"The Glee Project," one of the really fun and least hateful reality shows from last summer, returns with Season 2 on Oxygen with "Glee" star Lea Michele as a mentor in the season-premiere episode this summer. The second season started filming last week.
Michele, who plays lead character Rachel Berry on the hit Fox series, is the first guest mentor to be announced.
On "The Glee Project," 14 contenders, ages 18-22, will compete with new themes and new music for a seven-episode guest-starring story arc on the Fox series.
Second season casting recently wrapped up, with thousands auditioning online and in a multi-city casting tour. "Glee" co-creator Ryan Murphy will again be joined by casting director Robert Ulrich, choreographer and "Glee" co-producer Zach Woodlee and vocal coach Nikki Anders in the final deliberations of each episode of the show.
First-season winner Damien McGinty is already appearing in the Fox series. Runner-up Lindsay Pearce actually filmed episodes before the finale of "The Glee Project" aired and was featured in the "Glee" season opener last fall. Co-winner Samuel Larsen is expected to make his debut in episode nine, and runner-up Alex Newell's episodes have not yet been announced.
Tea is served
Can't get enough of "Downton Abbey," PBS's hit series about life above and below stairs in Edwardian England? How about a day trip to Highclere Castle, where the hit series is filming a third season for 2013.
For the mere price of 7.900 pound sterling ($12,218.16 in U.S. dollars if you're counting), four fans can arrive at the castle and be greeted by the eighth Earl and Countess of Carnarvon and have tea and coffee in the countess' private morning room.
Also included is a tour of the state rooms with either the earl or the countess, luncheon in the state dining room with wines from the earl's private wine cellar, a visit to Beacon Hill where the fifth Earl of Carnarvon (who funded Howard Carter expeditions in Egypt and the finding of King Tut's tomb) is buried, an escorted tour of Highclere's Egyptology collection if the weather is good and high tea with complimentary copies of Lady Fiona Carnarvon's books, including a new biography "Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle," with an opportunity to have a personal dedication written by the countess herself. (FYI: The book is a fascinating look at life in the manor with wonderful photos of the family and the castle.) So if you have the spare change and want more info on the trip, go online to
The TV series continues at 8 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 19 on PBS, channel 11.
P.S. Watched the final episode (a perk of being television editor to view it in advance) last weekend, and it's amazing. Everything you would want it to be but with just enough tantalizing clues to perfectly set up the third season now in production.
'Desperate' to dust rags
Marc Cherry, a native Californian who lived in Oklahoma for a short while, isn't worrying about what to do after "Desperate Housewives" ends its eight-season run in May.
The creator/writer, who plans to make an appearance in the show's final episode, is already working on a pilot for a new series titled "Devious Maids." Loosely adapted from the Mexican telenovela "Ellas son ... La Alegria del Hogar" (The Disorderly Maids of the Neighborhood"), it revolves around four Latina housekeepers who work as maids in cushy Beverly Hills where nothing much happens until someone decides to build a swimming pool. And then all hell breaks loose -- someone disappears and a suitcase of money appears along with a body. It's on ABC's radar for this coming pilot season.
