Grease You're the One That I Want on NBC (C)2007GREASE is doing something smart. They’re letting the voters pick the bottom two Sandy and Danny contestants, and then letting the judges decide who to toss. Since it’s reality TV, there’s also a “sing-off,” in which the four contestants take turns singing one song to prove they have what it takes to stick around, but we all know that’s a farce. The judges, I’m sure, know who to get rid of before that sing-off ever happens.

And, not surprisingly, the two contestants who were last minute additions to the show were the first to be kicked off it. Matt and Ashley A are gone, which means Ashley Spencer can now just be “Ashley.” For what it’s worth, Ashley A sang a lot better this week than last, though Matt didn’t improve much.

The other odd thing this adds to the competition is that two singers are training for a full week (or two, in this week’s case) to perform a song that they’ll never actually do on air. That seems like a gigantic waste of time, but I suppose it maintains the mystery for the week and keeps everyone on edge. In the guys’ case, that has to be particularly annoying. A lot of them were learning choreography this time. They had backup dancers with them and serious moves they had to learn. Imagine going through all that and not being able to ever perform the number? That would be disappointing.

I imagine we’ll see the girls learning more choreography for next week’s show now.

Overall, the singers are far superior to what you see on AMERICAN IDOL or even ROCKSTAR. They just emote and gesticulate more than the other shows’ contestants. These are people who’ve already been trained and who have worked hard on their voices. There’s some serious talent in there, and I’m sure more than one or two of them will have no problems finding work on Broadway in some show now. I think the girls have more of the talent than the guys, but there are still some strong guys in the show, too.

Finally, from a design geek’s perspective: I love the font they use on the contestants’ names as they introduce them. Anyone geekier than I out there that can identify it? It would make a nice bouncy comic book font.