Schmigadoon was a truly terrific TV series that sent up Broadway musicals of the 1950s. Now it’s back with a sequel, Schmicago (Wednesday on Apple TV+), which sends up 1970s musicals. One that is not included is Grease, which was set in the 1950s because it now has its own TV spin-off, Rise of the Pink Ladies (Thursday on Paramount+).
Having left Schmigadoon behind, Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) and Melissa (Cecily Strong) want to return to that sunny and optimistic small town. Instead, they end up in the much darker and sexier city of Schmicago, where musicals such as Chicago, Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar are lovingly sent up.
In Schmicago, everyone from Schmigadoon is back but they are totally different characters from before. Dove Cameron, who played the perky Oklahoma-type farm girl, is now a Cabaret-like chanteuse. Alan Cumming, once the closeted gay mayor, is now a demented Sweeney Todd-like butcher.
Kristen Chenoweth is still a nasty piece of work, but she is no longer a joyless preacher’s wife. Here, she runs an orphanage, with a nod to Annie, and this time her wickedness comes with a lustier and more lively portrayal.
Jane Krakowski, who was seen far too briefly in Schmigadoon as a Baroness type from The Sound Of Music, thankfully gets much more to do now. In a gender-flipping role, Billy Flynn from Chicago becomes Bobbie Flanagan, and her scene-stealing antics in the courtroom are sensational showstoppers. Five stars for Schmigadoon!
If only Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (Thursday on Paramount+) was as memorable. It’s not even an improvement on Grease 2, the box office flop which failed to recapture the phenomenal success of the 1978 movie. Note to Hollywood – without that original Broadway score, Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, there is literally nothing left to work with. Nothing.
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies opens with all the new cast at the drive-in, doing a new version of the original Frankie Valli song. It’s energetic and fun but when it’s over, so too is the energy and fun.
The new soundtrack is awful, and not one single song from the first episode lingers in your head as an earworm. There is also barely any plot in this wretched shitshow because it just takes sequences and locations from the original movie and drags them out to the point of pointlessness.
If anything, Rise of the Pink Ladies seems to be ripping off West Side Story and Hairspray much more than Grease, which tells you how desperate they are for inspiration. I have no idea who this interminably long sequel has been made for, because even little kids will be bored by this cartoonish mess. Zero stars.
Welcome to TV Gold: The almost all-new weekly TV podcast
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Listen now on your favourite podcast platform for 30 minutes of TV reviews and recommendations every week from Mediaweek’s Andrew Mercado and James Manning.
The first TV Gold has plenty on offer including the second seasons of Love Me and Schmigadoon, Wellmania, Big Door Prize, The Night Agent and Alone.
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