According to preliminary ratings, the show that will cast the leads in Broadway's forthcoming revival of Grease was beaten in its first hour by CBS' "60 Minutes" (14.2 million viewers) and ABC's "America's Funniest Home Videos" (10.9 million). "Grease" also was beaten in its second hour by the first hour of the Grammy telecast (20.1 million) and a second hour of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (16.9 million). Fox's "The Simpsons" (8.3 million) and "King of the Hill" (7 million) episodes also toppled the NBC talent competition.
The viewership of "Grease: You're the One That I Want" — at 6.5 million viewers — was down from the show's last live episode two weeks ago, which drew an average 7.3 million TV watcher (8.18 and 6.5 million in each respective hour). In its Jan. 7 debut, the show pulled in an average of 11.59 million total viewers.
British impresario Lloyd Webber joined Grease creator Jim Jacobs, director-choreographer Kathleen Marshall and British producer David Ian on the judges panel for the reality competition series. The Broadway-themed, two-hour live episode aired 7-9 PM (ET).
The results of America's voting was revealed and the first Sandy and Danny hopefuls were cut. The 12 finalists performed — half of the contestants singing songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals and the other half from other popular musicals.
Visit Playbill.com's recap of the show at Is "Grease" the Word?: Week 5 Recap. *
"Access Hollywood" co-anchor Billy Bush and U.K. television and theatre star Denise Van Outen host the show.
Paul Nicholas and David Ian Associates, Nederlander Presentations and Phoenix Productions will produce the Broadway run of the show, which begins rehearsals on or about April 1. The capitalization is $10 million.
The new Broadway production will feature the Jim Jacobs-Warren Casey songs made famous by the original musical — including "Summer Nights," "Greased Lightning" and "We Go Together" — as well as the four additional film songs: "Grease is the Word," "You're the One That I Want," "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "Sandy" interpolated into the score.
Tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster outlets. Group sales for Grease are available by calling Nederlander Group Sales at (212) 840-3890.
The NBC official website for the show can be found at nbc.com/Grease.
