Grease: You're The One That I Want - Aired Jan. 28 - Partial Recap
So we've made it to the live performance part of the season, and we get to vote for the people we like best. As I've stated time and again, I'm not a big fan of audience voting. However, one thing that could improve it is that instead of voting for our favourites, we vote out the one we like least. That wouldn't get rid of all the problems, but it would dramatically lower the chance of another Master P debacle.
While it's often reasonable that large numbers of people may disagree on who's best, it's often easier to agree on who's worst, especially in the early going. By voting for the worst, there is a better chance that the votes of people who vote for the worst as the best would be thwarted. Yeesh, did that sentence even make sense? As it is, a lot of second or third favourites are leaving, and that's a travesty.
Speaking of travesties, I thought "You are not Sandy/Danny" and "You are... the one that we want" would be the most annoying aspects of this series. Oh, did Billy Bush prove me wrong. He took it upon himself (or it was a bad production decision) to give everyone really stupid nicknames, depending on if they're auditioning to be Sandy or Danny. "Okay, you're our 'Perky Sandy', and you're our 'Butch Danny'!" (Alright, the former may have been one of them, but I'm positive he didn't use the latter. The whole thing was too horrible to bother writing them down. If you really want to know, someone actually bothered listed them in the bios at NBC.com.)
Instead of "judges", the show has a "panel". This "panel" (who aren't judges) will judge the competitors, giving us their insight into the performances. Joining the same three we've seen all season will be Olivia Newton John. I really want to say something snarky about her facelift, but I can't. It really sucks how much of a premium society places on youth, especially in women, and even more especially in show business. I'm sure there have been good facelifts that are unnoticeable, but then there are ones that look much worse than any wrinkles would. Alright, that's all I'm going to say on the subject.
The show started off with the whole cast performing "You're The One That I Want", and it was pretty gosh-darned good. Nobody really stood out as the best or the worst, and it was a fun, high energy number. They each got to do a little solo, and the only flaw was the lack of sound coming from Austin Miller's mouth, something I attribute to his microphone likely being off.
Our two hosts, as always, are Denise Van Outen and the aforementioned Billy Bush. It was very obvious right from the start that Denise outshines Billy as a host in many ways. In addition to not coming up with stupid nicknames, she has the uncanny ability to actually look at the camera. Not so much with Billy, who can't seem to go two seconds without staring very obviously at the cue cards or teleprompter, whatever the case may be.
The way this is going to work is that they are going to bring out the contestants two at a time. We first get to know a little bit about each potential Danny and Sandy thanks to some videos that I'm not going to bother recapping, then they take turns performing different songs.
First up were Derek and Austin, and let's cross our fingers that Austin's microphone is finally working.
Derek - First we had a Meg Ryan lookalike, now it's John Stamos. Now, he didn't look like Uncle Jesse all the time, but from certain angles, it was definitely there. Derek sang "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", not one of my favourite songs but he did very well. So well, in fact, that he shot right up there as the Danny to beat.
Austin - From the auditions he was my favourite, but not so much now. He sang "Mony Mony", and sang it well, but not good enough to be better than Derek.
After each pairing performed, it was time for feedback from the panel. Right across the board, everyone loved these two. I'll say right now as well that Olivia Newton John was just taking up space, because she liked everyone so I'm not going to mention her again when we get to the judg... panel.
Ally - She sang "I Love Rock'N'Roll", and she did so well enough I guess. The song should be a lot more raw than she did it, as she doesn't seem to have quite that rockin' edge. Which is good for Sandy until the transformation.
Kate - This was interesting. She seemed to go between wobbly and very, very strong in her voice. She sang "All By Myself" in a disturbingly sunny way. It's not a cheerful song, for crying out loud.
Kathleen loved both, but wanted to see Kate a little looser. David thinks that Kate is the best singer in the competition. Jim could really see Ally as Sandy, and Kate just blew him away.
And then came the twist. We don't have a final 12, we have a final 14! What? How? Who? Most importantly, why? Two people who were cut last week have been brought back, and they are... Ashley A. Yay! Two Ashleys! I don't know why I enjoy that, but I do. The other is... Matt Nolan. Oh. Put your hand to your chest. Anything over that is overwhelmed, anything under it is underwhelmed. To figure out how this news has affected me, move your hand down to around your ankles. Yeah, I'm about that excited. At least I got to see an "Ashley A." graphic. Woot!
Matt - Our resident jock sang "Pretty Woman", and, oh. That's why he was cut in the first place. He sang better than we've seen before, but nowhere near Broadway quality. Or karaoke even. I know I'm going to piss a lot of Matt Nolan fans here, and a lot of them have found this blog. I know, I've seen the search engine keywords that have brought people here. But come on, he wasn't that good. When he tried to hit that high note, I actually winced for the poor guy.
Ashley A. - Singing "Still The One", Double A had a pretty and emotional voice, but it was still pretty week. I don't know if it's nerves or not, but if every other woman sings with more confidence, she should be an easy first elimination. Sorry, Double A.
Oh, come on Newton John! It's okay to give constructive criticism! Kathleen thought both of them were a little tentative in their performances (no kidding). David was not happy with Ashley, and said that Matt needs to work on his vocals (no kidding). Jim... was hitting on Ashley? What the hell!?? No! This is just wrong! Let's move on, nothing to see here...
Jason - He sang "Faith" and was pretty good. That's all I've got to say about him.
Max - The male contestant with the greatest uphill battle due to him having the wrong looks. That's such a shame, because his vocals on "Summer of '69" were fantastic, as were his moves. If he doesn't get to be Danny, I really hope they find another role for him.
Jim loves them both, and particularly the growth he's seen in Max. Kathleen and David loved both as well, though David thought Jason was a little too "pop" in his performance. Yeah, I can see that.
Laura - "Why Do Fools Fall In Love". Good. Blah blah blah.
Kathleen - Singing "Suddenly I See", she was very, very good! Quite possibly my favourite Sandy yet, based on vocals! She also showed a great sense of humour after the performance when she was talking to the ju... panel.
David thought Laura was a little too sweet and nice, but he loved Kathleen. Kathleen agreed with him, and Jim, still dreaming about Ashley A., said something or another. I think he may have liked them.
If you'll allow me, I'd like to quote myself from last week.
"The live shows are next, with the first one being a two hour extravaganza of singing, dancing, and filler. Oh, you just wait and see. There will be filler!"
The good news? At least there wasn't that much of it. There was a little story on Jim Jacobs, panel member and co-creator of Grease (I just looked up the other, Warren Casey, on IMDb.com, and sadly he passed away in 1988). The other bit of filler was a question and answer session for the Sandys with Olivia Newton John. Now, what do you think the chances are that we'll see something similar for the Dannys with John Travolta?
Kevin - He sang "Walking In Memphis", and he was very good at it. Definitely one of the better choices here.
Chad - "Signed, Sealed, Delivered", a song we last heard from former WWE wrestler and Fozzy frontman, Chris Jericho, on a little show called "Celebrity Duets" (yeah, that was back when I took too much on so I never finished covering that show, but I still have most of the episodes on tape, as I do with Dancing With The Stars 3, a show that also suffered from recap overload). Unlike Y2J (who I think did a good job), Chad sang it well enough that he should be here next week.
Jim liked Kevin, he loved Chad. David thinks Kevin has one of the best voices, but he loves Chad too. Kathleen loved both.
Juliana - "First Cut Is The Deepest", a song I've long loved, and she did an excellent job with it.
Ashley S. - The other Ashley, the one who made it through the first time, and she showed why. She sang "It's In His Kiss", and she sang it wonderfully.
Jim loved both, and saw the two of them as Betty and Veronica, because one is blonde and one is brunette! Oh, he's such a wit. Kathleen wants to see Juliana having more fun, which makes me wonder if she's at all familiar with the song. Maybe she can do a peppy funeral dirge next! David would like to see more heart from Juliana, and more emotion from Ashley S.
And with 20 minutes left, that's it for the individual performances. After that, all the Dannys and Sandys got together to perform "We Go Together". With all of them dressed in appropriate costumes, it was a good opportunity to get to see them more in the roles they hope to assume.
A wop ba-ba lu-mop.
A wop bam boom.
To finish off the show, we went to the j... panel to see who they though the best Danny and Sandy of the night were, and none were in agreement.
David really liked Derek and Ashley S. For Kathleen, it was Austin and Ally. Jim, on the other hand, preferred Chad and Kate, but I'm sure still wanted to take Ashley A. out for dinner. Olivia Newton John. Grrrr. "I'll let America decide!" Oh, just shut up, Olivia Newton John! Shut up, or make a decision!
Oh, Olivia. I can't stay mad at you. You're the first and only Sandy I've ever known! But still, please, nobody will hate you if you state your favourites. Except maybe the other 12 contestants and their families. But what do you care? You're Olivia Freakin' Newton John!
After this, we got to find out who the mystery guest is for the next episode. Somehow he managed to have a camera right there in his house with him, but of course, he created Cats! Andrew Lloyd Webber! In a completely unscripted conversation, and feeling lucky because ALW already had a camera on him, Jim asked him if he'd join them for the next show. I was on pins and needles, but sure enough, he said yes! Unlike ONJ, I'm sure ALW will offer some criticism. On the other hand, ALW doesn't have the same image to uphold.
And that was it. The only good news about the two people who got a second chance is that it should be an easy vote out this week. It should be. Double A may still go, but I fully expect Matt to be the "upset" of the week and go on. Why? It's more than just all the people who have Googled him (and speaking of Googling, whoever it was who was searching for "max crumb naked", shame on you (yes, someone really did)). His was a story that was followed from his audition through to Grease Academy and on to this miracle second chance. Despite him being the least talented man in the competition, people are more familiar with him than some of the people we just met this week. He'll have enough of a following who see him as a cute underdog that he should easily make it to the next round. Again, I'm not a big fan of audience voting the way it currently stands.
For the record, he seems like a nice kid. He's just not Danny.
While it's often reasonable that large numbers of people may disagree on who's best, it's often easier to agree on who's worst, especially in the early going. By voting for the worst, there is a better chance that the votes of people who vote for the worst as the best would be thwarted. Yeesh, did that sentence even make sense? As it is, a lot of second or third favourites are leaving, and that's a travesty.
Speaking of travesties, I thought "You are not Sandy/Danny" and "You are... the one that we want" would be the most annoying aspects of this series. Oh, did Billy Bush prove me wrong. He took it upon himself (or it was a bad production decision) to give everyone really stupid nicknames, depending on if they're auditioning to be Sandy or Danny. "Okay, you're our 'Perky Sandy', and you're our 'Butch Danny'!" (Alright, the former may have been one of them, but I'm positive he didn't use the latter. The whole thing was too horrible to bother writing them down. If you really want to know, someone actually bothered listed them in the bios at NBC.com.)
Instead of "judges", the show has a "panel". This "panel" (who aren't judges) will judge the competitors, giving us their insight into the performances. Joining the same three we've seen all season will be Olivia Newton John. I really want to say something snarky about her facelift, but I can't. It really sucks how much of a premium society places on youth, especially in women, and even more especially in show business. I'm sure there have been good facelifts that are unnoticeable, but then there are ones that look much worse than any wrinkles would. Alright, that's all I'm going to say on the subject.
The show started off with the whole cast performing "You're The One That I Want", and it was pretty gosh-darned good. Nobody really stood out as the best or the worst, and it was a fun, high energy number. They each got to do a little solo, and the only flaw was the lack of sound coming from Austin Miller's mouth, something I attribute to his microphone likely being off.
Our two hosts, as always, are Denise Van Outen and the aforementioned Billy Bush. It was very obvious right from the start that Denise outshines Billy as a host in many ways. In addition to not coming up with stupid nicknames, she has the uncanny ability to actually look at the camera. Not so much with Billy, who can't seem to go two seconds without staring very obviously at the cue cards or teleprompter, whatever the case may be.
The way this is going to work is that they are going to bring out the contestants two at a time. We first get to know a little bit about each potential Danny and Sandy thanks to some videos that I'm not going to bother recapping, then they take turns performing different songs.
First up were Derek and Austin, and let's cross our fingers that Austin's microphone is finally working.
Derek - First we had a Meg Ryan lookalike, now it's John Stamos. Now, he didn't look like Uncle Jesse all the time, but from certain angles, it was definitely there. Derek sang "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", not one of my favourite songs but he did very well. So well, in fact, that he shot right up there as the Danny to beat.
Austin - From the auditions he was my favourite, but not so much now. He sang "Mony Mony", and sang it well, but not good enough to be better than Derek.
After each pairing performed, it was time for feedback from the panel. Right across the board, everyone loved these two. I'll say right now as well that Olivia Newton John was just taking up space, because she liked everyone so I'm not going to mention her again when we get to the judg... panel.
Ally - She sang "I Love Rock'N'Roll", and she did so well enough I guess. The song should be a lot more raw than she did it, as she doesn't seem to have quite that rockin' edge. Which is good for Sandy until the transformation.
Kate - This was interesting. She seemed to go between wobbly and very, very strong in her voice. She sang "All By Myself" in a disturbingly sunny way. It's not a cheerful song, for crying out loud.
Kathleen loved both, but wanted to see Kate a little looser. David thinks that Kate is the best singer in the competition. Jim could really see Ally as Sandy, and Kate just blew him away.
And then came the twist. We don't have a final 12, we have a final 14! What? How? Who? Most importantly, why? Two people who were cut last week have been brought back, and they are... Ashley A. Yay! Two Ashleys! I don't know why I enjoy that, but I do. The other is... Matt Nolan. Oh. Put your hand to your chest. Anything over that is overwhelmed, anything under it is underwhelmed. To figure out how this news has affected me, move your hand down to around your ankles. Yeah, I'm about that excited. At least I got to see an "Ashley A." graphic. Woot!
Matt - Our resident jock sang "Pretty Woman", and, oh. That's why he was cut in the first place. He sang better than we've seen before, but nowhere near Broadway quality. Or karaoke even. I know I'm going to piss a lot of Matt Nolan fans here, and a lot of them have found this blog. I know, I've seen the search engine keywords that have brought people here. But come on, he wasn't that good. When he tried to hit that high note, I actually winced for the poor guy.
Ashley A. - Singing "Still The One", Double A had a pretty and emotional voice, but it was still pretty week. I don't know if it's nerves or not, but if every other woman sings with more confidence, she should be an easy first elimination. Sorry, Double A.
Oh, come on Newton John! It's okay to give constructive criticism! Kathleen thought both of them were a little tentative in their performances (no kidding). David was not happy with Ashley, and said that Matt needs to work on his vocals (no kidding). Jim... was hitting on Ashley? What the hell!?? No! This is just wrong! Let's move on, nothing to see here...
Jason - He sang "Faith" and was pretty good. That's all I've got to say about him.
Max - The male contestant with the greatest uphill battle due to him having the wrong looks. That's such a shame, because his vocals on "Summer of '69" were fantastic, as were his moves. If he doesn't get to be Danny, I really hope they find another role for him.
Jim loves them both, and particularly the growth he's seen in Max. Kathleen and David loved both as well, though David thought Jason was a little too "pop" in his performance. Yeah, I can see that.
Laura - "Why Do Fools Fall In Love". Good. Blah blah blah.
Kathleen - Singing "Suddenly I See", she was very, very good! Quite possibly my favourite Sandy yet, based on vocals! She also showed a great sense of humour after the performance when she was talking to the ju... panel.
David thought Laura was a little too sweet and nice, but he loved Kathleen. Kathleen agreed with him, and Jim, still dreaming about Ashley A., said something or another. I think he may have liked them.
If you'll allow me, I'd like to quote myself from last week.
"The live shows are next, with the first one being a two hour extravaganza of singing, dancing, and filler. Oh, you just wait and see. There will be filler!"
The good news? At least there wasn't that much of it. There was a little story on Jim Jacobs, panel member and co-creator of Grease (I just looked up the other, Warren Casey, on IMDb.com, and sadly he passed away in 1988). The other bit of filler was a question and answer session for the Sandys with Olivia Newton John. Now, what do you think the chances are that we'll see something similar for the Dannys with John Travolta?
Kevin - He sang "Walking In Memphis", and he was very good at it. Definitely one of the better choices here.
Chad - "Signed, Sealed, Delivered", a song we last heard from former WWE wrestler and Fozzy frontman, Chris Jericho, on a little show called "Celebrity Duets" (yeah, that was back when I took too much on so I never finished covering that show, but I still have most of the episodes on tape, as I do with Dancing With The Stars 3, a show that also suffered from recap overload). Unlike Y2J (who I think did a good job), Chad sang it well enough that he should be here next week.
Jim liked Kevin, he loved Chad. David thinks Kevin has one of the best voices, but he loves Chad too. Kathleen loved both.
Juliana - "First Cut Is The Deepest", a song I've long loved, and she did an excellent job with it.
Ashley S. - The other Ashley, the one who made it through the first time, and she showed why. She sang "It's In His Kiss", and she sang it wonderfully.
Jim loved both, and saw the two of them as Betty and Veronica, because one is blonde and one is brunette! Oh, he's such a wit. Kathleen wants to see Juliana having more fun, which makes me wonder if she's at all familiar with the song. Maybe she can do a peppy funeral dirge next! David would like to see more heart from Juliana, and more emotion from Ashley S.
And with 20 minutes left, that's it for the individual performances. After that, all the Dannys and Sandys got together to perform "We Go Together". With all of them dressed in appropriate costumes, it was a good opportunity to get to see them more in the roles they hope to assume.
A wop ba-ba lu-mop.
A wop bam boom.
To finish off the show, we went to the j... panel to see who they though the best Danny and Sandy of the night were, and none were in agreement.
David really liked Derek and Ashley S. For Kathleen, it was Austin and Ally. Jim, on the other hand, preferred Chad and Kate, but I'm sure still wanted to take Ashley A. out for dinner. Olivia Newton John. Grrrr. "I'll let America decide!" Oh, just shut up, Olivia Newton John! Shut up, or make a decision!
Oh, Olivia. I can't stay mad at you. You're the first and only Sandy I've ever known! But still, please, nobody will hate you if you state your favourites. Except maybe the other 12 contestants and their families. But what do you care? You're Olivia Freakin' Newton John!
After this, we got to find out who the mystery guest is for the next episode. Somehow he managed to have a camera right there in his house with him, but of course, he created Cats! Andrew Lloyd Webber! In a completely unscripted conversation, and feeling lucky because ALW already had a camera on him, Jim asked him if he'd join them for the next show. I was on pins and needles, but sure enough, he said yes! Unlike ONJ, I'm sure ALW will offer some criticism. On the other hand, ALW doesn't have the same image to uphold.
And that was it. The only good news about the two people who got a second chance is that it should be an easy vote out this week. It should be. Double A may still go, but I fully expect Matt to be the "upset" of the week and go on. Why? It's more than just all the people who have Googled him (and speaking of Googling, whoever it was who was searching for "max crumb naked", shame on you (yes, someone really did)). His was a story that was followed from his audition through to Grease Academy and on to this miracle second chance. Despite him being the least talented man in the competition, people are more familiar with him than some of the people we just met this week. He'll have enough of a following who see him as a cute underdog that he should easily make it to the next round. Again, I'm not a big fan of audience voting the way it currently stands.
For the record, he seems like a nice kid. He's just not Danny.
Labels: Grease: You're the one that I want, NBC, recap
posted by Tabby at 10:19 a.m.
4 Comments:
Da-who? You mean this guy?
http://www.vicdamone.com/
Okay, now you're just crazy. They look nothing alike! (And for the record, I love that movie so once you told me who you were talking about, I didn't have to check the picture. :P (But I double checked anyway, just to make sure my memory wasn't failing me. :D))
I'll accept your sanity, but not your non-blindness. :)
Pffff. She was excellent, so never you mind! Poor song choice? "I Love Rock'n'Roll". That was a poor song choice.
I don't think they're allowed to sing whatever song they want. At the very least, they'd be restricted to songs the show was able to get the rights to. Whether they're assigned songs or get to pick from a list a-la Rockstar, I don't know.
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