P*ssed off about Grease? Check this out.

[NYC_or_Bust]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:07pm

So, knowing one of the people on the show personally, I've taken a lot of offense to how that NBC displays their "cast of new talents". Many people will say "Oh yeah, well I know ____ on the show", and really what they mean is that they've seen them perform. Derek Keeling (aka wholsome danny) used to be friends with my brother, spent the night at my house on occasion and attended my high school. Derek, as many of you may know, played Danny the Grease tour from 04-05. I wont go into his entire life story.

None the less- he's one of my "friends" on myspace, so I checked out his page and from that see several of the GREASE: You're the One that I Want contenders. Looking at THEIR pages you can see where most ALL of them have done performances with professional companies before and many with touring productions under their belt.

What really grinds my gears is that NBC makes most all (except for Austin and some dark haired girl) look like AMERICAN IDOL contestants where they've just come in off the street with nothing but "shower singing" on their resumes. I really felt like I was alone on this issue, UNTIL-I found an article written by my local entertainment columnist.

I'd post the link but most of you wouldn't take 2 seconds to click on it, so I'll copy and paste. The article goes as follows
_______________________________________________________________

Amy Robinson
The Idiot Box: Feb. 1, 2007
NBC hiding ‘Grease’ reality

Really, there was no way that NBC’s “Grease: You’re the One That I Want” could win with me.

Normally if there’s a reality show that I think looks particularly appalling, I just ignore it. But since there’s a West Virginia guy on “Grease,” and I work in the entertainment department of a newspaper ... Well, there was no avoiding this one.

When I first started seeing promos for it (which felt like eons ago), I thought the show was crap and refused to have anything to do with it. I didn’t promote it in the column, and I didn’t select any of the myriad Associated Press stories about it to run in the gazz.

Why such hatred, you ask? Well, judging from the promos, “Grease” would be a Broadway “American Idol” — anybody could be the next Danny or Sandy. That angered me because I thought the set-up was unfairly taking jobs away from card-carrying Broadway Equity members.

It turns out that it still kind of is, but not quite in the way the ads imply. See, the promotions for the show are so full of deceiving half-truths that the people responsible for creating them should be working for the Bush administration.

It’s true that the two leads will be actors who have no Broadway experience, but they won’t be as green as NBC would like you to believe. In fact, with the exception of Sunday’s re-added Danny (Matt Nolan), all the finalists have acted before and most have or are trying to make a career out of it.

Several have college degrees in theater or musical theater. Some have participated in national Broadway tours. Four — Jason Celaya, Chad Dorek, Austin Miller and Juliana Hansen — even have pretty extensive careers already.

So that’s cool. All the finalists are working to make a living as actors. It’s not like random people who did a show once in high school are up there. That relieves my initial rage.

The thing that’s so appalling now is the lengths that NBC is going to hide this fact.

They apparently think that the entire viewing public is stupid, and that anyone who watches their show won’t notice all the things they’re hiding and/or leaving out.

They think that theater fans tuning in won’t recognize “teacher” Celaya from the off-Broadway show “Altar Boyz” (he was in it for seven months last year). Or that people aren’t capable of going to IMDB to research all of “soccer coach” Dorek’s credits.

Sure, we believe that Hansen is just an “office temp” — even though she says on her MySpace page that she’s a union actress who’s “been doing this since I’ve been 7 years old.” And Allie Schulz, who attended the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy, is just some starry-eyed Nashville chick who wandered in off the streets.

I don’t get the need for all this deception. People watching know that the winners get a role on Broadway.

NBC should be promoting its finalists’ capabilities instead of trying to cling to the image that the winners will be fresh-faced newbies.

Oh, and if you think I’m being too harsh on the show, you should check out sites like BroadwayWorld.com and see what real theater fans are saying about it. Sorry, NBC, but to borrow your completely ridiculous send-off phrase, you’re not the one that I want.

________________________________________________________________

Updated On: 2/4/07 at 09:07 PM

[alliez92092]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:10pm

It kind of amuses me that they mentioned BWW.

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:17pm

Yea, kinda old news.

It is obnoxious, but I think the producers knew that having 12 contestants with actor/actress under their name would quickly turn off the general public. The public loves the idea of the random fresh blood walking in off the street and becoming something big, it feeds their own personal dreams of someday "making it big" despite their presently average lives.

It's silly, but it's television. Nobody ever said there was anything even remotely real about "reality TV".

And that "dark haired girl" is Laura.

Updated On: 2/4/07 at 09:17 PM

[thevolleyballer]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:18pm

I think the column's got quite a good point. I was never angered by the show, but was a little thrown off by its campiness and cartoonishness ("Grease Academy?" Homeroom? The Headmasters' Office? Please.). Still, I watch it, and I, too, feel like there's no point in hiding their extensive credits. I had only known Austin Miller and Jason Celaya, as I'd seen them perform in their respective shows, but that only gave me greater respect for them, and made me feel like I could identify with them perhaps just a bit better than the others.

Who knows? Maybe some folks out there have seen Austin as Link and would then be sympathetic to say, "Wow, this guy was Link when I saw Hairspray? He's got my vote!" Or, of course, maybe not. But if all the finalists have some hefty credits (excluding, of course, Matt Nolan, who I love but still don't see why he was re-added), then it's not as if advantages can be played out. I give a jeer to the producers -- not necessarily for hiding the facts, but for not giving these actors the credits they've worked hard to earn.

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:19pm

They actually have acknowledged that Austin was in Hairspray and that Jason was in Alter Boyz...

[TWSFan4Ever]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:24pm

Yeah, it amuses me the mentioned BroadwayWorld

[ashley0139]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:24pm

See, the promotions for the show are so full of deceiving half-truths that the people responsible for creating them should be working for the Bush administration.

Best line ever. I love that they mention BWW.

[gumbo2]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:26pm

We're famous!

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:29pm

I am way too excited over how they specifically mentioned BWW.

I feel I have had a different kind of "15 minutes of fame"

I want to go post a bulletin on myspace about how I was mentioned in the news.

[gumbo2]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:32pm

Ahaha, SweetQ. I admit that I feel a certain pride knowing that I was involved in posting on those threads.

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:36pm

BWW is mentioned!

Does anyonr have links to the MySpace pages? Here's Juliana's

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=104196078

[jimnysf]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:38pm

Better to be pissed off than pissed on.

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:41pm

There are very few myspaces that aren't set to friends only.

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:42pm

The guy that runs it (I forget the proper name- it's the same job Ryan Seacrest does) looks like a guy I know. And then, a contestant looks like a singer/dancer on the cruise I was just on.
I'm beginning to wonder if the guy from the cruise is this same guy as the contestant.

I want to know who on BWW the writer of the article was talking about specifically.
No matter what though, I am part of BWW so I am IN THAT ARTICLE!!

EDIT: What is the guys name that is on NOW?!?!

Updated On: 2/4/07 at 09:42 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:43pm

Should we also be complaining because AMERICAN IDOL doesn't disclose that many in the top twelve have already had record contracts and scores of professional singing credits?

That's just the game of reality TV. You could also just as well argue that it shouldnt matter at all what any of the contestents have done before - they should all be judged equally based on who is delivering the best goods on the television program.

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:49pm

Billy Bush is the Seacrest!

[thevolleyballer]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:50pm

"Should we also be complaining because AMERICAN IDOL doesn't disclose that many in the top twelve have already had record contracts and scores of professional singing credits?"

And that's when I realize that I'm completely Joe American television-watcher, because I honest to goodness never knew that.

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:56pm

Here you can look at all the contestants and see their training and "life"

http://www.nbc.com/Grease/

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:59pm

And that's when I realize that I'm completely Joe American television-watcher, because I honest to goodness never knew that.

Finally someone who can admit it. Volleyballer, have a talk with ClumsyDude when you get a chance.

"The thing that’s so appalling now is the lengths that NBC is going to hide this fact.

They apparently think that the entire viewing public is stupid, and that anyone who watches their show won’t notice all the things they’re hiding and/or leaving out."

The entire viewing public is STUPID, and NBC obviously knows this. They've been in this business since the dawn of television existence.

Updated On: 2/4/07 at 09:59 PM

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 10:01pm

"Volleyballer, have a talk with Clumsy_Dude when you get a chance."

Did I miss something? Clumsy_Dude didn't even post in this thread- as far as I see...

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 10:01pm

Clumsy and I were having a debate in the Ugly Betty thread about TV trickery of its viewers.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 10:01pm

It's all pretty much right there - I dont see why people think NBC is trying to hide their training or experience. Juliana doesn't mention understudying MILLIE, but she's not saying that she has no professional experience.

[thevolleyballer]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 10:11pm

"Finally someone who can admit it.... Clumsy and I were having a debate in the Ugly Betty thread about TV trickery of its viewers."

Haha, I do admit it. Generally, I'm well-versed in celebrities and pop culture and the like (Google Entertainment News and iMDB are amongst my favorites, thank you very much), but there are always going to be things that average viewers don't know. Not enough people will say so, though. I, for one, never had the slightest idea that any Idol finalists had recording contracts. Now I'm on a mission to find out who.

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 10:20pm

I think I read somewhere that most of the "everyday" folks on such shows as Big Brother and Survivor are actually showbiz wannabes who already have AGENTS!!

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 10:22pm

^ ^

Although I didn't know that, it's not very surprising.