Tell Me About It, Stud. On Second Thought, Don't Bother.

Yet another new TV show has me caught between "refusing to watch out of disgust" and "morbid curiosity." I'm talking about the latest American Idol/So You Think You Can Dance knock-off, Grease: You're The One That I Want. For those who haven't heard of it, it's a talent show series designed to find the stars of the new revival of "Grease" on Broadway.

Here's my deal. I realize that the play came first, but I've always been a fan of the movie. In fact, it's my favorite movie. I have no idea how many times I've seen it, but the number is definitely somewhere in the triple digits. I suppose a big part of the reason that the movie always appealed to me more than the play was the presence of John Travolta. For me, and probably for a lot of people, Danny Zuko = John Travolta. Call me an uncultured slob if you will, but the play just never really did it for me. I've seen it twice (never on Broadway) and while it was entertaining, it never quite won me over.

I could be wrong here, because my memory of my first time seeing the play is a bit hazy, but I'm fairly certain that the popularity of the movie has rubbed off on the play in the last few decades. I'm pretty sure that some songs that were written for the movie were incorporated into the stage production. Also, I remember the first time I saw it, thinking that the characters were kind of rough, especially the guys. They were jerks which, from what I understand, was what the writers wanted. They wanted the T-Birds to be more like real high school toughs, and were never really happy with the cuter, goofier T-Birds of the movie. The second time I saw the play, it seemed that the T-Birds were a little more likable. It seemed a little more like the movie overall. I don't doubt this is true. I certainly don't doubt that the newest revival will borrow even more from the movie, if the producers expect to attract and please the younger generation who have never seen the play and grew up solely on the movie. Or even the easily entertained generation who loved Grease 2. Ugh.

This all brings me to why I don't want to watch the reality show. I don't want to see a bunch of John Travolta wannabes prancing around the stage. Nothing could make me more sick.

However, I love the songs. And I am kind of interested to see if there are performers out there who will actually try to make these roles their own, and not just imitations of John and Olivia and Stockard, oh my! So, I'm not sure if I can avoid it forever. I'm just afraid that I'll watch it and it will be worse than I thought. I suppose if that happens, I could just disinfect my eyes by watching the movie 10 times in a row.

The show premiered last night on NBC. Did anyone watch? What are your thoughts? I just read that Olivia Newton-John is guest starring on the first two episodes. Damn, damn, damn!! Now I'll probably have to watch it next week. I guess there's always a chance that John could pop up, but it's doubtful. Still, the mere possibility...