The Glee Project is an American reality television series from Oxygen. It served as an audition for the Fox musical comedy series Glee, 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's casting director, Robert J. Ulrich, was casting director for the project, while Glee's 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.