Grease: You're the One that I Want!
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| Grease: You're the One that I Want! | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Interactive Reality talent show game show |
| Creator(s) |  BBC Worldwide David Ian |
| Starring |  Billy Bush Denise van Outen Kathleen Marshall Jim Jacobs David Ian |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | January 7, 2007 – March 25, 2007 |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Grease: You're the One that I Want! was an NBC reality television series designed to cast the lead roles of Sandy Dumbrowski and Danny Zuko in a $10 million Broadway revival of the musical Grease to be directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winning Kathleen Marshall. The Broadway production will begin previews at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on July 24, 2007 and officially open on August 19.[1]
The TV show, from the producers of Dancing With the Stars, was patterned after an original format created by Andrew Lloyd Webber for the BBC series How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, which selected the lead in the successful 2005 revival of The Sound of Music. The show's title was taken from the song "You're the One That I Want" from the 1978 screen adaptation of Grease. Although the song was not part of the original Broadway production, the revival will use it as well as other tunes written for the film.
According to a report from the Associated Press, the program generated so much interest in the upcoming Broadway revival that, in the two days following the first broadcast, $1.3 million worth of tickets were sold. On April 4, 2007, The New York Post reported that ticket sales had topped $9 million, but that the TV show was a "ratings loser."[2]
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[edit] The casting process
The show held open auditions in Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas in October and November 2006.[3] The applicants were whittled down to 50 who attended "Grease Academy" for intensive training. From these, 12 contestants were selected by the judges. The number of contestants rose to 14 in the fourth episode when two previously eliminated contestants, Matt Nolan and Ashley Anderson, were brought back and given a second chance.
The panel of three judges consisted of director/choreographer Kathleen Marshall, Grease co-writer Jim Jacobs, and British producer David Ian. In addition, the show featured guest judges Olivia Newton-John, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jon Secada, and Rob Marshall, as well as guest performer Frankie Avalon. The show's hosts were Access Hollywood anchor Billy Bush[4] and British actress/presenter Denise van Outen.[5]
The first episode aired in a 90-minute format at 8:00 pm Eastern U.S. time on January 7, 2007. Subsequent episodes of the limited-run series were one-hour long. After the judges had selected the contestants, viewers voted each week to determine which contestants would stay to continue the competion. The voting was based upon weekly performances by, and other tests of, the contestants that were critiqued by the judges. Viewer voting began with the first live show aired on January 28. Each week, the two lowest vote recipients in each group from the previous week were required to compete in a "sing-off" designed to allow the judges to choose which of the two should be allowed to remain in the competition.
On March 25, 2007, it was announced that the program's viewing audience had voted for contestants Laura Osnes and Max Crumm to star, respectively, as Sandy and Danny. The runners up were Ashley Spencer and Austin Miller. Each of the judges had selected the eventual winners as their personal favorites during the previous week's episode.
[edit] The contestants
[edit] The Sandys
| Name | Nickname | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Laura Osnes | Small Town Sandy | Winner |
| Ashley Spencer | Ballerina Sandy | Eliminated 03/25/2007 |
| Allie Schulz | Baby Sandy | Eliminated 03/18/2007 |
| Kathleen Monteleone | Spiritual Sandy | Eliminated 03/04/2007 |
| Kate Rockwell | Serious Sandy | Eliminated 02/25/2007 |
| Juliana Hansen | Rock Chick Sandy | Eliminated 02/18/2007 |
| Ashley Anderson | Emotional Sandy | Eliminated 02/11/2007 |
[edit] The Dannys
| Name | Nickname | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Max Crumm | Slacker Danny | Winner |
| Austin Miller | Hot Danny | Eliminated 03/25/2007 |
| Derek Keeling | Wholesome Danny | Eliminated 03/18/2007 |
| Chad Doreck | Ambitious Danny | Eliminated 03/11/2007 |
| Kevin Greene | Bellhop Danny | Eliminated 02/25/2007 |
| Jason Celaya | Boy Band Danny | Eliminated 02/18/2007 |
| Matt Nolan | Second Chance Danny / Man Tears Danny |
Eliminated 02/11/2007 |
[edit] International version
On December 20, 2006, ITV announced that they will be making a similar UK series[6] under the name Grease Is the Word,[7] to air in April 2007. The show will be produced by Syco TV (the production company of Simon Cowell). The judges will be David Ian (the producer of the stage show and the 2007 Broadway revival), David Gest, 80s Star Sinitta, and American Dance Icon Brian Friedman. One of the hosts will be Zoë Ball. Unlike the NBC series, the ITV program will not be directly based on the Maria format, which is owned by the BBC.
Cat Deeley was originally slated as host, but she had to pull out of this project at the last minute after scheduling difficulties. Simon Cowell was also slated to be a judge but withdrew due to scheduling conflicts with American Idol. However, Cowell will still serve as executive producer.
[edit] Trivia
- On August 20, 2006, it was reported that Lloyd Webber had taken legal action against David Ian. Lloyd-Webber reportedly wanted to take their show's format to the United States to cast a Broadway production of Grease and then discovered that Ian had already brought the idea to NBC. David Ian said: "I don't understand the problem. Andrew has no connection with the stage show Grease, which I have successfully produced in the UK. There is a new production of Grease on Broadway in the spring of 2007, that's why I've been asked to judge on "You're The One That We Want."[8]
- The line "You're/You are.... the one(s) that we want to go to Grease Academy" became the catchphrase of David Ian for episodes 1 and 2 and "You're/You are the one that we want/the one that we want, too" became the catchphrase of Billy Bush for episode 3.
- In the early promos for the series, televised in November and early December 2006, the logo was the same one used for the film, but in mid-December it was altered slightly.
- Contestant Chad Doreck was the voice actor for Brad Carbunkle in Nickelodeon's short-lived cartoon series My Life as a Teenage Robot.
- Although winner Laura Osnes of Eagan, Minnesota (not Egan as it was misspelled consistently on the show) was described as "Small Town Sandy," Eagan is not a small town but rather a major suburb of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area with a population of 64,000.
- The lyrics to the opening number "Greased Lightning" in one of the episodes were those heard in the original Broadway production. The film adaptation added two of the infamous "seven dirty words" to the song.
- Early 'Grease' Academy cast-off Deja, one of the few black contestants, appeared on the television dating show Next as a dater.
- Winners Crumm and Osnes, finalist Ashley Spencer, and Derek Keeling never participated in a "sing-off". Of those contestants who were required to sing-off, Kathleen Monteleone was included most often (three times).
- The oldest Danny in the competition was Jason Celaya (age 31), and the youngest was Max Crumm (age 21). The oldest Sandys were Juliana Hansen and Kathleen Monteleone (age 23), and the youngest was was Allie Schultz (age 19).
- The oldest person to attend Grease Academy was Dominic Fortuna (age 42), and the youngest was Kelly La Valle (age 17).
- Matt Nolan was the only contestant with no formal training in acting, singing, or dancing.
[edit] References
- ^ Grease production news
- ^ NY Post article
- ^ BBC News, November 7, 2006
- ^ futoncritic.com
- ^ BBC
- ^ "Grease is the word for Cowell", Manchester Evening News, 20 December 2006. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
- ^ "ITV Entertainment - Grease", ITV plc, 3 January 2007.
- ^ From contactmusic.com See also this from The Stage
