We're entering into the second season of Ryan Murphy's The Glee Project, which launched the likes of Damian McGinty and That Other Guy with Dreadlocks into relative anonymity, swaying back and forth behind Lea Michele for seven episodes. I watched the audition/casting special, and this season the veil over the "What's Your Abnormality" Project is even thinner. The creators of Glee are still touting that it's all about being yourself and inspiring Ryan Murphy to write a character for you. I'm still confused about how that actually works. I have a sneaking suspicion that they need to have problems blatant enough that Ryan Murphy won't have to work as hard and can just rest on his laurels/millions. His millions of laurels.

Still, they found thousands of people who really believe in Glee or at least understand that this reality show has nothing to do with talent, and won't be won accordingly. Those thousands were narrowed down to 14 broken people who will expose their deepest darkest secrets in the guise of a talent show that should be about singing and acting. Many of them are convinced that The Glee Project is their last refuge because, like a Lifetime Movie husband, Ryan Murphy would like them to believe no one else would have them.

I also used the casting special as an opportunity to make snap judgments about who I will like and dislike for the rest of the season. I'll tell you one thing, I'm pretty sure I despise that parrot salesman guy who sees himself as "the comedic character who also gets some serious storylines and has to buckle down to deal with those, too."

Also, throughout the season, we'll be on Ryan Murphy Douchey Hat watch. He's got a lot of them.

Every week, Ryan Murphy's ragtag crew of singing orphans will get a vague and confusing theme, lip-sync to a song in the "choir room," then work on a "music video." One of them will be declared the winner of this fake thing that happened in the "choir room" and they get to spend time with people who probably secretly resent them for getting any extra camera time they might have had on Glee before this whole reality show casting happened. "Based" on the "music video," "Ryan Murphy" will select three people who stood out for all the wrong reasons, and usher them into his chamber of horrors/saucy hats to watch them perform one last lip-synced song, but it is not ever as delightful as when drag queens lip sync for their lives on RuPaul's Drag Race because the show weirdly insists that this is a live performance we're hearing. Then the three performers will be told that even though they are physically, mentally, or emotionally deformed, they are still special, but only to The Glee Project. One of them each week will not be special enough, or will be declared too normal, and will not be "called back." In the end, Ryan Murphy will choose any number of "winners," because he enjoys playing God and he's desperate to fill the upcoming season of his gradually deteriorating show.