Grease: You're the One That I Want!

The show held open auditions in Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles in October and November 2006.[4] The show followed the successes and failures of performers of varying quality and experience through the audition process. The show's hosts, Access Hollywood anchor Billy Bush[5] and British actress/presenter Denise van Outen,[4] encouraged and interviewed the auditioners.

The applicants were whittled down to 50, who attended "Grease Academy" for intensive training and testing, particularly in voice and dance. From these, 12 contestants were selected by the judges. The panel of three judges consisted of director/choreographer Kathleen Marshall, Grease co-writer Jim Jacobs, and British producer David Ian. In addition, later episodes of the show featured guest judges Olivia Newton-John, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jon Secada, and Rob Marshall, as well as guest performer Frankie Avalon. 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 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, viewer voting began at the end of the first live show, which aired on January 28. Each week, the contestants were coached on a performance skill – singing, dancing or acting. The contestants' performances were then critiqued by the judges, after which the viewers voted for their favorite performers. The two lowest vote recipients in each group from the previous week were required to compete in a "sing-off", on the next episode, where the judges chose which two should be allowed to remain in the competition, and which two would be eliminated. At the end of each episode, the eliminated Danny sang "Sandy" as his grand exit, and the eliminated Sandy sang "Goodbye to Sandra Dee" as her grand exit with the remaining contestants singing backup.

In the season finale on March 25, 2007, judge Kathleen Marshall stated that if she would have had to choose two performers at the end of the "Grease Academy" section, she would have chosen Julianna and Derek.[6] However, by the time of the finale she was quite vocal in wanting Max and Laura as her "Danny" and "Sandy". Fortunately for her, it was announced that the program's viewing audience agreed as they had chosen contestants Laura Osnes and Max Crumm to star, respectively, as Sandy and Danny. The runners up were, respectively, Ashley Spencer and Austin Miller. Osnes and Crumm stayed with the Broadway company till July 20, 2008. Two days later Ashley Spencer and Derek Keeling took over the roles of Sandy and Danny.[7] Allie Schulz understudied the roles of Sandy, Cha-Cha, and Patty on Broadway[8] and originated the role Rizzo in the national tour of Grease with Eric Schneider as Danny and Emily Padgett as Sandy. Season 5 American Idol winner Taylor Hicks performed as the Teen Angel.[9] The Broadway production ended on January 4, 2009, after 31 previews and 554 performances.[10]

• "All By Myself" by Celine Dion
• "All That Jazz" from Chicago
• "Burning Love" by Elvis Presley
• "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" from The Lion King
• "Can't Help Fallin' in Love" by Elvis Presley
• "Don't Know Much" by Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt
• "Don't Leave Me This Way" by Thelma Houston
• "Ease on Down the Road" from The Wiz
• "Endless Love" by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross
• "Faith" by George Michael
• "The First Cut is the Deepest" by Sheryl Crow
• "Fun, Fun, Fun" by The Beach Boys
• "Hard to Handle" by Otis Redding
• "Heaven" by Bryan Adams
• "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes
• "I Love Rock and Roll" by Joan Jett
• "It's in His Kiss (The Shoop Shoop Song)"
• "It Takes Two" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
• "Mony Mony" by Billy Idol
• "Phantom of the Opera" from The Phantom of the Opera
• "Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison
• "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" by Stevie Wonder
• "Suddenly I See" by KT Tunstall
• "Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams
• "Superstar" from Jesus Christ Superstar
• "Suspicious Minds" by Elvis Presley
• "Take that Look Of Your Face" from Tell Me on a Sunday
• "These Boots are Made for Walking" by Nancy Sinatra
• "Walkin' in Memphis" by Marc Cohn
• "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" by Diana Ross
• "You Keep Me Hangin' On" by The Supremes
• "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin
• "You're Still the One" by Shania Twain
• "(You're the) Devil in Disguise" by Elvis Presley

• Week 1: "You're The One That I Want!"/"We Go Together"
• Week 2: "Summer Nights"
• Week 3: "Born to Hand Jive"
• Week 4 (Sandy Night): "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee"
• Week 5 (Danny Night): "Greased Lightning"
• Week 6: "Grease (is the Word)"
• Week 7: "Rock and Roll is Here to Stay"
• Week 8:

• "We Go Together"/"You're The One That I Want!" (finalists only)
• "Born to Hand Jive" (eliminated contestants only)
• "Greased Lightning" (winner only; Danny)
• "Hopelessly Devoted to You" (winner only; Sandy)
• "Summer Nights" (group reunion)
• "You're The One That I Want!" (finale)

• Week 2: "Tears on My Pillow"
• Week 3: "Those Magic Changes"
• Week 4 (Sandy Night): "Blue Moon"
• Week 5 (Danny Night): "It's Raining on Prom Night"
• Week 6: "Rock and Roll Party Queen"

The first episode was watched by 11.59 million viewers, and was unfavorably reviewed by critics. Viewership declined, and the critics' favorites were not the final winners.

East Bay Times reporter Susan Young compared the show unfavorably to American Idol, noting the differences in viewership of 8 million to Idol's 40 million, as well as not "humiliating people" as the American Idol judges do.[11] The Washington Post television critic Tom Shales said, "To call this "reality television" is truly stretching the term to the outer limit of meaninglessness. To call it "good television" would be to risk being struck by lightning."[12] The New York Post television writer Austin Smith attacked the format and stock characters of the show, "...Then there’s the stereotype of the plucky fat girl – two of them in tomorrow’s show - ... Although it’s a foregone conclusion that neither will land the role of Sandy, at least the chubbettes don’t shed any tears. That’s more than I can say about some of the male contestants on this show, who blubber as if their lives had ended."[13] The New York Post theater critic Michael Riedel posted negative reviews after the second episode stating, "Working actors think it demeans their profession, while the industry’s movers and shakers say it makes the theater business look tacky and cheap."[14] After the finale, Riedel again gave a negative review, stating, "The rest of Broadway was put off by the cheesy production values, poorly staged musical numbers and cookie-cutter nobodies who auditioned to play Danny and Sandy. Crumm ... and Osnes are notable only because they were the least attractive of the lot."[15] Although Riedel did admit that the show did better numbers than the Tony Awards, the otherwise most important television show about the New York Broadway scene.[15]

By the time rehearsals were underway in July 2007, and advance sales had reached US $14.2 million, Gordon Cox of Variety reported the TV show had achieved the goal of promoting a Broadway show.[16]

• Official NBC site
• Grease - It's The Word - Article comparing the Grease TV Show format to American Idol
• NBC Press Release
• Reality TV magazine
• TV Guide news
• Grease: You're the One That I Want! at IMDb