'Glee' Reality Search Canceled

[Brian Damage]

It’s hard to believe that Glee creator Ryan Murphy could believe in the pitfalls of overexposure — what with all those Glee soundtracks and Madonna tributes and White House appearances — but today’s news proves that Murphy thinks too much of Glee can be a bad thing. The planned Glee reality series, an American Idol-like competition that would air in the run-up to season two and cast three new roles, has been shelved. I know what you’re thinking: What about all those precious MySpace audition videos? Will their wannabe stars ever make it to regionals?

As Vulture explains, those hopefuls still have a slim chance of Glee stardom:

While the reality show is dead, Murphy and his producing team still plan on choosing several winners from the online casting competition and giving them a spot on Glee (at least for one episode). In a way, it’s win-win: You get to sing on the show, but you don’t have to have to be exploited by a reality-TV crew in the process.

What does this mean, though, for the three new roles that Murphy has promised (including love interests for Mercedes and Kurt)? Will he cast those through regular channels and instead slot the Myspace aspirants in one-off guest slots? Don’t rain on their parade, indeed.

Hopefully, this marginalized audition process will make Murphy reconsider the assets Glee already has — namely, two character-less characters named Matt Rutherford and Mike Chang. Couldn’t this derailed venture turns into an opportunity to streamline Glee, instead of another chance for newbies to arrive with less time than ever to forge their identities?

http://www.movieline.com/2010/06/gle...ition-pool.php