I was tasked with watching the new series Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies… and making it through the first episode was a struggle. 

The show was a spin-off of the 1978 musical classic, Grease. This is where my first issue with the series lies. The original film has become such a cult classic around the world, and no one needed or asked for a stinky reboot. 

What made Grease so special was its ability to entice all audiences with its catchy soundtrack, provocative behavior, and overall joy that it pours onto the audiences. The new series has none of the above. 

The show is a prequel to Grease, it takes place 4 years before the year of Sandy and Danny’s romance. The show is about 4 outcasts, trying to live their life in their own way. Those 4 outcasts would of course be the Pink Ladies. It tries to follow the shadow of the original film, but it gets lost. 

It just lacked a bit of depth and originality, but I think the audience knew that would be the case going into the show. Trying to recreate something as special and loved as Grease is a near impossible task, especially in the current climate in the media, trying to fulfill all politically correct checkboxes. That’s where this show goes wrong. 

In terms of production, the acting was pretty inoffensive, the casting was refreshingly diverse, but the music, singing, and dancing pained me to watch as such a fan of the original film.

I try to forget that I had to watch and hear some of the songs in this show. A perfect example is in the first episode where the cast sings the opening track “Grease” by Frankie Valli. It felt like the very worst of on stage acting, or some effortlessly bad Disney Channel singing. 

I thought maybe the way to view this show as objectively as possible was to remove its association with the original film that didn’t work. All the positives of this show are a product of the film. Other than that, it feels like a musical that takes place in a high school airing on Disney Channel. 

I was uber excited for this show, but it just didn’t hit any of the right notes in recreating the nostalgia of Grease, and it felt much more like a money grab rather than a genuine attempt to build on the dynasty that had already been built.