Why There Should Be A "Glee Project"-Type Competition For Every Show

I just now got to watch Sunday's season finale of the Glee Project. If you aren't familiar with this show, Oxygen network looked at 40,000 auditions and narrowed it down to 12 finalists competing for a 7-episode arc in season 3 of Glee. Each week, the contestants had a group song and music video featuring a theme (vulnerability, sexuality, etc). The producers would choose three contestants who didn't do so well to perform last chance performances for executive producer Ryan Murphy. His least favorite would go home. The downfall to the show is that Murphy ultimately chose the winner as opposed to audience votes (otherwise, Cameron would be the winner). While I think that Glee is fine on its on, I am way more excited to watch this season when I know Damian and Sam's back stories and know what they had to go through to get the role.

SO, imagine how fun this type of show would be for, say, House. Contestants would compete to replace Olivia Wilde when 13's character leaves this season. Challenges would involve tongue twisting medical monologues or seeing who has the best chemistry with Omar Epps. Or, how about a competition to find the next trainers for The Biggest Loser. Instead of sticking us with the "unknowns" like they did last season, let me decide before the season even starts whether I'll want to watch it based on the trainers' catch phrases and interesting training techniques.

As anyone who knows me knows, I always claim not to watch singing or dancing reality shows, but when the prize is a role on a show that I watch, I'm in! There's something about rooting for the unknown, little guy that I love. It's like we're in on a secret about the show and I always like to be in the know. So, as we head into the fall television season, let's think about this method for some of our favorite shows. Let's use the method to find the new boss for the office, a third lab tech for Walt and Jesse on Breaking Bad or a fifth douchebag to hang with Vince and his posse on Entourage.

Take The Money And Run

Maybe it's just because I'm well into season 4 of Alias, but the premise of the new ABC summer show, "Take the money and run" had me intrigued. Let's not mention what other ABC show I was watching when I saw the first preview for this show (Really? JP over Ben?). Anyway, I digress. This show totally plays into my current fascination with the CIA and covert ops. Basically, a team of two is given a  briefcase with $100,000 in it and they have one hour to hide it in their hometown. In the case of the premiere, two brothers have to hide the suitcase in San Francisco. The detectives and profilers have 48 hours to find the briefcase. If they do, they get the money. If not, the brothers keep it. All the detectives have to go on are the phone records from the hour the brothers had to hide the cash, the GPS coordinates from the route the brothers took, and any information gleaned from interviews while the brothers are in custody. It's amazing in this first episode to see how the brother Paul is completely breaking down despite the fact that he only has to wait it out for 48 hours before he and his brother can walk away with $100,000. He even talks about how they'd give some money to their mom, who had breast cancer. Toughen up, buddy!

I've never been to jail or slept in a jail cell, but I can't imagine that it would be that hard to lie to the detectives and wait it out. I guess the other part of this game would be having a partner you could really trust. You'd have to come up with a lie that you could both stick to. In this case, the brothers buried the briefcase in a park, which I think is brilliant. They then don't have to worry about any of the friends they called giving them up.

There are so many ways you could play the interrogation. To see Paul give up the location with only 18 hours left to go drives me CRAZY! It's a game! A TV show! For $100,000! The detectives walk away with the money. And the other brother is ok with it? Ughhh! This show is my new obsession.