Grease: You're The One That I Want - Aired February 25

It was another hour long episode this week, but instead of duets it was the Sandys performing only. With everything else that has gone wrong with this show, they've actually had some good ideas. By having just the women perform this week and just the men next week, it allows them to cut out a lot of the filler they'd need if they kept the show at two hours or even ninety minutes. This is an advantage they have over a show like, say, So You Think You Can Dance, which has couples perform all the time so they can't do anything like this to make for a tighter episode. The bad news, and there's always bad news, is that this means the show is going to last at least one extra episode.
So being Ladies Night, they started with a women's song, "Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee". I couldn't see any of them playing Rizzo, they lacked the necessary edge for a song that is about being a little cruel towards someone, but they all did a good job and had fun with it. Maybe it's because nobody's competing in these group numbers so they're all more relaxed, but it always seems like people do better in these than they do in their actual competition songs.
The special guest this week is Frankie Avalon, who you might remember as the (slightly old) Teen Angel singing "Beauty School Dropout" from the movie, and even more important, he was Frankie opposite Annette in the Beach movies! However, unlike previous guests, he's not there to judge but to sing his famous Grease song. For the first time since the show went live, we're going to have a three-person panel.
Before getting to the competition, we got a look at the competitors over the last week where they were doing a lot more in the way of acting, and this included a lot of shots of different Dannys and Sandys kissing. This is one thing that's disappointing me about this series. The competitors have to be a triple threat of singing, dancing, and acting. Every week we see them sing, and quite often we get to see them do some moves. However, the only acting we're really shown is any they do while they're singing. Damn it, I want the chance to judge them as complete stage performers! It would be a little harder to pull off a completely non-musical episode, but we should at least get a chance to vote for the whole package.
The bottom four this week are Chad, Kevin, Kate, and Kathleen. Yes, despite how horribly he missed some notes last week, Derek is safe. I'd put money on which Danny is leaving, but the Sandys are too close to call. We're going to have to wait until later to say goodbye to anyone though. Before that, we get to see the safe women compete.
Ashley - Her scene partner over the week was Kevin, and we do get to see some acting, but just a taste. Damn you, producers! This sucks! Unlike Ashley's singing. Not that she blew me away. Performing "These Boots Are Made For Walking", she had some good moves that fit in with the song, but there was something lacking in her vocals. The woman in this song is strong and she's not going to put up with some guy's crap. She didn't make me feel that. With only four women left after tonight, they're going to have to do much better than this.
The Dannys may have not been competing tonight, but that didn't mean they got to slack off. Instead, they were employed as dancers for the women. Some used more than others, but they all got some stage time. I liked this idea.
Going to the panel, Kathleen loves Ashley, but she wishes she wasn't so poised and would like her to show more passion. Jim, ever the filthy old man, liked her in her boots and thought she was great. David was unconvinced by her, and would like to see more passion as well. His socks, he claimed, weren't knocked off.
Allie - Her scene partner was Max, and apparently there is some real life flirting going on with them. I will not make any jokes about straight guys in musical theatre, but feel free to insert your own here. However much real life flirting they were doing, Kathleen didn't see it in their performances and didn't much care for their scenes.
Just like I didn't care much for Allie's song, "It's Oh So Quiet". It wasn't her fault, it's the song I don't like. I did like what she did with it though and she was having fun up there. That's really what matters here. It doesn't matter how technically good you are as a singer, we need to feel you in the song. That's true in any singing venue, but more so in a musical where the songs are often ways of communicating your inner voice and feelings to the audience.
Kathleen thought she was fun, free, and real, and would like to see her bring this to her scenes. Jim said it was musical comedy at its best. Carrie Ann Inaba said... oops! Dancing With The Stars doesn't start until March 19! Will I cover it? I'd like to, but five shows going at once may be a little too much. Besides, I still haven't watched last season yet, and I've still got it on tape. Anyway, David thinks Allie needs to work on her acting, because in a competition where they're looking for a triple threat, will two out of three be enough?
Laura - Her scene partner was Derek, and Kathleen's criticism was that she shouldn't just be sweet, she should be sultry too.
Someone was listening, because when she sang "Fever", she was sultry as heck! Dang, Laura, between this performance and "Jesus Christ, Superstar", you just became the front runner! There's been too much worrying about singing with polish, and it was great to see someone not only concern themselves with the emotion and to do it this well! Easily the performer of the night.
The panel seemed to agree. David got very alliterative and said she was sexy, sultry (see?), sophisticated, and she sizzled. Jim said she reached another level of "WHOOOO!". Kathleen thought she was watching a star, and likes how she commits herself.
After they went backstage earlier, the bottom four shared their thoughts on being the bottom four, and surprisingly none of them wanted to go home. On stage after these shocking comments, Billy Bush announced the bottom two vote getters, and it was Kevin and Kate. He then told us the name of the song they'd all be singing - Blue Moon, from the movie Grease. And from rock'n'roll history, but we can pretend it didn't exist before 1978 if you'd like.
All of them were okay. There wasn't one of them I wanted to see saved based on this performance alone. Sure, they sang it prettily enough, but it goes back to feeling them in the song.
This week was Jim's turn to do the dirty work, and they saved Kathleen and Chad. To their credit, Kevin and Kate maintained a very positive outlook about this result and their futures in the business. I liked that a lot.
Kathleen - Her fellow bottom four dweller, Chad, was her scene partner. As it turns out, Kathleen has never had a stage kiss before. It worked out to her advantage, because it added to her awkwardness as Sandy with Danny trying to kiss her. Kathleen really liked her vivaciousness in the scenes.
Unfortunately, her song this week, "Let's Hear It For The Boy", was her worst one yet in my opinion. Her vocal wasn't great, and she seemed to be trying too hard to be fun. Kudos to her for trying to bring the right emotion to the song though. It just has to be natural.
David didn't think that was her best vocal either, and she seemed to be out of breath for much of the song. He said her acting scenes were fabulous (and they were what saved her), but she will have to blow them away in her performances. Jim agreed with David, and said her acting took his heart. Judge Kathleen is a fan of Competing Kathleen, but isn't sure if this role is right for her.
Finally we got Frankie Avalon singing "Beauty School Dropout" with the remaining Sandys. They did a good job backing him up, but personally I would have liked them to bring more personality to it. If you watch the movie, look at the Pink Ladies. They may only be backing him up, but their characters still shine through.
After this it's more video time, and we get to hear who the Sandys feel are their favourite Dannys, and this is balanced out by the Dannys smack-talking each other. It was quite enjoyable to see. If we could see more backstage bitchiness and less Billy Bush, this would be a far better show.
The panel then gave their opinions as to the best Sandy of the night, and it was Laura in an unanimous decision. I fully concur. Good job, panel.
As is the custom, our rejected Danny and Sandy each got to sing one last time. Kevin's rendition of "Sandy" wasn't bad, but it really didn't tug at the ol' heartstrings enough. At least it did tug a little bit though, to his credit. His "Oh, Sandy..." at the end, however, was very good. Acting! There may just be some thespian in this boy yet!
Kate started out with some microphone problems, but that was sorted out quickly enough to give us what was possibly the best "Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee (Reprise)" yet. In fact, she did such an excellent job at it that I was quite pissed we didn't get to hear more of her and got too much of the other Sandys singing with her. I haven't been a fan of this arrangement from the start, because it doesn't give the departing woman enough lines in her own farewell song, but this was too much. If she had been bringing this much emotion to the rest of her performances, we would have been seeing quite a different result this week, I'm sure.