news ‘Grease’ Prequel Series ‘Rise of the Pink Ladies’ Sets April Paramount+ Premiere — Watch Teaser

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Paramount+ is hoping its latest series will be the one that you want. Like greased lightnin’ (go greased lightnin’), the “Grease” prequel series “Rise of the Pink Ladies” is racing to the streamer on April 6, in time for you to binge it over those summer nights eventually. Paramount+ announced the news from their January 9 presentation for the Television Critic’s Association Winter press tour and, because there are worse things they could do, released a short teaser for the teen musical series to accompany it.

The series is a prequel to “Grease,” the 1978 film itself adapted from the 1971 stage musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Directed by Randal Kleiser, the movie was led by John Travolta and the late Olivia Newton-John as star-crossed greaser Danny Zuko and good girl Sandy Olsson, but the film became a cultural sensation (raking in $366.2 million at the global box office) thanks in part to the memorable supporting cast, especially the Pink Ladies girl gang led by Stockard Channing as the hard-edged Rizzo.

“Rise of the Pink Ladies” tells the origin story of the Pink Ladies, set in 1954 (four years before the original film) and chronicles how the original members of the group came to rule Rydell High. Marisa Davila, Cheyenne Isabel Wells, Ari Notartomaso, and Tricia Fukuhara play the four founding women of the Pink Ladies, while Shanel Bailey, Madison Thompson, Johnathan Nieves, Jason Schmidt, and Maxwell Whittington-Cooper play their various love interests and rivals in the high school ecosystem. Jackie Hoffman also stars in the series as Assistant Principal McGee, a role played in the original film by Eve Arden. The series was created by Annabel Oakes, who executive produces with Marty Bowen and Erik Feig.

“Rise of the Pink Ladies” will be the first extension of the “Grease” cinematic universe since 1982’s “Grease 2,” which featured an almost entirely new cast of characters and received negative reviews at the time, although it has since developed a devoted fanbase and helped launch Michelle Pfeiffer to stardom through her performance of “Cool Rider.” However, it is not the first “Grease”-themed television program; in addition to the well-received 2016 “Grease: Live!” production on Fox, there was also a 2007 NBC reality series “Grease: You’re the One That I Want!” that saw contestants compete for the roles of Danny and Sandy in a Broadway revival of the stage musical.

And “Grease” fever isn’t going away with “Rise of the Pink Ladies;” Paramount Pictures has another prequel to the original film in development titled “Summer Lovin’.” Focusing on the summer Danny and Sandy spent with one another before the events of the original movie, that prequel will be directed by Brett Haley from a script by Leah McKendrick.

If you’re hopelessly devoted to “Grease,” watch the teaser trailer for “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies” below.

 
There have been gay people from the beginning of humanity. I think having her be CLOSETED and gay would be a terrific story line, and in keeping with the 50's.
Reminds me of someone... somewhere..

john travolta GIF
 
Isn't that the point of a remake - to take an old story and make it modern?
I think the point is to rip off an old story that was good. A quick cash grab. Sure, Scarface is a remake. It can be done, but when they do stupid shit like remake Robocop or Steel Magnolias......

About the Archie Bunker innuendo. It's possible. I mean it's true; we all sort of get set in our ways as we get older. I have no problem with gay people at all. There are gay people in my life that I love, but, well...... I'll stop there.
 
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I'm generally not an advocate for remakes. Most I feel are unwarranted. But yes, one of the reasons for a remake is to make it modern. But older movies used to be more subtle and with subtext. Today's movies/shows are preachy and the story usually takes a backseat to agendas.
 
it would become a central theme.
I think that making Rizzo's possible pregnancy a central theme would be great.

My mom will be 89 years old next month, and I clearly remember her telling me when I was young that there was plenty of pre-marital sex in the 50's. The difference was there was little in the way of contraception and the pregnancy could be catastrophic, so the risk was VERY high, especially for women. Put lots of happy, smiling, and singing faces around the possible catastrophe - THAT sounds like an interesting approach.
 
The irony of this being a filmmaking forum and the complaint of our art being our voice is... well. I'm not sure what to think about that one.
 
Put lots of happy, smiling, and singing faces around the possible catastrophe - THAT sounds like an interesting approach.
They did that in the movie Grease and it seemed to work. Remember, we're talking about a spin off to the movie Grease.

..and since when is the possibility of having a child a catastrophe?
 
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I think that making Rizzo's possible pregnancy a central theme would be great.

My mom will be 89 years old next month, and I clearly remember her telling me when I was young that there was plenty of pre-marital sex in the 50's. The difference was there was little in the way of contraception and the pregnancy could be catastrophic, so the risk was VERY high, especially for women. Put lots of happy, smiling, and singing faces around the possible catastrophe - THAT sounds like an interesting approach.

It was especially perilous for young women with a WAP, making that pullout game weak.
 
The irony of this being a filmmaking forum and the complaint of our art being our voice is... well. I'm not sure what to think about that one.
Opinions. We're just talking about opinions. I have no idea what Pink Ladies will be like. In my opinion, the producers will be doing a disservice to the movie Grease if they use is as a springboard for something that had nothing to do with what made that movie great.
 
and old westerns/cowboy movies/war movies were subtle? Didn't have an agenda? Really?
Maybe you just don't like their message.
I'm not much a fan of westerns. Clint Eastwood I like though. War movies tend to be propaganda over accuracy.

The problem is today's characters seem hollow. There's very little to no character development or layers. They're just.. there. This film here for example: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375679/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_1 Great film, great characters. Seen it several times. It has alot going on and a lot to say. But it all feels natural. I don't see it as necessarily being about liking or not liking a message so much as it is that eveyone wants a message now, right now, all at once. Like the zombie movie craze from some years ago where every movie had to have zombies in it. When everything stands out all at once, nothing does. I mean whatever happened to escapist films like Neverending story or Dark Crystal that just told their story?
 
Maybe I will activate my free Paramount+ when it comes out lol. Not even interested in this show but I do have a free year.
 
Mara: "
and old westerns/cowboy movies/war movies were subtle? Didn't have an agenda? Really?
Maybe you just don't like their message."

This is interesting. I don't watch cowboy movies nor old war movies. Did they have a message? I thought people who watch them liked the action and the idea of living in simpler times. Home on the range, where the deer and the antelope roam... Military guys like war movies because of the camaraderie. It's hard for people who never served to understand, but in the military there is a real sense of family.
 
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I love a good long series 'cause it saves me from constantly having to find new things :)
But "good" is the operative word.
Yeah, I love restarting GOT or Dexter, etc, knowing that I don't have to stop working and decide on a new thing to watch for a while. I cycle some of the all time greats at about a 3 year interval.

The Sopranos
OZ
Dexter
GOT
Breaking Bad
Ozark
Star Trek TNG
You
True Blood
etc

Anything with 5 seasons plus is good long run where I don't have to stress about what's next on the playlist for a while.
 
I didn't watch Breaking Bad until a few years after is was over, then I binge all 6 seasons in about a month.. That is one show I wished would have gone on longer. Bates Motel is another one I didn't watch until it was over. Man, there's nothing like watching an episode knowing that you can start the next one right away.

I think I'm the only person on the planet who never saw a single episode of the Sopranos. Maybe I'll binge watch it!
 
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and old westerns/cowboy movies/war movies were subtle? Didn't have an agenda? Really?
Maybe you just don't like their message.
Well, I'm not sure it's exactly equivalent. Sometimes perhaps. Recent cinema has fallen into a cult level mentality where even filmmakers are proudly announcing that their personal politics are "more important" than the story they were hired to tell.

How would you feel if you went to McDonalds, and the person at the counter started shaming you for not joining Qanon? You see, they had heard from FAMOUS EXPERTS who had WRITTEN DOWN some IMPORTANT FACTS, about how the great pyramid of Giza foretold Trumps rise to power. Let's momentarily put aside that this person is not smart enough to realize that their job is serving hamburgers rather than second hand ideologies with no scientific basis. Let's say that you, as a consumer, actually had enough energy to debate the hamburger chef about the potential validity of popular internet rumors. Would you think that a moment where you were attempting to purchase services was an ideal occasion for a forced political discussion?

I'm a leftist, but honestly, I think my people are just as dumb as the Qanon types. When a movie makes a point such as "it's hard to cross an ocean on a canoe with a tiger on board" that's based in a reality we all share, and I think it's valid. If you make a point based on an opinion, that's fine too, but it's important to know the difference. I think modern filmmakers don't. You don't get militant about an opinion, you get militant, pushy, preachy, aggressive, and start bullying people that disagree with you only once you mistake an opinion for a fact. Once you feel like you understand a fact that others don't EG, vaccinations deter the spread of fatal diseases. I bullied some people into getting vaccinated, but it's not because I heard a rumor on facebook, it's because I paid attention in science class, and have seen film of cellular level effects filmed through a microscope.

I think country music is stupid, really stupid, with some very rare exceptions. I think the world would be better off without country music, and associate it with low intelligence. That's just my opinion though. There are others who share that opinion, and others who have written it down. By either the left or the rights current standards for proving a fact, my opinion of country music is hard fact. Still, I'm smart enough to know it's not, and no number of people saying it is, or writing books about it, will change that. I would never ask the public to pay to watch a film I made, and then use that film to badger them about how stupid they are for enjoying country music. My job is to serve them, and that's what they paid me for. The idea of making 1/3 of my audience feel bad about themselves because I can't keep my personal opinions to myself seems selfish, arrogant, sociopathic, and stupid to me, and I do feel strongly that creators who care more about their own politics than doing the job well, shouldn't have a job at all.

I think internet forums are a far better place for people voicing personal opinions than film is. Film is an art, but it's also a business, and therefore calls for at least some standard of professionalism, which definitely includes putting the job above your personal beliefs during work hours, especially when those beliefs are essentially a sneering attack on half the population. (that accusation is leveled equally at the 10 republican films and 2300 Pc films that have made their core product about an ideology)

For the record, I have zero plans to try to force anyone to believe what I believe, ever. Anyone who buys a ticket for an entertainment product I produced should get an entertainment product. The farthest I'd ever go is to weave a moral lesson or shared reality into the subtext.

I will give a shout out to the 2022 film "Emergency" this was a fantastic example of a film that drove home a valid point about racial inequality in America, in a coherent and believable way that didn't require hyperbole, preaching, conflation based ideology, or anything fake. They told a believable story that illustrated their point clearly, and did it without insulting the audience in the process.
 
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I didn't watch Breaking Bad until a few years after is was over, then I binge all 6 seasons in about a month.. That is one show I wished would have gone on longer. Bates Motel is another one I didn't watch until it was over. Man, there's nothing like watching an episode knowing that you can start the next one right away.

I think I'm the only person on the planet who never saw a single episode of the Sopranos. Maybe I'll binge watch it!
That is literally the most insane, unhinged thing I have ever heard another person say.

"I have never seen an episode of the Sopranos"

It's probably the best written show in the history of television. It may take you a second to get into it, similar to GOT, but this series is legendary for a reason. You're going to have a really great time!
 
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I didn't watch Breaking Bad until a few years after is was over, then I binge all 6 seasons in about a month.
Hah, I did the same thing. That's one of the last big series I watched. It is like one big movie. I found the complete series box set in mint condition at a thrift store at the time for only $6.00 and it was money well spent! Nate: you sir are hilarious in some of the thngs you say. Practically dry heaving/laughing here over your Trump pyramid line.
 
Well, in the end, this is all just good conversation in my opinion and I thank everyone who has engaged. Nate, I knew I could count on you to sum of a few very logical and rational points. For the record, and for anyone who cares, I am not a conservative, nor am I a liberal. I am a free thinking person who makes up his mind, issue by issue, based on all sorts of input; research, observation, and life experience. None of us can afford to live in a bubble, venturing out only to find the closest echo chamber to re-enforce what we think we already know. Does anyone here think today the same way they thought 10 years ago or 20 years ago?.... and could you imagine what Star Wars or Close Encounters would have been like if the directors had political agendas?
 
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