing began during Glee's first season on the Fox Network. I watched and enjoyed it for the early shows. The music was great, and I was happy to see something like this on television.

However, the show began to jump the shark for me, and the first season wasn't even done. The evil cheerleader was pregnant and the hero's wife was lying about being pregnant while plotting to get the cheerleader's baby. I was done. Fun music or not, I went on to other TV programming.

Then before last season began, I saw The Glee Project. I like these types of shows so I tuned it in on a whim. The show was done by the folks who produce Glee, including creator Ryan Murphy, looking for a performer to add to the show. It was intriguing, but I'm not sure I would have kept watching had it not been for Damian McGinty.

McGinty was familiar to me because he'd been one of the first members of the group Celtic Thunder, a vocal group often seen on PBS in specials. He was a little kid singing with these tall grown ups, and it was intriguing. It's not that I was a fan, but I was just curious to see how he'd do.

Here is why The Glee Project won me over. Almost every week, McGinty was in the final round where he had to sing for his life to remain on the show, and week after week, the Glee powers that be kept saying he's not the best singer or the best actor, but boy, he works hard, will do whatever you ask of him, and is just a nice kid. It felt like David and Goliath in a sense.

In the finals, there were four contestants remaining -- McGinty, Samuel Larsen, Alex Newell, and Lindsey Pearce, who was very self-involved in my opinion. When the show approached the end, she and Newell were already out. Then, Larsen was told he had won. McGinty was sad, but happy for his competitor. Then the house came down when McGinty was told he had also won. Wow!

In fact, McGinty was the biggest winner. He came on to Glee very early last season and when his 7 show arc prize was finished, they kept him around. He did the whole season. Larsen came on in the last half. Actually, Newell also did 3 shows and Pearce two, so losing on The Glee Project does not close any doors if you make an impression.

There's no McGinty type on The Glee Project, season two, for me, but I am more curious about what the contestants and judges will do. The show did, obviously, get me back to watching Glee last season. However, to be honest, I did a lot of fast forwarding, but I did get to hear the music that I have always liked, and I watched McGinty. He did a lot of sitting in the background, but he does have his own backburner storyline and did get to sing a couple of songs.

For the upcoming season of Glee, it hasn't been announced yet if any of the season one winners of The Glee Project will return, but I am hoping they do. All three were part of the audition process for the latest outing of The Glee Project, so that could be a good sign.

Time will tell, but in the meantime, I'll see what happens on The Glee Project because the creative forces behind Glee really seem to take in the person and their story. The pretty girl or the powerful singer does not necessarily win. I like that.