TVSquad

I don't know about you, but I was surprised -- floored! -- to see Frankie Avalon on American Idol the other night. Granted, they always have to stretch to fill the one-hour results show, which could truly be done in five minutes, but how odd was it for Flo Rida, Kellie Pickler and Frankie Avalon to be on the same show?

And Frankie kicked off the show! The Idol producers dug up a 1959 video of Frankie Avalon singing "Venus," which of course, lead to the real Frankie appearing on stage to finish the number. With the exception of the dream sequence in Grease (1978) singing "Beauty School Dropout," has Frankie done anything relevant to warrant such major exposure?

With Clay Aiken having wrapped up his run as Sir Robin in Spamalot, the Idol quotient on Broadway was down. Fortunately for theatergoers, it's Taylor Hicks to the rescue. Kind of. He's a bit of a step down from Clay Aiken, isn't he? I mean, Clay's new album debuted at number four, and Taylor was dropped from his label.

Whichever way you see it, Hicks will be joining the cast of Grease to take on the role of Teen Angel. Should you be in the area, you can head over to the Brooks Atkinson Theater and hear his version of "Beauty School Dropout." An interesting TV side-note, this production of Grease stars Laura Osnes and Max Crumm. You may remember them as being the winners of the ill-fated NBC show, You're The One That I Want.

• At 7, CBS has a new 60 Minutes, followed by new episodes of The Amazing Race, Cold Case, and Without A Trace.
• ABC has a new America's Funniest Home Videos at 7, then a new Extreme Makeover.
• There's a new Dateline on NBC at 7, then the finale of Grease: You're The One That I Want.
• At 7:30, FOX has a new War At Home, then new episodes of The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy, and American Dad.
• At 8, Lifetime has the new movie Abducted.
• At 9, Sci-Fi has a new Dresden Files, then a new Battlestar Galactica.
• HBO has the series finale of Rome at 9.
• At 10, NBC has a new episode of The Apprentice.
• MSNBC repeats this morning's Meet The Press at 10, if you missed it.
• Also at 10: Showtime has a new ep of The L Word.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 7, CBS has a new 60 Minutes, followed by new episodes of The Amazing Race, Cold Case, and Without A Trace.
• NBC has a new Dateline at 7, then a new Grease: You're The One That I Want.
• At 7:30, FOX has a new War At Home.
• At 8, AMC has The Quick and the Dead, with Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Russell Crowe.
• Sundance has a new Slings & Arrows at 8.
• At 8:30, FOX has a new episode of The Winner (another new episode airs at 9:30).
• At 9, HGTV announces the winner of the Dream Home Giveaway 2007.
• Sci-Fi has a new Dresden Files at 9, then a new Battlestar Galactica.
• Also at 9: HBO has a new Rome.
• At 10, NBC has a new episode of The Apprentice.

Check your local TV listings for more.

NBC just can't let a sleeping schedule lie, can they? They've decided to shuffle things around once again, stacking the deck with an all-reality Sunday lineup and an all-drama Wednesday lineup.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the three main moves are this: the Wednesday Deal or No Deal moves to Sundays at 9, and The Apprentice shifts to 10 to make room. Crossing Jordan move s from Sundays at 10 to Wednesdays at 9. All of this will take place starting on March 4.

So, as I said, Sundays will be all-reality, with Dateline, Grease, Deal, and The Apprentice. Wednesdays will start with Friday Night Lights, to be followed by Jordan and Medium. When you look at it, the schedule actually makes sense, though I'm not sure if fans of Jordan are going to be happy with its switch out of its longtime Sunday slot.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• You're the One that I Want, the reality-TV competition to star in the new production of Grease, isn't really letting America pick the ones that we want.
  
• You'd think they'd guard their secrets a little closer than this: the cast and crew of Lost had to re-shoot a whole day's worth of film after an airport x-ray mixup.
  
• American Idol's Hollywood round is faster than ever this season, probably because no one really cares about this part.
  

... and Happy Valentine's Day!

The video's embedded below, or you can download the file directly (Quicktime required). You can also subscribe to this vodcast via our feed. (Now works in iTunes!)

What is wrong with NBC? And don't say "Jeff Zucker", because that's too easy.

The network is currently airing You're the One That I Want, which is a contest to choose the new 'Danny' and 'Sandy' for Grease on Broadway. The show keeps proclaiming that America will choose the winners, but on Sunday night, the judges on the show nullified America's votes. Instead, they kept the bottom vote-getters and tossed the second-to-bottom vote getters off the program. NBC is proudly calling it a "twist" but it sounds more like a "sham" to me.

I'm sure Americans would be super pissed off about this incident if anyone was actually watching the show. If this happened on American Idol, there would be rioting in the streets by now.

• At 7, CBS has a new 60 Minutes, followed by the Grammy Awards (featuring a Police reunion to open the show).
• ABC has a new two hour Extreme Makeover at 7, followed by new episodes of Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters.
• NBC has a new, two hour Grease: You're The One That I Want at 7, then new episodes of The Apprentice and Crossing Jordan.
• There's a new Reba on The CW at 7:30.
• At 8, FOX has a new Simpsons, then new eps of King of the Hill, Family Guy, and American Dad.
• PBS has a new Nature at 8, then a new Masterpiece Theater.
• TBS has Ocean's Eleven at 8.
• Also at 8: Food Network has a new Emeril Live, followed by new episodes of Iron Chef America and Challenge.
• At 9, HBO has a new Rome and then a new Extras.
• Valentine's Day is one of the worst "holidays," but Lifetime has the new movie A Valentine Carol at 9.
• At 10, Showtime has a new episode of The L Word.

Check your local TV listings for more.

I keep seeing promos for NBC's new reality show, Grease: You're the One That I Want, and I wonder whether anybody is going to watch it. Based on the promos alone, it looks as though NBC is capitalizing on the popularity of the early episodes of American Idol where we get to see a few good, but mostly very, very bad performers audition before the three judges. In this case, it's an open casting call for the new Broadway run of Grease. The casting directors need two actors/singers for the lead roles of Sandy and Danny. The first two episodes will feature all the auditions and then the group will be reduced down to 12 contestants on which the public will vote each week.

No doubt it'll be heartwarming to see some talented people finally get their shot at a Broadway audition. But... Grease? How popular is that? How annoying will those songs get after we've heard them over and over? I'm still on the fence about whether or not I'm going to watch. I think I may give this Sunday's premiere episode a whirl.

Tell me... do you plan on watching? Why or why not?

NBC has ramped up the promotion for their new reality show, You're The One That I Want. We've mentioned the show a couple times in the past. The short version is that contestants are going to compete for the roles of Danny and Sandy in a new production of the Grease musical.

That's all well and good, but I can't help but wonder just who is going to watch that. Musical theater certainly does have a core audience, but I have a feeling that it's not big enough to measure up to the demands of prime-time network TV. I get the idea behind the show, it's got the singing of Idol and the dancing of DWTS, but that doesn't make it Idol or DWTS. We've already seen what happens when people try to clone these shows. The One and Skating with Celebrities come to mind.

Well, it's not the big announcement I had hoped for. NBC is reorganizing its post-football schedule, but it's only shuffling a few things and adding some other stuff to the open slots on its schedule. So far, only Sunday and Wednesday nights are changing:

Sundays (starting Jan. 7)
8 pm: Grease: You're The One That I Want
9 pm: The Apprentice
10 pm: Crossing Jordan

Wednesdays (starting Jan. 3)
8 pm: Friday Night Lights
9 pm: Deal or No Deal
10 pm: Medium

Hey you! Wanna be in Grease?

NBC is holding cattle calls for a new reality series: You're the One that I Want, starting late October in Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles. They're looking for gals and guys to compete in a reality series for the lead roles of Sandy and Danny (played by Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta in the movie) in a new Broadway stage production of the musical.

You should be 18 years old and older with singing, acting and dancing ability. You know: skillz. Have two songs ready, one from Grease, and one non-Grease related. More details are available at NBC.com according to a network press release, but I couldn't turn them up in an admittedly cursory search.

Arrive early. Those in line earliest will get wristbands guaranteeing an audition. Show up late, and you may or may not get seen. Casting call times and locations after the jump: